Population  (Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Pennsylvania Department of State) Total Population, July 1, 2007 est. 12,432,792 Total Registration, Nov. 6, 2007   8,112,998 Dem. 3,883,378 (47.87%)   Rep. 3,245,271 (40.00%)   Other Parties 984,349 (12.13%) Pennsylvania has: 67 counties. Largest counties: Philadelphia, Allegheny, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware. > Largest cities: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie. > Government Governor: Ed Rendell (D) elected in 2002, re-elected in 2006. State Legislature: Pennsylvania General Assembly   House: 203 seats   Senate: 50 seats Local: Counties, Cities, Townships...   NACO Counties U.S. House: 11D, 8R - 1. B.Brady (D) | 2. C.Fattah (D) | 3. P.English (R) | 4. J.Altimire (D) | 5. J.Peterson (R) | 6. J.Gerlach (R) | 7. J.Sestak (D) | 8. P.Murphy (D)  | 9. B.Shuster (R) | 10. C.Carney (D) | 11. P.Kanjorski (D) | 12. J.Murtha (D) | 13. A.Schwartz (D) | 14. M.Doyle (D) | 15. C.Dent (R) | 16. J.Pitts (R) | 17. T.Holden (D)  | 18. T.Murphy (R)  |  19. T.Platts (R) U.S. Senate: Bob Casey Jr. (D) elected in 2006, Arlen Specter (R) re-elected in 2004.

State of Pennsylvania Department of State Constitution Party of PA Libertarian Party of PA PA Democratic Party PA Green Party Republican State Comm. of PA Inquirer/Daily News Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Newspapers TV, Radio More TV Politics1-PA Keystone Politics PoliticsPA.com The Keystone State

Setting the Primary Date
On Dec. 13, 2004 Gov. Ed Rendell (D) established a 13-person Election Reform Task Force charged with examining six aspects of the state's elections, including the date of the presidential primary.  Rendell stated he wanted "to move the Pennsylvania primary as early as feasibly possible so that Pennsylvania voters may have a say in the selection of the Democratic and Republican nominees for President in 2008 and beyond."  In its final report, issued on May 12, 2005, the Task Force recommended moving presidential and state primary elections to the first Tuesday in March (for 2008 and 2012).  However the General Assembly must act for changes to be implemented.  Several bills to move the primary forward were introduced in 2005 (HB627, HB1661, SB40), but none of them has made any headway.
 

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004

Last Day to Register: October 4, 2004.

+Kerry/Edwards (Dem.) 2,938,095 (50.92) Bush/Cheney (Rep.) 2,793,847 (48.42) Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.) 21,185 (0.37) Cobb/LaMarche (Grn.) 6,319 (0.11) Peroutka/Baldwin (Const.) 6,318 (0.11) Ralph Nader (write-in) 2,656 (0.05) Scattered (write-in) 1,170 (0.02) Total........5,769,570

2004 Overview 854,451 more votes were cast in the presidential race in 2004 compared to 2000.  The Kerry-Edwards ticket carried the state, but Bush trimmed the Democratic plurality to 144,248 votes (2.50 percentage points) and the Republican ticket also carried five more counties than it had in 2000, or 54 counties to 13 for Kerry. General Election Details  |  Photos Kerry/Allies  |  Bush/Cheney '04

 

Past Results

1996 Clinton (Dem.).....2,215,819 (49.17) Dole (Rep.)..........1,801,169 (39.97) Perot (Ref.)............430,984 (9.56) Others (3+w/ins).......58,146 (1.29) Total........4,506,118 1992 Clinton (Dem.).....2,239,164 (45.15) Bush (Rep.).........1,791,841 (36.13) Perot (PfP).............902,667 (18.20) Others (2)................26,138 (0.52) Total........4,959,810	2000 Bush/Cheney (Rep.) 2,281,127 (46.43) +Gore/Lieberman (Dem.) 2,485,967 (50.60) Phillips/Frazier (Const.)    14,428 (0.29) Browne/Olivier (Lib.) 11,248 (0.23) Nader/LaDuke (Grn.) 103,392 (2.10) Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)    16,023 (0.33) Write-ins 934 (0.02) Total........4,913,119	2000 Overview Pennsylvania, with 23 electoral votes, was a battleground state from beginning to end, drawing much attention and resources from both campaigns.  Before the race even got underway, both parties considered holding their nominating conventions in Philadelphia.  On Election Night itself, when networks prematurely called Florida for Bush, Pennsylvania was for a time seen as a must-win for Bush.  As it was, Gore-Lieberman carried the state with a plurality of 204,840 votes (4.17 percentage points).  Bush carried 49 counties to 18 for Gore, but Gore won in the five most populous counties, including a plurality of 348,223 votes in Philadelphia County. General Election Activity
	Notes: In Pennsylvania the Republicans and Democrats are major parties, while the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party qualify as minor parties.  Others are referred to as "political bodies."  Minor party and other presidential candidates wishing to appear on the ballot in the general election needed to obtain signatures from 21,739 registered electors (2% of the highest showing by a candidate in the last statewide election) in the period from Jan. 26-Aug. 1, 2000.  Last day to register before the November election: Oct. 10, 2000.

Other races: Incumbents won several closely fought House races.  10th District. Don Sherwood (R) defeated Pat Casey (D) 52.1% to 47.9% (124,830 to 112,580).  13th District. Joe Hoeffel (D) defeated Stewart Greenleaf (R) 52.8% to 45.7% (146,026 to 126,501 with  4,224 votes going to the Libertarian).  15th District. Pat Toomey (R) fended off a challenge from Ed O'Brien (D) 53.3 to 46.7% (118,307 to 103,864).

Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008 Eric M. Appleman/Democracy in Action.