President Donald Trump’s reelection team has swarmed to Pennsylvania, acutely worried about winning back the purple state, an effort made more difficult by significant Democratic inroads in and around the midterms and that’s helmed by a dysfunctional state party.
Trump won the state in 2016 by less than one percentage point, and the news has gotten worse for Republicans since then. Democrats cleaned up in the midterms, flipping 16 state legislative seats along with landslide victories for Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) and Gov. Tom Wolf (D) and a few House seats.
The midterms were also bookended by two more Democratic successes: a win in a special election for a House seat in March 2018 and a victory for a state Senate seat — in a district Trump carried in 2016 — this month.
According to Politico, some have laid blame with party chairman Val Digiorgio for lackluster fundraising and voter mobilization. Rumors of a no confidence vote ran rampant for months, but never came to pass.
