With northeastern Pennsylvania increasingly trending Republican, Joe Biden is looking at Chester County for his new base in this battleground state that could determine who wins the presidential race, writes Charles McElwee for The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Four years ago, Luzerne County played a major role in the election, accounting for nearly 60 percent of Trump’s less-than-one-percent winning margin. Now, Chester County could play a similarly outsized role in the upcoming election for the Democrats.
Biden is currently depending on Pennsylvania’s wealthiest county to cut into the advantage that Trump has been building in the northeast.
As a former GOP stronghold, Chester County best illustrates the Trump era’s suburban revolt.
In recent election cycles, Democrats have been overwhelmingly victorious. They won four county-level offices that had been held by Republicans since 1799 and won the congressional district for the first time in more than 150 years.
The county’s political transformation is, in big part, influenced by demographic changes.
“By the late 1980s, suburban sprawl and rapid population growth began to erase the area’s agricultural, conservative past,” said McElwee. “Over time, the county’s booming private sector continued to attract affluent residents who propelled Democratic gains.”
Now, this shift could become crucial in November.
Read more about the presidential race in The Philadelphia Inquirer here.
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