A key Pennsylvania swing county just a few miles southwest of President Biden’s birthplace has swung to the Republicans’ favor in voter registration figures, a county party district officer confirmed to Fox News Digital.
Luzerne County, home of the Democratic stronghold of Wilkes-Barre, and surrounded by working-class cities like Hazleton and Pittston, is now light red, with at least 83 more Republicans on the rolls than Democrats as of Thursday.
“We’d all like to thank the Democrats and the Democratic platform because they’re the ones that really inspired people to leave the party and become Republicans,” Luzerne County GOP 119th District Chairman T.J. Fitzgerald said Thursday.
“They get most of the credit, then, of course, the [GOP] grassroots and people themselves.”
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Fitzgerald, who represents the Nanticoke, Sugar Notch and Plymouth areas in the county party structure, said it was a combined effort of the Luzerne County GOP, Early Vote Action leader Scott Presler and the Trump Force organization that drove new registrants to file with the clerk’s office.
A Pennsylvania welcome sign greets drivers on U.S. 222 entering Peach Bottom, Pa., from Maryland in 2022. (Charlie Creitz)
Fitzgerald claimed there are also several thousand voter registration forms yet to be processed by county officials in Wilkes-Barre. The trend would suggest somewhere around two-thirds could go to the Republicans, he said, citing information from a recent meeting he attended.
Fitzgerald also leads the separate, grassroots group Luzerne County Republicans, adding the group’s work is likely to make a difference in key races this fall. He cited contests between Sen. Bob Casey Jr., D-Pa., and David McCormick and Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., against Rob Bresnahan.
“I think a lot of the state representatives are going to get the coattails of Donald Trump, and they’re going to come in as well,” he added.
While Luzerne is home to former Rep. Lou Barletta, R-Pa., neighboring Lackawanna County is better known for Democrats Joe Biden and Casey and his late father.
Luzerne County Democratic Party Chairman Tom Shubilla reacted to the news by saying his focus is actually getting voters to the polls.
“This is something [the Republicans] have been talking about for a while,” he said. “We’re … making sure [voters] have returned their mail-in ballot or whether they could vote early … so that’s not really my primary focus.
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Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, listens as former President Trump speaks during a presidential debate at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia Sept. 10, 2024. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)
“I really don’t think that’s going to be a game changer one way or the other. … What if they don’t go?”
Shubilla said Luzerne has been a “purple county” for a long time and that Pennsylvania likes to vote “split-ticket.”
“Is this something I wanted to see? No. … But, at the end of the day, we are working hard to make sure our voters get to the polls.
“Even though maybe the registration numbers aren’t necessarily in our direction this time around, I have a feeling that we, at some point, we will overcome that number,” he said. “Again, we’re going to do amazing this election with Luzerne County.”
The county recently hosted Vice President Kamala Harris at Wilkes University, and Shubilla noted it was a “fun” event that attracted a large number of supporters.
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The former Central Scranton Expressway — now the President Biden Expressway — diverges from I-81 just north of the Lackawanna-Luzerne County line. (Charles Creitz)
“We got to see a lot of people get involved for the first time, or a very long time,” he said, adding some of those supporters may not have been as active since 2008 when Barack Obama entered the political scene.
In that regard, Luzerne County did vote for the Illinois Democrat before supporting Trump in both of his recent bids despite its Democratic majority in voter registration at the time.
Before then, the last Republican to win the working-class county was George H.W. Bush, against Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis in 1988.