Nov 9, 2018 4 min read

If you’re one of those folks who likes things to remain the same, or if you like major changes, there was something for everyone in Tuesday’s midterm election.

Locally, the status quo largely ruled. There were three open state House seats in our area that previously had been held by Republicans, and when the votes were counted Tuesday night, they were still in GOP hands. Natalie Mihalek won in the 40th District, taking the post held most recently by John Maher. In the 15th District, where Jim Christiana elected not to seek re-election, the vote favored Joshua Kail. And in the 39th District, where Rick Saccone passed on a re-election bid in favor of his failed pursuits of a congressional seat, Mike Puskaric came out victorious.

In local races featuring incumbents, Republicans also fared well. State Sen. Camera Bartolotta easily fended off a challenge from James Craig, state Rep. Jason Ortitay cruised to another term in the 46th District, and Rep. Tim O’Neal repeated his special election victory over Democrat Clark Mitchell Jr. in the 48th District. In the 50th District, incumbent Democrat Pam Snyder easily turned back another challenge by Republican Betsy Rohanna McClure to retain her status as the only Democrat representing Greene and Washington counties in Harrisburg.

That is, unless a recount allows Democrat Steve Toprani to overcome a slim deficit against incumbent Republican Rep. Bud Cook in the Mon Valley-based 49th District.

All in all, it was quite a show of strength by Republicans in this corner of Pennsylvania. Even though incumbent Democrats Sen. Bob Casey and Gov. Tom Wolf scored easy statewide victories over their Republican challengers, they were not so popular in Washington and Greene counties. Casey’s opponent, Congressman Lou Barletta, led by 50.9 percent to 47.4 percent in Washington County and 51.9 percent to Casey’s 46.5 percent in Greene. In the governor’s race, Republican Scott Wagner topped Wolf by a margin of 49.4 percent to 48.2 percent in Washington County. He prevailed in Greene, as well, 51.5 percent to 46.7 percent.

After a couple of close calls in recent years, the growing power of Republicans in Washington County has us wondering whether next year will finally be the year that the GOP wrests control of the county commission from the Democrats.

The big change on Tuesday came at the national level, where Democrats reclaimed the majority in the U.S. House from Republicans for the first time since 2010. Two years ago, when Donald Trump was elected to the White House, the Democrats got punched in the face. This year, they punched back.

Headed into the election, there was little indication that the Democrats had a chance to regain the upper hand in the U.S. Senate, but most prognosticators gave them a very good possibility of taking over the House, and that’s exactly what they did, with “blue” candidates picking off formerly Republican seats from coast to coast.

The president will now have to deal for the first time with a house of Congress not controlled by his party, and it’s our hope that the new speaker of the House will not be current Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. The Democratic candidates who were winning races across the country Tuesday night were typically not the old warhorses of the party. They were largely fresh faces with fresh ideas, and they should be led by someone cut from the same cloth, not a person who is every bit as entrenched, partisan and divisive as the leader in the other chamber, Sen. Mitch McConnell.

In a country where checks and balances seem to work pretty well, there’s now a big check in Washington, D.C.