Westmoreland County still went heavily for Trump — just not as much as 2016 - TribLIVE

Westmoreland County Democrats celebrated victory in defeat Saturday as former Vice President Joe Biden surged to a projected victory for Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes.

“It’s pretty exciting that Pennsylvania played such a huge role in electing our next president,” said Gina Cerilli, the county’s sole Democratic commissioner. “The American people have spoken loudly across the country.”

The Associated Press on Saturday called the presidential race for Biden after four days of counting ballots dragged on in battleground states, including Pennsylvania. President Donald Trump, as expected, was a big winner in Westmoreland County where he, by week’s end, had amassed about 128,300 votes and cruised to a 29-point victory.

But it was the more than 70,000 votes Biden received in the county that local Democrats wanted to talk about. His vote total was about 11,000 more than Hillary Clinton received in 2016 and enabled Biden to close the gap with Trump by about 2 percentage points.

“Our focus was to get our people to vote,” said Annie Briscoe, secretary of the county’s Democratic committee and spokeswoman for the party. “Our expectation was that we could make some gains over 2016. We feel good that we helped to narrow that margin.”

Trump four years earlier won Pennsylvania by about 44,000 votes.

Briscoe said party leaders and rank-and-file Democrats used enthusiasm for Biden and against Trump to expand campaign efforts this fall to trim the 2016 vote totals.

Large numbers of volunteers were enlisted to participate in phone banks, texting efforts and aggressive door-to-door deliveries of campaign literature to fuel the Democrats slight gains.

“I think these efforts will make a lasting difference,” Briscoe said.

Bill Bretz, chairman of the county’s Republican Party, said it was a tough road nationwide, but the local support was there for Trump and other close-to-home races.

“In Westmoreland County, we did a great job,” Bretz said. “We had a wonderful turnout, we had a decisive percentage voting with the folks of our party. We controlled what was within really our control in Westmoreland County.”

He predicted the Republican support will be a good foundation moving forward.

Members of Voice of Westmoreland, a grassroots community group formed after Trump was elected, were pleased with the projected outcome.

“Hundreds of working class people of all races across Westmoreland County volunteered their evenings, weekends, and holidays to deliver the presidency for Pennsylvania,” said Clare Dooley, a group leader, in a statement. “Now it’s time for Biden to deliver for working people.”

Democrats were once the dominant political party in Westmoreland County, but over the last two decades the local GOP has seen major surges in the numbers of registered voters and Republican victories at the polls. Republicans now hold a voter registration edge of more than 10,000 more countywide. They hold all state legislative offices after Tuesday’s election.

Michelle McFall, 52, of Murrysville was part of a group of volunteers who footed the bill for a Biden-Harris campaign office along Route 22. And while Biden’s apparent win is reason to celebrate, there also is plenty of work ahead to bridge the divide between Republicans and Democrats.

“I hope Joe Biden works to unify,” McFall said. “In Westmoreland, it’s like we are irrevocably red. There is zero chance of us moving forward unless we can find the things we can work on together.”

Cerilli, one of the few remaining Democratic elected officials at the courthouse, served as a proxy for the Biden campaign this fall. She hopes Biden’s presidency can heal a divided nation and political system.

Cerilli said there was never an expectation that Biden would win in Westmoreland County, but the mission was clear: Cut into the Trump’s margin of victory from 2016.

“We’re excited to see the numbers right now,” she said. “It shows that anything can happen. Trump won here four years ago because Democrats voted for him.

“In 2020, Republicans voted for Biden.”

Categories: Election | Local | Top Stories | Westmoreland