Donald Trump becomes 1st Republican presidential candidate to win Bucks County in over 35 years
For months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, the Philadelphia suburbs were closely watched and visited numerous times by both Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.
Bucks County, in particular, the largest swing county in the commonwealth, was heavily targeted by the Trump campaign in the months and weeks before Election Day, an effort that paid off for the former president and now president-elect.
Pap Poprik, the chair of the Bucks County Republican Committee, said Republicans in the county were more engaged this election.
"Because the people were so — they usually come in, they grab a sign, they leave," Poprik said. "They're coming in talking. They're telling us they're upset — why they're doing it? They were more engaged."
Trump was projected to win Pennsylvania around 2 a.m. Wednesday and reached the 270 electoral college vote threshold later in the morning, partly thanks to wins in several other battleground states.
According to unofficial election results posted by the Bucks County Board of Elections online show Trump beat Harris in the county by just 512 votes. Ballot counting wrapped up around 5 a.m. Wednesday, according to a county spokesperson, about 80% of registered voters in the county cast a ballot this year.
"Our job is the groundwork. Get the voters out," Poprick said. "Get them to a) agree with you, b) come out and vote and I think our people did phenomenal because to get what many people to come out and vote the way they did, it's hard work and it wasn't accidental."
If Trump holds the lead after provisional votes are added to the results and continues to hold the lead, the win marks the first time in over 35 years that a Republican won Bucks County. The last time a Republican presidential candidate carried the county was President George H.W. Bush in 1988.
"It's not clear that that will be the final result. There are a number of ballots that have to be counted yet," Steve Santarsiero, the chair of the Bucks County Democratic Committee, said. "But regardless of whether he won it narrowly or narrowly lost it, it will be either of those outcomes — this is a defeat for the Democratic party and obviously for Vice President Harris."
At a watch party in Newtown, Trump supporters were exuberant when Pennsylvania was called for the former president overnight. Trump won the state in 2016 but lost to President Biden in 2020.
"I want the country to be safe, and I feel like he was the best one to do that," Bucks County voter Pat Smietana told CBS News Philadelphia Wednesday morning. "The border was a big issue for me, and that's why I voted for Trump."
But not all voters said they were happy with the election result.
"I have a 7-year-old and a 3-year-old, and to think that he's the example that is leading our country with, he doesn't behave in a way that I would condone my children behaving," Doylestown resident Natasha Lichty said. "He has not done things that I think are acceptable."
Meanwhile, Santarsiero says that going into Election Day, he thought there was a chance the former president could win. But polling, he noted, was close.
"This time around, the Republicans won. A year ago and two years ago, we won pretty convincingly," Santarsiero said. "I have no reason to believe that we're not going to continue to be that kind of a place moving forward.
As for what's next, Santarsiero said, "What we need to do now as Democrats is within our constitutional framework work to explain to people why our ideas and our policies are better for them."
"We overcame obstacles that nobody ever thought we could," Trump said on election night while vowing to fight for American families. "This will truly be the golden age of America."
According to CBS News, Harris won in Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware and Chester counties.
