By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times @mikemcgannpa
Dianne Herrin
West Chester Mayor Dianne Herrin was the overwhelming choice of 156th District Democratic Committee Persons to replace State Rep. Carolyn Comitta on the fall ballot — Comitta won the the primary for the Democratic nomination to replace state Sen. Andy Dinniman (D-9).
Based on unofficial results posted Tuesday night, Herrin won 75% of the votes of committee people, with only one other candidate — Carrie Pizzillo-Stare earning double-digit support at 15%. Former party chair Brian McGinnis earned 6% while Alex Christy and Marcel Kaminstein each got 2%.
Herrin has been Mayor of West Chester since 2018 when she won election to replace Comitta — then freshly elected to the state house. She served previously on Borough Council and various borough committees.
Herrin faces Republican Len Iacono in the November election.
Democratic party officials celebrated having their entire slate complete — from Joe Biden for President down to the various state legislative seats. Democrats now control all but four legislative seats in the county and are seeking to run the table this fall for the first time since before the Civil War.
Citing primary turnout, party leaders say they see a clear enthusiasm gap over Chester County Republicans — and now with a voter registration edge for the first time in more than 150 years feel they are primed to have an exceptional fall election season. Democrats point to success with the newly expanded mail-in voting — almost 75% of the mail ballots cast this primary election were by Democrats.
“We were very pleased with the turnout,” said Dick Bingham, Chester County Democratic Committee Chairman. “I am sure the enthusiasm will continue to grow all summer. We had a clean sweep of every county race in 2019. We expect a repeat with our smart, talented slate on November 3.”
While considered likely to flip seats in the southeast portion of the county — the 160th state house district and 9th state Senate district have seen rapid changes in voter performance — a sweep may be difficult in the more rural western portion of the county, where Republicans still hold a working majority.
Still, Democrats have reason for optimism, having literally transformed county politics from one-party Republican rule just four years ago to all but dominating both county government (Democrats now hold all row offices and a majority on the Board of County Commissioners) and state legislative seats. The lone Congressional seat is held by Democrat Chrissy Houlahan.
The Chester County Democratic slate for the Nov. 3 election:
President of the United States: Joseph R. Biden
6th Congressional District: Chrissy Houlahan
PA Attorney General: Josh Shapiro
PA Treasurer: Joe Torsella
PA Auditor General: Nina Ahmad
9th District PA Senate: John Kane
19th District PA Senate: Carolyn Comitta
13th District PA Representative: Richard Ruggieri
26th District PA Representative: Paul Friel
74th District PA Representative: Dan Williams
155th District PA Representative: Danielle Friel Otten
156th District PA Representative: Dianne Herrin
157th District PA Representative: Melissa Shusterman
158th District PA Representative: Christina Sappey
160th District PA Representative: Anton Andrew
167th District PA Representative: Kristine Howard
