Editing Delaware County, Pennsylvania (section)

==Politics and government==
{{PresHead|place=Delaware County, Pennsylvania|source=<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS|title=Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections|first=David|last=Leip|website=uselectionatlas.org|access-date=November 25, 2018}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|123,421|201,324|4,470|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|118,639|206,709|4,056|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|110,667|177,402|11,267|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|110,853|171,792|2,919|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|115,273|178,870|3,367|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2004|Democratic|120,425|162,601|1,512|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2000|Democratic|105,836|134,861|7,380|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1996|Democratic|92,628|115,946|26,174|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1992|Democratic|108,587|111,210|46,277|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|147,656|96,144|2,505|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|161,754|98,207|1,821|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|143,282|88,314|25,263|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|148,679|117,252|4,963|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|175,414|94,144|4,893|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|133,777|106,695|25,964|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|111,189|147,189|717|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|135,672|124,629|482|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|143,663|82,024|523|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|129,743|80,316|689|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|93,412|57,156|2,747|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|78,533|64,021|755|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|80,158|60,225|549|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1936|Republican|74,899|65,117|2,997|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1932|Republican|75,291|32,413|2,705|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|83,092|29,378|471|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|41,998|6,368|2,979|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|34,126|9,602|1,565|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|16,315|7,742|677|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1912|Republican|8,418|6,001|8,819|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|15,184|5,727|550|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|15,032|3,586|618|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|13,794|4,249|358|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|13,979|4,169|424|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1892|Republican|9,272|5,520|477|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1888|Republican|8,791|5,028|351|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1884|Republican|7,512|4,538|211|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1880|Republican|7,008|4,473|38|Pennsylvania}}
|}
{{U.S. SenHead|place=Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Seat=1|source=<ref>{{cite news |title=2024 Senate Election (Official Returns) |website=Commonwealth of Pennsylvania by county |date=November 5, 2024 |access-date=December 5, 2024 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/pennsylvania-senate-results}}</ref>}}
<!-- U.S. SenRow should be {{U.S. SenRow|Year|Winning party|GOP vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{U.S. SenRow|2024|Democratic|121,482|197,424|7,551|Pennsylvania}}
{{U.S. SenFoot}}
The county has operated under a home-rule charter with five at-large council-members since 1972.

Until the 1990s, Delaware County was regarded as a classic suburban Republican county. The Delaware County Republican [[political machine]] was controlled by William McClure and his son [[John J. McClure]] from 1875 to 1965.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McLarnon |first1=John Morrison |title=Ruling Suburbia: John J. McClure and the Republican Machine in Delaware County |date=2003 |publisher=University of Delaware Press |location=Newark, Delaware |isbn=0-87413-814-0 |page=11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uVQFw6j-sRQC |access-date=June 28, 2018}}</ref> Delaware County voted for the Republican candidate all but once from 1860 through 1988, with the exception being [[Lyndon Johnson]]'s national landslide of [[1964 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|1964]].

In 1992, however, the county swung from a 21-point win for [[George H. W. Bush]] to a narrow one-point win for [[Bill Clinton]], who became only the second Democrat to win the county in the 20th century. Clinton won it just under 10 points in 1996, coming up just short of a majority. The county has gone Democratic in every Presidential election since then by 10 points or more by progressively-increasing margins. In the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 election]] Democratic presidential candidate [[John Kerry]] won the county by 14 points. [[Barack Obama]] won it by large 21-point margins in each of his bids for president. [[Hillary Clinton]] carried it by an equally substantial 22 points in 2016. [[Joe Biden]] carried it in 2020 with 62 percent of the vote, his second-strongest performance in Pennsylvania. [[Donald Trump]] turned in the worst showing for a Republican in the county in over 160 years.

Driving the county's Democratic shift have been longstanding trends in voter registration advantage and demographics. In 1998, Republicans held a voter registration advantage of about 125,000,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dos.pa.gov/VotingElections/Documents/Elections%20Division/Voter%20Registration%20Statistics/1998%20election%20nov.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.dos.pa.gov/VotingElections/Documents/Elections%20Division/Voter%20Registration%20Statistics/1998%20election%20nov.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live|title=Error}}</ref> but by 2008 that advantage had shrunk to under 20,000 voters.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dos.pa.gov/VotingElections/Documents/Elections%20Division/Voter%20Registration%20Statistics/2008genelectionvoterregistotals.pdf |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.dos.pa.gov/VotingElections/Documents/Elections%20Division/Voter%20Registration%20Statistics/2008genelectionvoterregistotals.pdf |archive-date=October 9, 2022 |url-status=live|title = Error}}</ref> As of the [[Judicial elections in Pennsylvania|November 2021 election]], Democrats enjoyed a voter registration advantage of 50,000. Propelling and compounding the voter registration shift has been a change in demographics in the county. Since the [[2000 census (USA)|2000 Census]], the White population of the county has decreased from 80.3% to 68.5% as of the [[2020 United States census|2020 Census]], while, the Black population has risen from 14.5% to 22.7%, driven by the [[gentrification]] of [[Philadelphia]] and [[University City, Philadelphia|University City]] neighborhood and rapid demographic shift in [[Upper Darby]].<ref>http://45.79.181.212:8080/county/PA/Delaware  {{Dead link|date=July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/delawarecountypennsylvania |title=U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Delaware County, Pennsylvania |publisher=Census.gov |date= |access-date=July 20, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite news | url=https://whyy.org/articles/northeast-philly-suburbs-become-poorer-as-inner-city-gentrifies/ | title=Northeast Philly, suburbs become poorer as inner city gentrifies | newspaper=Whyy }}</ref> Further increasing the shift has been the change in education level demographics in the county, as voters have become more college educated and white collar (and, in turn, less blue collar) over the past few decades.

While the longstanding Republican registration edge has been erased, Republicans still remain competitive with Democrats at the state and local level. Most Republicans from the county tend to be fiscally conservative and socially moderate, as is the case with Republicans from most suburban Philadelphia counties. In the 2004 [[US Senate]] election, Republican [[Arlen Specter]] defeated [[Joe Hoeffel]] but Democrat [[Bob Casey, Jr.]] defeated [[Rick Santorum]] in the 2006 Senate election. All three Democratic state row office candidates carried it in 2008. In 2016, Delaware County elected all Democrats in national office elections except Republican Patrick Meehan (U.S. Representative).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.electionreturns.pa.gov/ENR_New/General/CountyResults?countyName=Delaware&ElectionID=undefined&ElectionType=G&IsActive=undefined|title=Pennsylvania Elections – County Results|website=electionreturns.pa.gov|access-date=November 25, 2016|archive-date=November 25, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161125112231/http://www.electionreturns.pa.gov/ENR_New/General/CountyResults?countyName=Delaware&ElectionID=undefined&ElectionType=G&IsActive=undefined|url-status=dead}}</ref>

After the election of [[Donald Trump]] in [[2016 United States presidential election|2016]], the county rapidly shifted blue as a result of increased Democratic turnout and less enthusiasm from often less conservative suburban Republicans. In the 2019 elections for the Delaware County Council, Democrats swept the board and elected Monica Taylor, Elaine P. Schaefer, and Christine Reuther, gaining control of the county Council for the first time since the [[American Civil War|Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/delaware-county-council-race-democrats-republicans-20191106.html | title=Democrats make history by winning control of Delaware County | date=November 5, 2019 }}</ref> This was the first time in history that the county had an all-Democratic Council.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://patch.com/pennsylvania/media/delaware-county-council-election-2019-live-results|title=Democrats Sweep Delaware County Council Race In Historic Election|date=November 5, 2019|website=Media, PA Patch|language=en|access-date=November 23, 2019}}</ref>

As of 2020, all of Delaware County is located in the state's [[Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district|5th congressional district]], represented by Democrat [[Mary Gay Scanlon]]. Prior to 2019, most of Delaware County had been in the [[Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district|7th congressional district]]. The district had been held for 20 years by Republican [[Curt Weldon]] until he was ousted by [[Joe Sestak]], a retired admiral, in the 2006 [[U.S. House of Representatives]] election. Also in the 2006 election, Democrat [[Bryan Lentz]] unseated Republican incumbent State Representative [[Tom Gannon]] in the [[Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 161|161st House district]]. In 2010 Sestak ran for the [[United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 2010|senate seat]] vacated by Arlen Specter and was replaced by Republican [[Pat Meehan]], who defeated Lentz, the Democratic candidate. Lentz was replaced in the State House by [[Joe Hackett (Pennsylvania)|Joe Hackett]], a Republican. Meehan represented the 7th district until his resignation on April 27, 2018.<ref name=resigns>{{cite news|last1=Tamari|first1=Jonathan|title=Rep. Pat Meehan resigns; will pay back $39,000 used for harassment settlement|url=http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/pat-meehan-pa-resigns-will-pay-back-sexual-harassment-settlement-20180427.html|access-date=April 27, 2018|work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|date=April 27, 2018}}</ref> Before it was thrown out by a [[Pennsylvania Supreme Court]] decision in 2018, the 7th Congressional District had been regarded one of the most irregularly drawn districts in the nation.<ref name=WashPost>{{cite news|last1=Ingraham|first1=Christopher|title=This is the best explanation of gerrymandering you will ever see|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/03/01/this-is-the-best-explanation-of-gerrymandering-you-will-ever-see/|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|access-date=March 2, 2015|ref=Web}}</ref>

=== Voter registration ===
{{Pie chart|thumb=right|value1=49.93|value2=35.91|value3=9.73|value4=4.43|caption=Chart of Voter Registration|label1=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]|label2=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]|label4=[[Third party (United States)|Other Parties]]|label3=[[Independent (United States)|Independent]]|color1={{party color|Democratic Party (United States)}}|color2={{party color|Republican Party (United States)}}|color3={{party color|Independent (United States)}}|color4={{party color|Green Party (United States)}}}}As of February 5, 2024, there are 406,799 registered voters in Delaware County.<ref name="Voter Registration">{{cite web |author=Pennsylvania Department of State |date=February 5, 2024 |title=Voter registration statistics by county |url=https://www.dos.pa.gov/VotingElections/OtherServicesEvents/VotingElectionStatistics/Pages/VotingElectionStatistics.aspx |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817202727/http://www.dos.pa.gov/VotingElections/OtherServicesEvents/VotingElectionStatistics/Documents/currentvotestats.xls |archive-date=August 17, 2016 |access-date=February 5, 2024 |website=dos.pa.gov}}</ref>
*[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]: 203,128 (49.93%)
*[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]: 146,053 (35.91%)
*[[Independent (United States)|Independent]]: 39,592 (9.73%)
*[[Third party (United States)|Third Party]]: 18,026 (4.43%)

===Delaware County Council===
{{As of|2022|3|2|df=US}}:<ref>{{cite web|title=Elected Officials – Delaware County, Pennsylvania|url=https://www.delcopa.gov/electedofficials/index.html|website=delcopa.gov}}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Office !! Holder !! Party
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| Chair || Monica Taylor || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| Vice-chair || Elaine Paul Schaefer || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| Member of Council || Kevin M. Madden || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| Member of Council || Christine Reuther || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| Member of Council || Richard Womack || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|}

===County row officers===
Row officers, a term unique to Pennsylvania, are a conglomeration of elected officials defined by Article IX, Section 4 of the [[Pennsylvania Constitution]]. This unit of officers includes the position of controller, District Attorney, treasurer, sheriff, register of wills, recorder of deeds, [[Prothonotary|prothonotaries]], clerks of the court, and the coroner. It is thought that this term originated because these positions were arranged in a row on a typical ballot.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cumberlink.com/news/local/row-officers-what-is-their-role-in-county-government/article_1aa10324-6702-11e4-97b8-2f2e71f054bd.html |url-access=subscription |title=Row officers: What is their role in county government? |first=Daniel |last=Walmer |newspaper=The Sentinel |location=Pennsylvania |date=November 7, 2014 |language=en|access-date=March 2, 2020}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Office !! Holder !! Party
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| Controller || Joanne Phillips, Esquire || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| District Attorney || Jack Stollsteimer || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| Register of Wills || Rachel Ezzell Berry, Esquire||[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| Sheriff || Jerry Sanders|| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|}

===United States Senate===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Senator !! Party
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[John Fetterman]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Republican}}
| [[Dave McCormick]] || [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|}

===United States House of Representatives===
[[File:Pennsylvania Congressional District 5.png|thumb|The 2018 congressional map ordered by the [[Supreme Court of Pennsylvania]] places all of Delaware County in the new [[Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district|5th congressional district]].]]{{As of|2021|7|23|df=US}}:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! District !! Representative !! Party
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district|5]] || [[Mary Gay Scanlon]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|}

===State senate===
{{As of|2021|7|23|df=US}}:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! District !! Representative !! Party
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 8th Senatorial District|8]] || [[Anthony H. Williams|Anthony Hardy Williams]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 9th Senatorial District|9]] || [[John I. Kane]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 17th Senatorial District|17]] || [[Amanda Cappelletti]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania Senate, District 26|26]] || [[Tim Kearney (politician)|Tim Kearney]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|}

===State House of Representatives===
{{As of|2022|3|2|df=US}}:
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! District !! Representative !! Party
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 159th Representative District|159]] || [[Carol Kazeem]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Republican}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 160th Representative District|160]] || [[Wendell Craig Williams|Craig Williams]] || [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 161st Representative District|161]] || [[Leanne Krueger]]|| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 162nd Representative District|162]] || [[Dave Delloso]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 163|163]] || [[Heather Boyd]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
|[[Pennsylvania's 164th Representative District|164]]|| [[Gina Curry]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 165th Representative District|165]] || [[Jennifer O'Mara]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 166th Representative District|166]] || [[Greg Vitali]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 168th Representative District|168]] || [[Lisa Borowski]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 185th Representative District|185]] || [[Regina Young]]|| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|- {{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[Pennsylvania's 191st Representative District|191]] || [[Joanna McClinton]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
|}

===Corrections===
The [[George W. Hill Correctional Facility]] (Delaware County Prison) is located in [[Thornbury Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania|Thornbury Township]].<ref name="Thornburystuff">"[http://thornbury.websecurestores.net/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=tqteHNQKPS8%3d&tabid=78&mid=498 Chapter 7 7–11] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320180858/http://thornbury.websecurestores.net/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=tqteHNQKPS8=&tabid=78&mid=498 |date=March 20, 2012 }}." Comprehensive Zoning Plan. Thornbury Township. Retrieved on September 6, 2011. "The three major institutions found in the Township, the Delaware County Prison, Glen Mills Schools and Cheyney University[...]"</ref><ref name="HillPrison">{{Cite web |url=http://www.co.delaware.pa.us/depts/prison.html |title=Delaware County Prison |access-date=September 7, 2011 |archive-date=September 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110902012508/http://www.co.delaware.pa.us/depts/prison.html |url-status=bot: unknown }}." Delaware County, Pennsylvania. Retrieved on September 6, 2011. "George W. Hill Correctional Facility (Delaware County Prison), which is located on 500 Cheyney Road in Thornbury Township[...]"</ref> The jail houses pre-trial inmates and convicted persons who are serving sentences of no longer than two years less one day.<ref name="HillPrison"/> It is operated by Delaware County.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Cooper |first1=Kenny |title=Delco takes back management of George W. Hill Correctional Facility — now it confronts 'chronic over-incarceration' |url=https://whyy.org/articles/delco-takes-back-management-of-george-w-hill-correctional-facility/ |publisher=WHYY |date=April 6, 2022}}</ref>