Editing Dauphin County, Pennsylvania (section)

==Politics and government==
{{PresHead|place=Dauphin County, Pennsylvania|whig=no|source1=<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}}</ref>}}
<!-- PresRow should be {{PresRow|Year|Winning party|GOP/Whig vote #|Dem vote #|3rd party vote #|State}} -->
{{PresRow|2024|Democratic|69,474|78,327|2,280|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2020|Democratic|66,408|78,983|2,510|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2016|Democratic|60,863|64,706|6,214|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2012|Democratic|57,450|64,965|1,886|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2008|Democratic|58,238|69,975|1,632|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2004|Republican|65,296|55,299|613|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|2000|Republican|53,631|44,390|2,637|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1996|Republican|44,417|40,936|7,618|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1992|Republican|45,479|36,990|16,441|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1988|Republican|48,917|35,079|681|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1984|Republican|54,330|33,576|752|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1980|Republican|44,039|27,252|7,096|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1976|Republican|46,819|34,342|1,961|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1972|Republican|54,307|22,587|1,376|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1968|Republican|48,394|25,480|7,914|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1964|Democratic|42,718|46,119|594|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1960|Republican|61,726|33,962|427|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1956|Republican|61,342|29,226|375|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1952|Republican|58,385|30,985|286|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1948|Republican|46,861|27,729|796|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1944|Republican|44,725|30,684|333|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1940|Republican|42,394|38,305|282|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1936|Democratic|39,598|43,256|644|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1932|Republican|36,278|22,412|1,462|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1928|Republican|49,108|9,115|394|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1924|Republican|27,838|9,004|4,074|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1920|Republican|26,094|11,990|1,839|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1916|Republican|13,954|11,483|1,315|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1912|Progressive|6,012|7,470|12,337|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1908|Republican|15,637|7,546|1,488|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1904|Republican|16,508|5,040|1,186|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1900|Republican|14,673|7,390|783|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1896|Republican|14,752|6,584|733|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1892|Republican|11,010|7,520|627|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1888|Republican|10,852|7,684|286|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1884|Republican|9,394|6,378|298|Pennsylvania}}
{{PresRow|1880|Republican|8,573|6,619|337|Pennsylvania}}
|}
{{U.S. SenHead|place=Dauphin 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|66,949|77,022|4,985|Pennsylvania}}
{{U.S. SenFoot}}

Dauphin County was historically a Republican stronghold, like most of south-central Pennsylvania. It was long one of the more conservative urban counties in the nation, having only supported a Democrat for president twice from 1880 to 2004. The only breaks in this trend were in 1936 and 1964, which were national 400-electoral vote Democratic landslides. 

However, there has been a decided shift toward the Democrats in national and statewide elections in recent years. This culminated when the Democrats overtook the Republicans in countywide registration during the summer of 2008. 

[[Bob Casey Jr.]] carried the county in the 2006 Senate election when he unseated [[Rick Santorum]]. According to the Dauphin County Board of Elections, in 2008 [[Barack Obama]] became the first Democratic presidential candidate to carry Dauphin County since 1964, receiving 9.0% more of the vote than [[John McCain]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Pennsylvania Election Returns |url=http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?ElectionID=28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121116081121/http://www.electionreturns.state.pa.us/ElectionsInformation.aspx?ElectionID=28 |archive-date=November 16, 2012 |access-date=July 12, 2017}}</ref> It was also only the third time Dauphin County had supported a Democrat for president since 1936. Obama won Dauphin with a slightly reduced majority in 2012, while [[Hillary Clinton]] won it with a narrow plurality in 2016. It is now the only blue county in the traditionally powerfully Republican Susquehanna Valley.

In 2023, with the election of newcomer Justin Douglas to join George Hartwick, III, the Democrats took a majority on the Board of County Commissioners for the first time in nearly 100 years.  That same year, Democrat Bridget Whitley was elected Clerk of Courts as the first Democratic row officer, while the remaining row offices remained Republican. Three of the state house seats are held by Democrats. Republicans control two state house seats as well as one of the two state senate seats and the congressional seat. Most local elected officials are also Republican, by a margin of 3 to 1. This is because most of the Democratic gains have been in already heavily Democratic Harrisburg, which has had a Democratic mayor since 1982 and has been represented in the state house by a Democrat since 1975. In contrast, the suburbs and rural areas are among the most Republican areas of Pennsylvania.

=== Voter registration ===
As of July 29, 2024, 44.0% of registered voters in the county were Democrats, 38.6% Republicans, 13.3% non-affiliated, and 4.1% other party.<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 |archive-url= |archive-date= |access-date=February 5, 2024 |website=dos.pa.gov |format=XLS}}</ref> 
{{Pie chart|thumb=left|value1=43.98|value2=38.61|value3=13.33|value4=4.07|caption=Chart of Voter Registration|label4=[[Third party (United States)|Other Parties]]|label3=[[Independent (United States)|Independent]]|label2=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]|label1=[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]|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)}}}}
Party registration stats according to the Secretary of State's office:
{| class=wikitable
! colspan = 6 | Voter Registration and Party Enrollment
|-
! colspan = 2 | Party
! Number of Voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}} 
| [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]
| align = center | 86,237
| align = center | 43.98%
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
| align = center | 75,704
| align = center | 38.61%
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent Party (United States)}}
| [[Independent (United States)|Independent]]
| align = center | 26,129
| align = center | 13.33%
|-
| {{party color cell|Other party (United States)}}
| [[Third party (U.S. politics)|Third parties]]
| align = center | 7,986
| align = center | 4.07%
|-
! colspan = 2 | Total
! align = center | 196,056
! align = center | 100%
|}

===County commissioners===
*George P. Hartwick III, Chairman, Democrat
*Justin Douglas, Vice Chairman, Democrat
*Mike Pries, Secretary, Republican

===Other county offices===
{{div col}}
*Clerk of Courts, Bridget Whitley, Democrat
*Controller, Mary Bateman, Republican
*Coroner, Graham Hetrick, Republican
*District Attorney, Fran Chardo, Republican
*Prothonotary, Matt Krupp, Republican
*Recorder of Deeds, Jim Zugay, Republican
*Register of Wills and Clerk of the Orphans' Court, Jean Marfizo King, Republican
*Sheriff, Nick Chimienti, Republican
*Treasurer, Nick DiFrancesco, Republican
*Solicitor, Fred Lighty, Esquire
{{div col end}}

===State representatives===
{{div col}}
*[[Nathan Davidson]], Democrat, 103rd district
*[[Dave Madsen]], Democrat, 104th district
*[[Justin C. Fleming|Justin Fleming]], Democrat, 105th district
*[[Tom Mehaffie]], Republican, 106th district
*[[Joseph Kerwin (politician)|Joseph Kerwin]], Republican, 125th district
{{div col end}}
<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/findyourlegislator/county_list.cfm?CNTYLIST=Dauphin|title=Find Your Legislator|last=Center|first=Legislativate Data Processing|website=The official website for the Pennsylvania General Assembly.|language=en|access-date=April 21, 2017}}</ref>

===State senate===
*[[Patty Kim (politician)|Patty Kim]], Democrat, [[Pennsylvania Senate, District 15|15th district]]
*[[Greg Rothman]], Republican, [[Pennsylvania Senate, District 34|34th district]]
<ref name=":0" />

===United States House of Representatives===
*[[Scott Perry (politician)|Scott Perry]], Republican, [[Pennsylvania's 10th congressional district|10th district]]
<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/PA|title=Pennsylvania Senators, Representatives, and Congressional District Maps - GovTrack.us|website=GovTrack.us|access-date=April 21, 2017}}</ref>

===United States Senate===
{|class="wikitable"
|-
!Senator !! Party
|-{{Party shading/Republican}}
| [[Dave McCormick]] || [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]
|-{{Party shading/Democratic}}
| [[John Fetterman]] || [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrat]]
|}
<ref name=":1" />