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As of Monday, Bucks County has flipped red, with Republicans gaining a more than 200 voter registration advantage over Democrats.
Pat Poprick, chair of the Bucks County Republican Committee, said this turn marks the culmination of a years-long effort by Republican organizers in one of Pennsylvania’s most sharply divided counties.
“We’re all ecstatic. This is something since 2007, that’s the last time we’ve been in the majority, so this has been something that’s been very important to all of us,” she said.
Republicans closed a gap of 10,000 registered voters dating to November 2020. At that time, registered Democrats in Bucks numbered over 208,000, with Republicans topping out over 198,000.
As of Monday, Republicans now number 198,045, with Democratic registrations at 197,781.
Republican organizers said the shift comes from Democrats switching their registration to Republican, residents who recently moved to the area who had to update their voter registration to their new address and registered Republican, as well as 18 year olds or other people who hadn’t previously registered to vote signing up as members of the GOP.
Dan Mallinson, associate professor of public policy and administration at Penn State Harrisburg, said that while voter registration numbers are important, they aren’t the full story. Oftentimes, voter registration numbers lag behind actual voting behaviors, he said.
“Even though the Democratic presidential candidate has won in Bucks County since 1992, if you look at the actual differences between the Democratic winner and the Republican, many of those races are still very, very close, including the last election,” Mallinson said. “In the fall, we’ll know if it really now is a red county, or if those registrations are just kind of lagging how people’s voting behaviors [have] already changed.”
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