Takeaways and more from Tuesday’s election
Mackenzie wins endorsements from challengers
Political fences have been mended by the three Republicans who faced each other in the 7th Congressional District’s primary race on Tuesday.
State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, the Republican nominee for the 7th Congressional District, has been endorsed by his two opponents, Kevin Dellicker and Maria Montero.
Dellicker called Mackenzie Wednesday morning to congratulate him on the victory.
"Our mission now is to retain and grow our Republican majority in Congress, and that means defeating Susan Wild,” Dellicker said in a statement released by his campaign. “I endorse Ryan’s candidacy and encourage my supporters to help him win too."
Mackenzie of Lower Macungie won with 42.6% vote (23,488 votes), Dellicker finished second with 34% (18,780) and Montero third with 23.4% (12,890), according to unofficial results on the state election website. Mackenzie, who has served 12 years in the state House, will face Democrat Susan Wild, who is seeking her fourth, two-year term in Congress in the Nov. 5 election.
Dellicker of Heidelberg Township also was unsuccessful in seeking the GOP nomination for the 7th District in 2022.
A member of the National Guard and a businessman, he told supporters at Madeline’s in Fogelsville Tuesday night that he was “humbled” by their support. “Thank you for your commitment to keeping America free," he said.
He said he ran a clean campaign in the primary and urged Mackenzie and Wild to follow his example.
"I hope and expect the candidates will run a positive campaign that reflects the strong values of our community,” said Dellicker. “Our community deserves that.”
Asked for comment about the primary, Montero’s campaign on Wednesday provided a link to an interview she made with WFMZ-TV during her watch party at the Boatyard Bar & Grill in Lehighton Tuesday night. In that interview, Montero said, “I'd like to congratulate Ryan McKenzie [who] did a great job. He has a wonderful team. And … the most No. 1 priority is that we beat Susan Wild.”
Montero, a lawyer from Easton who ran her first political campaign, added, “I'm really excited that all of us are going to be behind Ryan Mackenzie, and I endorse him 100%.”
Voters say yes to open space
Residents in Heidelberg and Whitehall townships said yes to ballot questions on raising taxes to fund open space projects, according to unofficial results posted by Lehigh County.
In Heidelberg, the vote was 450 in favor (56.96%) and 340 against (43.04%) of an additional annual earned income tax of 0.175% for 10 years beginning on Jan. 1, 2025. That tax will be “used for financing the acquisition, preservation and conservation of open space.”
In Whitehall, the vote was 2,376 in favor (54.2%) and 2,006 (45.8%) against increasing the property tax by 0.05 mill for open space preservation. The current tax rate is 3.80 mills.
Democrats dominate mail-in, absentee voting
Roughly three times as many Democrats as Republicans in the Lehigh Valley returned mail-in ballots and absentee ballots for Tuesday’s primary election.
In Lehigh County, 26,523 voters asked for mail-in and absentee ballots, according to statistics from the Department of State. That broke down to 19,098 Democrats, 7,189 Republicans and 236 others. When it came to returning their ballots, 15,057 Democrats did so versus 5,420 Republicans and 137 others.
The numbers were similar in Northampton County where 26,613 voters applied. That included 19,751 Democrats, 6,854 Republicans and eight others. A total of 19,855 mail-in and absentee ballots were turned in – 14,955 from Democrats, 4,930 from Republicans and zero from others.
Protest votes
Talk of protest votes for both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump got a lot of buzz before Tuesday’s primary.
Groups such as Uncommitted PA were encouraging Democrats to write “uncommitted” under the write-in option for the presidential ballot to “demonstrate to the Biden-Harris Administration that their support is dependent on their ability to stand with the majority of voters in their calls for immediate and lasting ceasefire in Palestine.”
Among those heeding such calls was a Democrat from Easton who had previously been a Republican. He was not happy with the situation in the Middle East. “As a voter, I was not given good choices,” he said, adding that he wrote “uncommitted” under a number of races.
On the Republican side, voters could use Nikki Haley, the former United Nations ambassador who dropped out of the race in March, as a protest vote as her name remained on the ballot.
That’s what John Schray, 58, a registered Republican, who was voting at Butz Elementary School in Nazareth, did, calling his vote for Haley an “anti-Trump” vote.
Schray said he didn’t vote in the 7th Congressional District race where Mackenzie won.
“I have three daughters, and I define myself as a feminist, so I’m struggling with who to vote for in the Republican Party.“
So how did it go?
The Pennsylvania Department of State said it won’t have write-in figures until after counties certify their elections.
Statewide, 157,581 Republicans picked Haley – nearly 17% of the vote. Trump received 790,476 votes (83.38%).
Across Pennsylvania, Biden received 941,516 votes (93.17%) while the only other Democrat on the ballot, Dean Benson Phillips, a Minnesota businessman, got 68,999 votes (6.83%).
A look at Northampton County shows Biden received 24,256 votes, 4,038 less than in 2020. There were 999 write-in votes on the Democratic ballot on Tuesday, about 400 more than in 2020.
On the Republican side, Trump received 18,985 votes, about 4,284 less than in 2020. Haley received 3,169 votes. There were 267 write-ins, 145 less than in 2020.
On Tuesday, Lehigh County posted 24,256 votes for Biden, about 4,000 less than in 2020. There were 1,676 votes for Dean Phillips and 1,136 write-ins. Lehigh didn’t have write-in comparisons from 2020.
Complicating a tea-leaf read of the situation is that write-in votes as well as votes for third-party candidates are commonly seen in elections. Turnout was lower on Tuesday – about 22% – compared to other presidential primaries in the Lehigh Valley that saw numbers ranging from 28% to 36% in 2020 and 2016.