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Read the news of the day in less than 10 minutes — not that we’re counting.
Tuesday’s election was less about support for newly-elected governor Tom Wolf than disapproval of incumbent Tom Corbett. Democratic areas like Philadelphia got bluer while often conservative areas, notably Centre County, turned blue to get Corbett out of office. As AP exit polls showed, men, women, all age groups, all income levels and most regions didn’t like Corbett.
Here are five places that help illustrate how fed up the electorate was with the former governor.
Philadelphia County
Corbett was never going to win Philadelphia, and he didn’t even gain 50,000 votes Tuesday. The county hasn’t calculated all the votes yet, but his total of 44,159 puts him lower than even Lynn Swann, who only got 45,502 votes running against Ed Rendell in 2006.
2014: Corbett 11.6 percent (44,159 votes), Wolf 87.9 percent (324,966 votes) — with 97 percent reporting
2010: Corbett 17.1 percent (72,352 votes), Dan Onorato 82.8 percent (350,431 votes)
Difference for Corbett in four years: -28,193 votes
Allegheny County
Though Allegheny County tilts Democratic, it supported its local son Corbett in 2010 — barely. He didn’t come close to gaining a majority this time.
2014: Corbett 41.6 percent (146,989), Wolf 58.1 percent (205,311)
2010: Corbett 49.94 percent (213,889), Onorato (213,429) 49.8 percent
Difference for Corbett in four years: -66,990 votes
Centre County
Centre County and especially State College were ground-zero for the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Many people in this area of the state still dislike Corbett for the way he handled the scandal, particularly his alleged involvement in the firing of the legendary Joe Paterno. State College, usually a liberal hotbed anyway, took out its wrath on Corbett, with about half as many people voting for him in 2014 as in 2010.
2014: Corbett 42.4 percent (16,460), Wolf 57.6 percent (22,346)
2010: Corbett 54.4 percent (24,491), Onorato 45.4 percent (20, 457)
Difference for Corbett in four years: -8,031 votes
State College
2014: Corbett 23.7 percent (1,246), Wolf 76.3 percent (4,009)
2010: Corbett 34.1 percent (2,467), Onorato 65.9 percent (4,774)
Difference for Corbett in four years: -1,221 votes
York
Curiously, one of the few areas Corbett managed to win was Wolf’s home county, strongly conservative York. That said, Corbett still proved strongly unpopular in York County compared to his performance in 2010.
2014: Corbett 56.8 percent (69,055) , Wolf 42.9 percent (52,072)
2010: Corbett 70.6 percent (92,483), Onorato 29 percent (38,034)
Difference for Corbett in four years: -23,428 votes
