Trump win drew on growing sentiment in York County

http://www.ydr.com/story/news/politics/2016/05/05/trump-win-drew-growing-sentiment-york-county/83878746/

Some political observers say that opposition to the political establishment has been on the rise in York County for years. There was one moment on primary day when Charlie Gerow knew he wasn't going to be elected as a delegate to the Republican National Convention. He woke up before 7 a.m. to drive a friend to the polls bright and early, so she could be first in line, he said. She touched his arm with one hand, holding a Donald Trump palm card in the other, and said, earnestly, that she was sorry she couldn't vote for him.

 The palm card featured not only the presidential candidate, but the names of his three endorsed delegate candidates: Matthew Jansen, Joseph Sacco and Marc Scaringi.Those three, representing the entirety of the 4th Congressional District at July's convention in Cleveland, will each cast their votes for Trump as the Republican nominee. If it comes down to a second ballot — or even 30 ballots — every vote is for Trump, each has said.

To several political observers in York County, the foundation for the rise of a Trump-like candidate was laid years ago.

Trump, the New York real estate tycoon, is no favorite of the Republican Party, despite his front-runner status throughout the race. Not only did his final two Republican rivals join forces toward the end to try to stop him from getting the requisite number of delegates before the convention, but even 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney has taken shots at Trump's credibility.

And Trump feels the same way about the party."Our Republican system is absolutely rigged," the candidate said at an April 12 rally in Rome, New York. "It's a phony deal."Though the system isn't really "rigged," said York County Republican Committee Chairman Alex Shorb, the rules do favor insiders. But, he said, the strains against insiders have been obvious in York County for at least two years.

"York County has been ahead of this trend," Shorb said.It was two years ago that a York County businessman started to capture attention from political insiders who endorsed a different candidate. Now-state Sen. Scott Wagner, of Spring Garden Township, won his seat in a write-in campaign.The owner of Penn Waste beat out not only Democratic candidate Linda Small, of New Freedom, for the seat but longtime Republican state Rep. Ron Miller.

In the same year, the current leaders of the local Republican Party ran on a platform that they would not endorse a candidate in a competitive primary, but would endorse the winner of the primary."In a sense we ran on an anti-establishment platform or, I would say, a limited establishment platform," Shorb said. "Trump is making that appeal to voters and I think it is resonating."

This has happened before An anti-establishment vein is nothing new in partisan politics, said Corey M. Brooks, an assistant professor of history at York College of Pennsylvania and author of "Liberty Power: Antislavery Third Parties and the Transformation of American Politics." Instead, he doesn't find Trump to be that different at all."I find the support for Trump less surprising than it has appeared to be to some commentators," he wrote in an email.

"Trump's positions are not that inconsistent with those advanced by right-leaning Republican Party leaders, like the county's congressional representative Scott Perry."In fact, the split between the anti- and establishment parts of the party is nothing compared to that of the 1850s, when the Whig Party collapsed and the Republican party emerged, he said."It doesn't seem to me that Trump is addressing issues that are radically different from those espoused by many mainstream Republicans or that are likely to appeal to enough Democratic voters to produce the sort of party transformation that we saw in the 1850s," he wrote.If Trump's win doesn't transform the party, it is still indicative of a disconnect brewing for decades between voter expectations and Capitol reality, said one longtime local political observer.

Former York County Republican Committee executive committee member Mack Johnson — who has been involved in local politics for about 50 years — cast his primary vote for Kasich."I guess I think I was one of the few Republicans where there wasn't a total revolt against the beltway," Johnson said, adding that he could have also "enthusiastically supported (Florida Sen. Marco) Rubio or (former Florida Gov. Jeb) Bush," who have each dropped out.Johnson said he sees the trend to buck the establishment going back, on a broad and national scale, to the late 1980s and the final years of the Ronald Reagan administration."I think it's something that has been building for some years. It's not just the Republican Party. (Vermont Sen.) Bernie Sanders has been doing it in the Democrat Party as well," he said.

In short, he said, voters aren't seeing the results they want when they vote people in who reflect their values. They're angry and frustrated, he said, and don't understand the dynamics of a divided government — when the president and the majority party in congress are of separate parties.It takes time to make legislative movement when, he said, the Republican Party doesn't have the 60 votes needed in the senate for cloture, which puts a stop to debate on bills and forces a vote.

So they've revolted, he said."So they heard Mr. Trump tell them a lot of the things they would like to hear. And a lot of the things he says I am not against," he said. "I would like to see America great again ... I'd like to quit apologizing to other countries."'

A change in York County' Trump's message resonated with the majority of Pennsylvanian Republicans. He earned nearly 57 percent of Republican voters in the sate and nearly 59 percent of Republican voters in York County."The depth and breadth of Donald trump's success in Pennsylvania is impressive," said Gerow, who will still go to the convention as a non-voting alternate delegate. "I think folks thought he would win but they just didn't think he would win everywhere, which he did."Lisa Wingert, who has served as a Manchester Township supervisor for 19 years and is currently its chair, reflects that view.

She said she will be "celebrating the day" President Barack Obama, a Democrat, is out of office. But this year, the campaigns stayed active late into primary season and she had an actual voice for his replacement."For the first time in my lifetime, the primary in Pennsylvania actually mattered," she said. "Nothing gets accomplished and I think that's why a lot of Republicans are mad. Stand up against the president, stand up for what you're for."In August 2012, as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida, Wingert cast her vote for Mitt Romney.

Now she's a Trump supporter.She made up her mind soon after Rubio dropped out from the race in March and she attended a "very organized" Trump rally."I think there's a change in York County. I think there's a change all over," she said. "I think we as voters in York County are fed up ... We want someone totally out of the box."