How Bucks County Voted: Turnout Tuesday Highest In 4 Years

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —In a key state in a key county, 65 percent of Bucks County's registered voters cast their ballots in Tuesday's general election where the battleground focused on the U.S. Senate race.

U.S. Senate Republican candidate Mehmet Oz had even established his campaign headquarters in Newtown Tuesday in his battle with Democrat John Fetterman, hoping that his time as a former television personality and doctor would resonate with voters.

But Oz, who had moved to Pennsylvania to run for office, was conceding to Fetterman Tuesday with the Democratic lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania being declared the projected winner.

Bucks County had a major hand in that decision.

Bucks is known in Pennsylvania as a "Purple County," meaning the county can basically hand over a win for either party. And that trend stayed the course Tuesday night.

According to the Bucks County Board of Elections, 65 percent of the county's 482,009 went to the polls in Tuesday's Midterm Election with 313,057 of them casting votes.

Fetterman received 161,487 —or 52.10 percent —of those votes. Oz garnered 139,698 votes, or 45.07 percent.

Of the county's 18 contests, voters heavily favored Democrat Josh Shapiro for Governor, with the state's Attorney General getting 182,255 votes, outdistancing Republican Doug Mastriano, who received 121,621 votes.

Two contests were referendum ballot questions in Newtown and Yardley.

Of the remaining 14 races, Republicans took eight of them and three of four state Senate races as well.

According to voting statistics from the Pennsylvania Department of State, Bucks has more Democratic registered voters than Republican ones.

There were 204,167 registered Democrats to 196,486 registered Republicans, the agency reported.

In regards to State Representative races, most voters tended to stick with household names that have resonated over the years, no matter the party.

That included re-electing Democrat Steve Santarsiero in the 10th Senate District and Democrats Tina Davis, Perry Warren and John Galloway in Lower Bucks legislative races.

Republican Frank Farry won the 6th Senate District race. He had served as a state representative.

There were still some close calls and even an upset, although all election results are unofficial until certified by the Board of Elections before month's end.

• Republican Kathleen "K.C." Tomlinson was the projected winner in a tight race with Democrat Laurie Smith. A little more than 1,000 votes separated the candidates in the 18th Legislative District.
• Democrat Brian Munroe appeared to be the projected winner over Republican incumbent Todd Polinchock as the state representative in the 144th Legislative District. But the candidates were separated in that race by less than 400 votes.
• Meanwhile, in the 142nd Legislative District, newcomers Joseph Hogan, a Republican, and Democrat Mark Moffa were three parts apart with Hogan holding the lead in unofficial tallies.

The county board also stated that absentee and mail-in ballots had only been partially reported as of Wednesday morning.

In terms of voter turnout, Bucks County residents came out in droves to the polls Tuesday.

The 65 percent turnout marked the highest for a non-presidential election since the 2018 general election, when voter turnout in Bucks County reached a shade under 70 percent.

General elections, like Tuesday's, tend to draw more voters to the polls.

During the Biden-Trump election in 2020, Bucks' turnout reached an all-time high of 81.41 percent.

Otherwise, most municipal elections tend to draw turnout of between 25 percent and 40 percent.