Which state party is better run: Oho GOP or Pennsylvania Democrats?

[Cyrusman]

Which state party is better run? Both are very well run IMO.

[wbrocks67]

I think PA Dems objectively also because they have to work harder, because it's a swing state. Ohio GOP may be good but it's not like they have to do much work now given the state's lean. PA Dems have taken a 50/50 state and really done amazing work the last few years.

[Progressive Pessimist]

The Ohio GOP allowed JR Majewski to be nominated and may do it again. They also came way closer to losing than they should have in the 2022 Senate election. Also their congressional map gerrymander sort of backfired. I think their perceived strength is based more on impenetrable trends in the state for Democrats than the strength of the Ohio GOP at this point.

The Pennsylvania Democrats meanwhile significantly dug themselves out of a hole and had a way better year than they should have in 2022.

[Senator Incitatus]

The Ohio GOP allowed JR Majewski to be nominated and may do it again.

This wasn't close to as bad an own goal as Scott Wallace was. He wasn't called "the worst candidate of the 2018 cycle" for no reason.

[ctherainbow]

Before last year, I would have said OH Pubs for how they turned their state so red so quickly, but the PA Dems have started reforming their organization in intelligent ways that lead me to say they are currently doing slightly better than the OH Pubs.  Some of these include:

- Pledging to hire actual Pennsylvania residents to do electoral organizing instead of parachuting in new out of state college interns from other parts of the country every election cycle (a truly revolutionary concept, I know).

- Electing our PA Dems first ever black PA Dems Chair, over the wishes of Shapiro’s team, who pushed an old white suburban consultant fossil who, when asked by my county State Committeewoman what he would do as Chair to help us flip the PA State Legislature, said, “well that’s really just up to the voters”, and would give no other answer.

- Realizing that our growing strength in the Philly suburbs is largely already being carried by the strong suburban county parties, and that the statewide organization needs to be focusing on improving the abysmal turnout in Philly/encouraging Allegheny County spillover/stopping the bleeding in rural counties.

- Focusing on actual 67 county strategy and “strongly encouraging” the statewide candidates to follow Big John’s lead and campaign in every single county in the Commonwealth.

We’ll have to see how well the reforms work out in our statewide judicial races this year, but as someone who’s been involved for years now, I’m encouraged to see the changes being made.

[Spectator]

This is like apples to oranges, much like the AZ vs FL thread. One is a swing state, the other one isn’t. Not fair to answer in a vacuum, but the PA Dems if I had to say.

[Podgy the Bear]

After 2016, for the Pennsylvania Democrats to hold the governorship and have both Senate seats and now win the state legislature is remarkable.   They now exploit the weaknesses on the other side and make the most of it.

They are a model for what any political party around the country needs to do in order to be successful.  

[MARGINS6729]

The Ohio GOP allowed JR Majewski to be nominated and may do it again. They also came way closer to losing than they should have in the 2022 Senate election. Also their congressional map gerrymander sort of backfired. I think their perceived strength is based more on impenetrable trends in the state for Democrats than the strength of the Ohio GOP at this point.

The Pennsylvania Democrats meanwhile significantly dug themselves out of a hole and had a way better year than they should have in 2022.

I still don't understand why the state is so out of reach for Democrats now- it's not that different from other rust belt states.

[S019]

Even while Ohio was a swing state, the Ohio Republicans consistently won elections and now they are winning them in landslides. But the PA Democrats are definitely much better run now than they were 10 years ago.

[Amenhotep Bakari-Sellers]

PA and DeWine isn't on the ballot this time Brown can certainly win I have OH strong D

There is split voting Brown can certainly win with Greg Landsman while Rs dominate the state legislature

[cg41386]

The Ohio GOP allowed JR Majewski to be nominated and may do it again. They also came way closer to losing than they should have in the 2022 Senate election. Also their congressional map gerrymander sort of backfired. I think their perceived strength is based more on impenetrable trends in the state for Democrats than the strength of the Ohio GOP at this point.

The Pennsylvania Democrats meanwhile significantly dug themselves out of a hole and had a way better year than they should have in 2022.

I still don't understand why the state is so out of reach for Democrats now- it's not that different from other rust belt states.

More rurals, and for the most part, the suburbs of the major cities are still fairly conservative, especially Cincinnati.

[cg41386]

Not to mention, Lorain/Mahoning/Lake/Ashtabula are slipping away (or already have) from Dems.

[Vosem]

Obviously PA Dems; frankly the state has obviously been quite a bit to the right of the US as a whole since the onset of the Trump era and their continued strong performances in statewide elections seem like they fit a pattern where PA Dems often nominate good candidates* rather than one where a realignment hasn't trickled downballot yet. The PAGOP has also frankly been really disorganized for a long time, maybe since the early Bush years, but despite this they've held on to the state legislature for most of the time and clearly win the generic ballot in a neutral environment.

(2022 militated in favor of this being a piece of trivia rather than something important, but only two states have trended Republican at the last four consecutive elections -- 2008/2012/2016/2020. These states are Arkansas and Pennsylvania.)

*When they let their guard down, see the GOP picking up downballot offices with nobodies in 2020, which wasn't exactly a strong Republican year nationally.

[Skill and Chance]

Obviously PA Dems; frankly the state has obviously been quite a bit to the right of the US as a whole since the onset of the Trump era and their continued strong performances in statewide elections seem like they fit a pattern where PA Dems often nominate good candidates* rather than one where a realignment hasn't trickled downballot yet. The PAGOP has also frankly been really disorganized for a long time, maybe since the early Bush years, but despite this they've held on to the state legislature for most of the time and clearly win the generic ballot in a neutral environment.

(2022 militated in favor of this being a piece of trivia rather than something important, but only two states have trended Republican at the last four consecutive elections -- 2008/2012/2016/2020. These states are Arkansas and Pennsylvania.)

*When they let their guard down, see the GOP picking up downballot offices with nobodies in 2020, which wasn't exactly a strong Republican year nationally.

I would suggest they just like Trump a lot, but still fundamentally want to be governed by Democrats.  Kind of the reverse of Texas. 

[Spectator]

Obviously PA Dems; frankly the state has obviously been quite a bit to the right of the US as a whole since the onset of the Trump era and their continued strong performances in statewide elections seem like they fit a pattern where PA Dems often nominate good candidates* rather than one where a realignment hasn't trickled downballot yet. The PAGOP has also frankly been really disorganized for a long time, maybe since the early Bush years, but despite this they've held on to the state legislature for most of the time and clearly win the generic ballot in a neutral environment.

(2022 militated in favor of this being a piece of trivia rather than something important, but only two states have trended Republican at the last four consecutive elections -- 2008/2012/2016/2020. These states are Arkansas and Pennsylvania.)

*When they let their guard down, see the GOP picking up downballot offices with nobodies in 2020, which wasn't exactly a strong Republican year nationally.

I would suggest they just like Trump a lot, but still fundamentally want to be governed by Democrats.  Kind of the reverse of Texas.  

Yeah, I’m holding off judgment of Pennsylvania until we get a presidential election without Trump on the ballot. Pennsylvania Republicans have gotten wrecked in every other cycle without him on the ballot post-2010.

[Oryxslayer]

I'm surprised nobody here mentioned how the current OH State House Speaker was elected because he got the Democrat votes after the GOP caucus divided themselves over who they should elect. That on its own should disqualify OH, especially after how the PA dems in the same chamber held the line when they won a 1 seat (initially a 0 seat) majority in 2022.