Blue Wife, Red Husband: LMT Household at the Heart of the Battleground

For many years I worked inside New Jersey, covering the State House for NJN Public Television and then NJTV News.  Although I lived and breathed New Jersey Politics, I’ve always lived across the river in Lower Makefield Township (also known as LMT), Pennsylvania – also called Yardley.  To be honest, I mostly paid attention to political activity under McGreevey, Corzine and Christie and didn’t focus as much on what was going on in my own backyard.  I knew my town was very politically active with signs for both parties everywhere, but I never took a deep dive into how my town plays a role in the larger state and federal election outcomes.

I live in Lower Makefield Township which is home to about 33,000 people. We share a zip code with Yardley Borough, so a lot of people say we are from Yardley.  For this article’s sake, I will be speaking about Lower Makefield Township, where there are 15 voting precincts, while Yardley Borough has one.

Although a Republican presidential candidate hasn’t won since the 1980’s in LMT, I was under the impression that the township was a major political battleground, especially because currently both our State Senator and State Representative are Democrats, while our Congressman is Republican.  But it’s actually been more of a political turnover town, which changed from bright red to bright blue. Joe Sundeen, a Lower Makefield Township Democrat Committeeperson moved here 50 years ago and said the Democrats were a non-entity back them, all the supervisors were Republican.  Now, 50 years later, all the supervisors are Democrats.

So how did this change happen? Sundeen said a change started to happen when our current State Senator Steve Santarsiero was the first Democrat to be elected to the LMT Board of Supervisors in the early 2000s.  Republican LMT Supervisor Jeff Benedetto (2012-2017) said, “You have a lot of people who are moving out of the city, New York or Philadelphia, they move to this area, they find the school district desirable, a rural community to an extent, and they bring their politics with them.  The population hasn’t changed too much, but it’s turned over.”

According to Bucks County GOP Executive/Republican Lower Makefield Township GOP Committeeman Jeff Hall Gale, in LMT there are 10,188 registered Republicans and 12,363 Democrats.  He said, “The difference, it’s a lot, but it’s not crazy with the size of population. Democrats have a slight advantage, and registered independents tend to lean more Democrat in recent years.”  LMT is part of Bucks County and there’s an interesting trend happening in the county.  Bucks County Democrat Committee Secretary/Lower Makefield Township-Yardley Democratic Chair Karen Vander Laan said, “If you look at voter registration for Bucks County in the past 5-10 years, the trend has been more voters to register as Republican, so they have an edge in Bucks County.  But in the same time period, more democratic voters have come out and voted.  So right now it’s sort of a wash.”

However, for a mostly blue township, the town’s landscape gives off an appearance of mixed political preferences, especially for this upcoming presidential election, with tons of signage for both candidates decorating neighborhood lawns and street corners.  Sundeen said, “If you drive around, you’ll see a lot of Harris/Walz signs, but there is a segment of the Republican party who is very active, they are the minority, but they get a lot of signs out. So, the impression you get is there’s 50/50 with Trump people and Democrats with Harris, but the vote doesn’t come out that way.”  Gale said, “there’s a lot of signs up for both candidates because Lower Makefield Township is a college educated town with a lot of political people. So, they’re very connected to what’s going on.”

Beside the signage, Benedetto said back in the day, it wasn’t as big of a deal what party you supported, but it’s a different game since Trump became a candidate in 2016.   He said, “I think unfortunately the Republican brand, through a variety of reasons, it has become damaged.  If someone says I’m a Republican, you will get a wince sometimes, like how could you be a Republican in this day and age.  That’s not good, you’re judging that person on a political party.” Ironically, Sundeen said back in the day when he first moved here, there was more hostility if you were a Democrat, “We put a sign out for a local candidate and our house got egged, but I think things are pretty calm here now.”

Benedetto also added, “The signage is out there, I don’t really know what effect it really has.  I think people have gotten to a point where it’s not worth it, probably 20 percent are not thrilled with either choice, so they go why alienate my neighbors, it’s not going got make a difference.  “

Going beyond signage, Hall said, “He’s heard of a lot of neighbors who don’t talk to each other because of politics, even in his own LMT neighborhood, there’s definitely people having issues with friends, family, and social media in community groups.”

Both local Republican and Democratic party committees do a lot door knocking and both have said they have experienced households where the husband is red and the wife is blue. I happen to have close friends who live in LMT who fit into that narrative, so I asked them what it’s like to live in a mixed political household. They agreed to be interviewed but asked not to use their names.  Just for a quick background: The husband’s idol is Ronald Reagan, and his economic ideals. He also says he’s fully behind Trump because the country is a mess.  The wife says the economy is not as big of a concern for her and she has more overall liberal views.  As you read my interview with them, please picture a debate format.

Opening Statement –

Red Husband – “We don’t vote differently, she just voted ‘incorrectly’.”

Blue Wife – “He’s just dumb, you can quote me on that.”

They both said they have never voted for the same president.  When asked if they ever talk politics –

Blue Wife – “We don’t talk about it because neither one of us is going to change our minds. “

Red Husband – “Generally we don’t talk about it and when we do, it goes like the only presidential debate this year, so….”

Blue Wife – “It means I win but he claims he won.”

Closing Statements –

Red Husband – “She married me, so she wins as stated.”

Blue Wife – “I’m still waiting for my prize…lol”

So the question remains, how do presidential votes in Lower Makefield Township affect Bucks County, the state of Pennsylvania and the overall election?  Hall says, “Lower Makefield Township is trending more and more Democratic. But it’s possible Trump wins Bucks County as a whole.  I do know if the polling shows that Trump loses Bucks County by no more than 2%, he’ll probably win PA.”

Vander Laan emphasized, “I think a lot of eyes are on Bucks County.  More voters come out in Bucks County than some other counties. If there’s a huge turnout in a red leaning county, we’re hoping that the blue or left leaning here in Bucks County will overcome that.”

Sundeen has had political experience here for half a century and in his experience, he said, “It’s our duty to turn out as many of our people as possible.  I always like to say Lower Makefield is key to Bucks County, Bucks County is key to Pennsylvania, and Pennsylvania is key to the national election.”

Both local party committees do agree that they need younger people to get more active in their political parties for future elections.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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9 responses to “Blue Wife, Red Husband: LMT Household at the Heart of the Battleground”

  1. And, the black community in Philadelphia is coming out more and more for Trump. Why???? Because Trump gave them prosperity in his first 4-year term. He gave them many opportunities for businesses which pulled many blacks out of the Democrat-instilled poverty cycle. He is going after the illegal alien invasion that’s invading the black community and getting all the entitlements that should go to legal black AMERICANS!!!!!!

  2. trump was not a job maker. His uncompetitive at madman covid destroyed many small businesses in the Country, and the money that was meant to help them keep people employed was wiped out by Republican office holders within minutes of it being opened to sign up. They did another release and that ended up being taken over by scammers. Small businesses were forced to shut down and they never reopened. The lack of vetting for ppp funding hurt the people it was meant to help. The economize zones that trump had Kushner create are another source of frustration for those without connections in govt. Kushner & his brother profited from the scam, as did many of their friends. Your comment related to illegals talking entitlements and jobs from black people is probably one of the most racist, disrespectful, tone deaf, and ignorant comments I’ve ever read.
    Perhaps you missed the episode where ICE arrested trump’s own undocumented employees at his golf courses and hotels. Of course he claimed not to know that the non English speaking landscapers and cleaners weren’t citizens. I call bullshit. He knew whether he was paying employment taxes. He wasn’t. And someone provided them with phony papers. I wonder who? Probably the guy who had th ability to check their status as he told all other employers, but for some reason he decided not to.

  3. M Lapier: Please write something cogently and understandable. You ramble on incoherently to the point that your command of the English language is belied by your ignorance of it. Also, please provide your sources to back up your disinformation. We’ve all heard those false arguments before, but you and your Democrat-Communist ilk keep spewing them as if “facts”. Instead of trying to project your own party’s failures and gaslighting the public, please provide facts.

  4. Stewart Resmer: Once again, you talk but say nothing, other than false allegations. Typical lawyer. Isn’t that defamation and ethical violations for making false statements that violates your ethical standards and law “license”???? By the way, do lawyers really have “law licenses” in NJ???? I’ve read the rule book, and apparently they don’t. They have a certification in good standing, have to pass the bar exam and are put on a list for the Supreme Court. But, I seen no indication of any real “license” like a doctor, accountant, architect, electrician, plumber, carpenter, hair dresser, landscaper, et al.

  5. Democrats have been in office 12 years out of the last 16 years the last 31/2 years have been in my opinion a disaster. I don’t foresee any change with the Harris if you think she’s for change when she says that she wouldn’t change anything than sadly you deserve to have 4 years more of the same.

  6. Good article capturing the political climate in LMT (I’m a long time resident.). As with the other “collar counties” around Philadelphia, the question is how traditional (pre-Trump) Republicans will vote. Some will hold their nose and vote R because it’s all they’ve ever done, but some will vote D because Trump’s pronouncements and behavior are beyond the pale. Or they will stay home. Or they are Trumpists. I think many R women will vote for Harris whether or not their R husbands do, and most young people will also vote for Harris, but who knows? Polls seem very inadequate for this dynamic.

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