Harrisburg city hall on Election Day
In Harrisburg, another election is in the books, so what have we learned? Here are my five takeaways from a surprisingly interesting evening watching the polls from the 2025 municipal election.
Williams Knows How to Win
Despite how you voted, you must give credit where it’s due: Wanda Williams knows how to win elections. Sometimes, she squeaks by, as in the last two mayoral primaries. Sometimes, she dominates, as in the last two general elections. She also won repeatedly earlier in her political career, as a long-time member of City Council and school board. A Harrisburg native, she has built a strong base of support through a lifetime of connections and service, and she leverages that network to turn out her voters. I’ve sometimes called myself a “turnout guy.” Sure, things like messaging, candidate quality and style matter in campaigns—I don’t doubt that. But you must have the political savvy and on-the-ground capability to turn out your core voters, something that Williams and her team have perfected.
Accept Your Losses
For the fourth straight mayoral election, a Democrat who lost in Harrisburg’s primary ran again in the general election—and lost again. In fact, for Dan Miller, history just repeated itself. He did the same thing in 2013: lost the primary, got the Republican nod through write-ins, accepted the nomination and lost in the general, at that time to former Mayor Eric Papenfuse. Papenfuse himself (2021) and former City Council President Gloria Martin-Roberts (2017) both launched write-in campaigns in the general election after losing in the primary. In my view, the lesson to future mayoral candidates is clear. Go all out in the primary, campaign like mad, leave nothing on the field. If you lose, accept the outcome with grace and maybe try again next time. In Harrisburg, oddly, the opposite often happens. Candidates run weak, barely visible primary campaigns then, after losing, put more effort into extremely long-shot general election campaigns, running as Republicans or write-ins. This is completely backwards, with predictably dismal results in the overwhelmingly Democratic city.
Dissatisfaction Displayed
Williams won re-election handily, with about 56% of the vote. That said, Miller received an impressive 42% of the vote in a surprisingly high-turnout general election—on the Republican side of the ticket. His vote total was much greater than I expected, which, to me, demonstrates that many city residents are not satisfied with how things are going. It’s my hope that, in her second term, Williams will take dissenting viewpoints openly and seriously. A second term should consist of assessing what went well in the first term, building upon that, and then thoughtfully addressing what didn’t go so well, making changes where necessary.
New Democratic Era?
A while back, registered Democrats began to outnumber registered Republicans in Dauphin County. Still, for years, you couldn’t tell that from the results, as Republicans continued to win nearly every countywide election. In fact, a few years back, I wrote a blog openly questioning why that was—and took a lot of heat from local Democrats in return. My, how things have changed. Several cycles ago, Democratic candidates began to creep up on their Republican opponents, even if they still lost in the end. Then, in 2023, the three-member county board of commissioners surprisingly flipped to become a Democratic majority, a trend affirmed yesterday with Democrats winning two row offices and two judgeships. Democrats also showed gains in other municipalities and counties, as the Harrisburg area continues its long, gradual makeover from red to blue.
Midterms Up Next
In my view, area Democrats seem well-positioned to perform well in next year’s midterm elections. Of course, I can’t read the future, and unexpected events can—and often do—intervene to change political fortunes. However, several factors seem to be converging to continue favoring Democratic candidates locally. As mentioned above, the greater Harrisburg area has become increasingly blue. Moreover, midterm elections nearly always favor the out-of-power national party, and the backlash to President Donald Trump’s policies seems especially strong based on yesterday’s election results nationally. This could well impact our area’s marquee race for next year—the battle for the 10th congressional district. Last year, Democrat Janelle Stelson came enticingly close to unseating long-time incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Perry, solidly outperforming Democratic candidates nationally. I’m not one to make electoral predictions (at least not publicly), but thirsty Democrats now must be eyeing our district as one of their top prospects for a flip in 2026.
Lawrance Binda is publisher and editor of TheBurg.
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