Southwestern PA’s Regional Identity Impacts Statewide Politics

Sitting on a bookshelf in my office is a baseball enclosed in a glass case. On it is the (unfortunately) fading signature of Pittsburgh Pirates legend Bill Mazeroski. The All-Star second baseman and Hall of Famer passed away last weekend unleashing an outpouring of emotion across social media.

As a lifelong obsessive fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates, I have always been especially fascinated with Maz. I grew up living less than two miles from where he lived near Greensburg, Pennsylvania, which made the legend seem real.

For those non-baseball fans Bill Mazeroski hit what is inarguably the most famous home run in the history of the sport in the bottom of the ninth inning in game seven of the 1960 World Series to give the Pirates an upset championship victory over the then heavily favored New York Yankees.

That ensconced Mazeroski in the pantheon of Pittsburgh sports greats like the revered Roberto Clemente and the beloved Franco Harris of Steelers fame.

Sports dominate the culture of southwestern Pennsylvania more than any other factor. It unites the region in a way that transcends virtually everything else. This has created a close knit, family-like culture with the associated values. This impacts virtually every other aspect of society.

Fans of both the Pirates and the Steelers are currently frustrated by the lack of recent championships. In a quirk of fate two native western Pennsylvanians have been tabbed to lead those teams back to glory: the Steelers have hired Mike McCarthy as their new head coach. He was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Mid-way through last season the Pirates made Don Kelly, born in Butler and who played baseball in Mt. Lebanon as their new manager.

Over the past year fan dissatisfaction with both teams has been evident. Pirate fans have focused their ire on the team’s owner, while Steeler fans became upset at former head coach Mike Tomlin’s inability to guide the team past the first round of the playoffs.

Both Kelly and McCarthy are expected to put the teams back on the right path, in the meantime their native roots have generated an enormous amount of goodwill for both franchises. Fans will be cheering especially hard for their success.

So how does all of this relate to policy and politics?

For generations southwestern Pennsylvania was a Democratic bastion. Pennsylvania politics were defined by the “T” – Democrats dominating in southwestern Pennsylvania and Philadelphia with Republicans holding sway across the northern tier and through the central part of the state.

Outside of the City of Pittsburgh southwestern Pennsylvania today is solidly Republican. Yes, the region has changed. It has diversified from its blue collar roots to include world class medical, educational and technological institutions.

But the biggest change occurred within the national Democratic Party. Simply put, it is no longer the party of Roosevelt and Kennedy. While the party changed the principles and values of the people did not. Ronald Reagan was the first Republican to tap into these changing winds. Donald Trump has sealed the deal.

This is especially important because on the other side of the state, the once reliably Republican collar counties outside of Philadelphia have trended the opposite direction and, excepting Bucks County, are now solidly Democrat. The result is that voter registration in Penn’s woods is almost evenly divided between the two major parties. Legislatively in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Democrats hold a mere one seat majority. Republicans hold a slim majority in the state Senate. We truly are a “swing” state.

Veteran political consultant Chris Nicholas has articulated what he calls the “pendulum” theory of statewide politics – that victory will swing back and forth between the parties. Democrats dominated in 2023, Republicans ran the table in 2024, Democrats pounced in 2025, in 2026 — ???

Statewide the race for Governor tops the political ticket this year. The importance of southwestern Pennsylvania is evidenced by the candidates’ choice of Lieutenant Gubernatorial running mates. Four years ago, Montgomery Countian Josh Shapiro chose Allegheny County State Representative Austin Davis as his running made. This year State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who lives in the northern tier, selected Allegheny County GOP Chairman Jason Richey to join her on the ticket. This is to appeal to southwestern Pennsylvania voters.

Those voters have a history of supporting their own – Tom Corbett and Dick Thornburgh being two recent governors to hail from the area. Neither current candidate lives in the region. Thus, the candidate who best and most effectively reflects and appeals to the transcendent generations-old values that bind southwestern Pennsylvanians together like glue will have the best chance of success this November.

(Lowman S. Henry is Chairman & CEO of the Lincoln Institute and host of the weekly American Radio Journal and Lincoln Radio Journal. His e-mail address is lhenry@lincolninstitute.org.)

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