Centre County sees relatively strong turnout in sleepy 2026 primary election
The couch won Tuesday’s primary election in Centre County. Democrats came in a strong second.
Just over 24% of the county’s Democrats and Republicans voted in their respective primaries, according to unofficial results from Tuesday night. With the exception of some precinct committee positions, Democrats had no competitive contests, while Republicans had choices for lieutenant governor and county party chair.
Despite the lack of choices, Democrats had significantly stronger turnout than the Republicans. About 28% of Democrats — 11,752 in total — cast ballots Tuesday. About 20% of Republicans — 8,563 total — did the same.
Republicans had a miniscule edge in total registrants: 41,898 to the Democrats’ 41,462. Independents are ineligible to vote in Pennsylvania’s nominating contests.
Margie Swoboda, the county Democratic chair, said the relatively high turnout for her party was indicative of voters being passionate about the candidates and frustrated with the Trump administration. Democrats have typically had stronger turnout during primaries and odd-year elections during the Trump era.
“There’s a lot going on across the state, and our voters are ready to make a change,” Swoboda said.
Centre County GOP chair Michelle Schellberg, who easily won reelection in a three-way race Tuesday, did not respond to a request for comment. Schellberg is also running for a state House seat.
While less than a quarter of eligible voters cast ballots, turnout was relatively high for a nonpresidential election. This year’s 24% turnout is higher than that of seven of the last 10 nonpresidential primaries in Centre County, many of which had options up and down the ballot.
Attention now turns to the Nov. 3 election, which will see contests for governor, U.S. House and state House. All races in Centre County will be contested, and the deadline to register is Oct. 19.
