This Tuesday I went to the Cambria County Republican Pig Roast at the Solomon Run Fire Hall. I took the above video at the event. I wasn’t able to stay for the whole event. State Senator Wayne Langerolc (who has introduced a bill requiring chemical castration for sex offenders as a condition of parole) was the Keynote Speaker. I was able to interview state rep Dallas Kephart and Mike Carbonara. County GOP Chair Jackie Kulback approached me and asked me what I was doing there. I explained that I was covering the event for this website and that I had to leave early for one of my day jobs.
Of particular interest to me was the program for the event. In addition to the usual candidate profiles, the Cambria County Republican Committee (CCRC) produced this table outlining their data driven goals for the coming year. They want to increase the number of registered Republicans in the county to 52,000. This would be roughly 61.9% of the county population, up from 50.7% in 2023.
They also spell out voter turnout goals for their voters. They claim to have fallen short in elections from 2019 to 2023. In 2022, they listed the GOP voter turnout as 66% which was almost identical to the overall voter turnout rate of 65.71%.
If the voter turnout numbers are identical for both parties then the Republicans do have the advantage in the county. Further voter suppression laws in the state are unlikely in the short term with a Democratic Gov and an evenly divided state house.
They were explicit about their goals at the Cambria County Republican Party Pig roast. Given recent results, they have reason to celebrate.