Bucks County Democrats are gaining ground in the county’s voter registration battle, reversing a yearslong trend that has seen more residents switch their registration to Republican than Democrat.
Since the start of 2026, countywide Democratic year-over-year registration changes have outpaced Republican changes for the first time since the 2020 election, according to Pennsylvania voter registration data. Democrats have also led in voter registration across the state for the past 10 months.
As of Aug. 10, nearly 2,500 Bucks County voters changed their registration to Democrat this year, while only 1,700 changed to Republican.
The shift comes as both parties
are gearing up for the 2026 midterms in one of the state’s most closely watched swing counties.
Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair Eugene DePasquale said increasing Democratic registration has been one of his priorities since he took over the party last year.
“When I was elected chair, I made it a priority that we were going to go out and register more Democrats,” DePasquale said. “We had been losing the voter registration battle for many years, and we’ve obviously turned that around.”
Republicans still hold a slight advantage in countywide voter registration numbers.
As of Aug. 10, Bucks County had 193,900 registered Democrats and 201,889 Republicans, according to state data.
The 2024 election marked the first time Bucks County voted for the Republican presidential candidate since 1992. U.S. President Donald Trump won the county by less than 300 votes.
With the president’s approval rating hovering around 33% according to the latest Economist/YouGov poll, DePasquale said he's hopeful that Democrats will see victories in Bucks County and statewide in the November midterms.
“We’re going to elect Democrats up and down the ballot around Bucks County, and I think the voter turnout numbers in the primary are the first big indicator we’re going to do that,” he said.
Democratic leaders acknowledged that registration numbers are only one piece of the puzzle.
Zach Kirk, the executive director of the Bucks County Democratic Committee, told the Courier Times last month that “there’s a lot more work to be done.”
DePasquale added that the party’s registration gains are encouraging, but emphasized that Democrats cannot let up.
“The work never stops,” DePasquale said.
Members of the Bucks County Republican Committee did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Ben Shapiro is a news intern at the Bucks County Courier Times. Reach him at bshapiro@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County Democrats slowly reversing yearslong registration trend
