Upper Dublin: The Making of a 21st Century Suburb ← All Chapters

V. How Upper Dublin Responded to the Challenges of a Developing Suburb

A. DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION IN UPPER DUBLIN’S GOVERNMENTAL LEADERSHIP

1. PARTISAN POLITICS IN UPPER DUBLIN

A. The GOP Era

For the first thirty years after 1945 Upper Dublin was, like almost all of eastern and central Montgomery County and the Main Line, a Republican stronghold, with virtually no political competition on the local level. The Republican leadership core of Montgomery County government was found in the older, more populated and wealthier suburbs such as Lower Merion, Abington and Cheltenham and not in the more sparsely populated areas, such as Upper Dublin.73 In western Montgomery County, dominated by early 20th century industry with union labor, Democrats often prevailed in municipal races but they had insufficient numbers to have sway in the much more populated and wealthier eastern part of the county.

In 1950, Pennsylvania had thirty members of Congress; in 2020, that number was reduced to seventeen, with a likelihood of the number being reduced to 16 or even 15 after the 2030 census. The average population represented by a member of Congress from Pennsylvania was 349,934 in 1950, but it was 765,403 in 2020 and will likely be more than 800,000 after the 2030 census. United States Census Bureau, Historical Apportionment Data (1910-2020), April 26, 2021. Unlike many parts of Pennsylvania, Montgomery County’s population as a percentage of the State’s population has increased substantially during these decades, but, regardless of its increased population, Montgomery County has rarely been substantially intact when district lines are drawn.

During the early 1970s, when Montgomery County’s population was a bit over 300,000 (about a sixth of the population of Philadelphia) all of the electeds representing Upper Dublin from township, school board and county commissioners (except for the minority seat on the county board of commissioners), state legislators, Congress, U.S. Senate up to the President of the United States were Republicans. As part of this dominance, a number of Republican attorneys living in Upper Dublin were elected to the Common Pleas Court and as Magisterial District Judge and a Republican from Upper Dublin was elected to County row office.74

The lone Upper Dublin resident to be elected to the top county office of County Commissioner has been Mario Mele, who served as chairman of the three-member Montgomery County Board of Commissioners from 1992 to 2000, ultimately suffering a loss in the 1999 GOP primary in his attempt to secure a third term.75 To secure the chairmanship of the Board Mele relied upon the vote of a Democrat, Joseph Hoeffel (who as State Representative had represented part of the Upper Dublin), against the other Republican member of the Board, Jon Fox. Ironically, Fox had succeeded Hoeffel as State Representative in representing part of Upper Dublin, for four terms.

In 1994 Fox won a seat in Congress representing the 13th District, defeating incumbent Marjorie Margolies Mezvinsky. In 1996 Fox retained his seat by defeating Joe Hoeffel by 84 votes out almost 250,000 cast, but Hoeffel then defeated Fox in a 1998 rematch. Hoeffel served three terms in the US House, losing a bid for US Senate in 2004, and then returning to the County Board of Commissioners for another four years.

In 2004 Fox tried to regain his State Representative seat (which included the eastern third of Upper Dublin), but lost his bid to Josh Shapiro, who grew up in Upper Dublin and had served as Hoeffel’s chief of staff in Washington. In 2011 Shapiro, then a resident of Abington, ran for County Commissioner and became the very first Democratic chairman of that board in 2012. After being reelected as County Commissioner in 2015, he then won for Pennsylvania Attorney General in 2016, providing him a significant voice in opposing Trump Administration policies.76 He then ran for and was handily elected Governor in 2020, becoming the first candidate of the incumbent governor’s party to be elected since the Pennsylvania Constitution was updated in 1968.

In 2024 he was considered a prime candidate for the vice president on the Democratic ticket. Julie Zegfen, The Montco kid turned-VP contender, Phila. Inquirer, Aug. 1, 2024.

UPPER DUBLIN’S ELECTORATE SHIFTS FROM GOP TO DEMOCRATS

As is evident from the foregoing summary of recent election history involving Upper Dubliners, as Upper Dublin and other nearby suburbs grew subdivisions and population, political competition stirred throughout both eastern Montgomery County and the Main Line, starting with reaction to the Watergate scandal and then a series of Democratic inroads in the 1980s. These trends became more evident during presidential elections as increased political polarization that has affected American politics generally.

During this transition, Upper Dublin has seen its share of very close elections. In the 1996 congressional election, as noted above, Joe Hoeffel lost to Fox by 84 votes out of 250,000 or so votes cast, only to win the district two years later. In 2003? School Board President Mike Paston lost his race against incumbent Patti Zaffarano for Magisterial District Justice by 14 votes. Montgomery County Board of Elections, Summary Results, Fall 2023 General Election.

In 2008 Rick Taylor, the 151st District incumbent State Representative from Ambler, defeated Todd Stephens, a Republican from Horsham, by 419 votes. Two years later Stephens defeated Taylor for the seat, which Stephens then held through 2022. In 2022, Stephens lost his seat to Melissa Cerrato, a Democrat from Horsham, by 38 votes out of 24,000 votes cast.

In 2009, Upper Dublin Commissioner Ann Thornburgh Weiss lost her race for Common Pleas Court by ------. One of her fellow running mates, Michael Shields, also a Democrat from Upper Dublin also lost his race for Common Pleas judge that year. In each of these contests the Democrat carried the Upper Dublin vote.

Today, Upper Dublin, like many of its neighboring communities, has become strongly Democratic both in voter registration and in its voting patterns.

Most recently, the 2023 election saw Democrats sweep races in many eastern Montgomery County municipalities (including Upper Dublin) and capture substantial representation in virtually all school board races throughout the county. The County’s population numbers of approximately 870,000 (now representing a bit more than half of the population of Philadelphia). At this is written, all of those electeds representing Upper Dublin, from President, U.S. Senate, U.S. House, state legislature, county commissioner (with the exception of the guaranteed minority seat), school board and township commissioners are Democrats. And, a number of Democratic attorneys (some newly registered as Democrats prior to seeking office) have been elected in the last decade to serve as Common Pleas Court judges and, in 2023, as Magisterial District Judge.

Yet, on most local issues, it is hard to find how much partisanship has influenced governmental actions.

DIVERSITY IN THE LEADERSHIP OF TOWNSHIP AND SCHOOL DISTRICT

There had been no female presidents of either the Board of Commissioners or the School Board until long-term director Robin Cox, a Republican (sometimes winning a cross-filed nomination as a Democrat) was selected as president of the School Board in the 1980s.77 CHECK THIS

There had been no African Americans on the Board of Commissioners and were none on the School Board until Dr. Elbert “Bert” Saddler, a Republican, was elected in 2001 and reelected in 2005. Since that time there have been two African Americans elected, each a Democrat, elected in 2009 and then again in 2019 and 2023.

In 2021 Darlene Davis (a former superintendent of Cheltenham School District) was the first African American was elected School Board President, and Upper Dublin’s Virgil Walker, an African American, was elected in 2019 as a Judge of the Common Pleas Court, and his Upper Dublin colleague on that court, Daniel Clifford, elected in 2015, is the first (and to date only) openly gay member of that court. In 2023 Tina Lawson, from Upper Dublin, was elected as Montgomery County’s first African-American Register of Wills.

There have been no female Township Managers (or, as the position was previously labeled, Secretary). There had been no female School District Superintendent (or prior to 1960, supervising principal) until Dr. Deborah Wheeler served from 2014 to 2017 prior to her retirement, and the 2023 appointment of Dr. Laurie Smith.

The only Asian American to serve in any elective capacity in Upper Dublin was Rev. Robert Kim, who briefly served on the School Board in the 2010’s before he left Upper Dublin to pursue a professional opportunity elsewhere. (In 2023 Neil Makhija, an Indian-American, was elected County Commissioner, making him the first county-wide Asian-American officeholder.)

RELIGOUS DIVERSITY AMONG UPPER DUBLIN’S ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES AT STATE AND FEDERAL LEVELS

Although Upper Dublin’s local government and state and federal representatives have through the decades been Protestants of one denomination or another, there have been many exceptions to this.

In Congress, there have been two Catholics elected as United States Senators from Pennsylvania: Rick Santorum and Pat Toomey, each elected for two terms. Tom Ridge served as Governor of Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2001 (when he was appointed as a member of the second President Bush’s cabinet).

For a brief time in the late 1990s, Patrick Murphy (Dem-Bucks County), a Catholic, represented a portion of Upper Dublin. In the 2000s, Brendan Boyle (Dem-Phila.), a Catholic, represented a portion of Upper Dublin.

Upper Dublin has more often been represented by Jews, first in the U.S. House of Representatives, by Irving Wanger, then of Norristown. He had served as Montgomery County District Attorney and chair of the Montgomery County Republican Committee. Wanger was first elected in 1895. He served representing one district and then a second district, apparently both including Upper Dublin, until 1911. In the 1910 election he was defeated by a Democrat Robert Difenderfor from Jenkintown. Kurt F. Stone, Compendium of Jewish Congressional Members at 55-56 (2000) (referencing Wanger) (Note that Wanger is not referenced in many compendia of Jewish members of Congress; the reason for that omission is not apparent.) Wanger never again pursued electoral politics.

After Difenderfer’s term of service concluded in 1914, no Jew was elected to represent Upper Dublin in the House of Representatives until 1992. In 1992 Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (Lower Merion), a Jewish Democrat, was elected, narrowly defeated Jon Fox of Abington, a Jewish Republican. Two years later Fox defeated Margolies-Mezvinsky. Fox served in the House from 1995-1999 (after serving as a State Representative representing part of Upper Dublin from 1985 through 1991) until defeated by Joe Hoeffel of Abington in the 1998 election. Hoeffel served for three terms before running unsuccessfully for United States Senate against Arlen Specter. Next, for six years another Jew, Allyson Schwartz (Abington), a former State Senator from northwest Philadelphia, represented most of Upper Dublin.

In 2006, Joshua Shapiro was elected to represent the 153rd district portion of Upper Dublin, and he was reelected in 2008 and 2010. In 2018 Ben Sanchez (Abington), was elected as State Representative, representing the 153rd district.

Upper Dublin has also also represented by a Jew in the United States Senate. Arlen Specter (Philadelphia) served from 1981-2011 (as a Republican until 2009, then as a Democrat), ultimately to be denied renomination in the 2010 Democratic primary election.

On three occasions Pennsylvania has had Jewish governors, each a Democrat from southeastern Pennsylvania: Milton Shapp (from Lower Merion), 1971-1979, Edward Rendell (from Philadelphia), from 2003-2011, and currently Josh Shapiro (from Abington, after growing up in Upper Dublin).

Upper Dublin has seen only one Black elected legislator represent it. From 2012 through 2021, State Senator Vincent Hughes, of Philadelphia, a long-serving Democrat, had his Seventh District extend deep into Montgomery County to include Upper Dublin.78

In 2017 the Upper Dublin Board of Commissioners created a township Human Relations Commission to supplement the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission address issues of unlawful discrimination. Amended UD Res 18-1342 (07/10/2018) THIS BELONGS ELSEWHERE

Notes

  1. 73.The first county official from Upper Dublin appears to have been Charles Alman, who served as County Surveyor in the 19th century. Phoenixville Independent, Aug. 17, 1878, p.2. In 1889, Wilmer Atkinson (discussed in detail elsewhere), an early user of the newly developed bicycle, was appointed a county sidepath commissioner, a position created by state law to deal with the emergence of bicycles as a contender for space previously reserved for horses. Edward W. Hecker, Montgomery County History, Bulletin of the Historical Soc’y of Montgomery County, Vo. XII, at 223 (Spring 1961). Decades later Upper Dublin road supervisor (the equivalent of township commissioner in pre-1946 era) Daniel Stout sought nomination as County Commissioner. At that time, it was reported that “[i]t has been many a day since Upper Dublin has been favored with a county office.” Reporter, June 24, 1915, p. 2. The next time an Upper Dublin resident was elected to any county political (as distinguished from judicial) office was Sara Long, who served as a county Register of Wills from 1986 to 2000, the same position now held by Upper Dublin resident Tina Lawson, a Democrat elected in 2023..As noted elsewhere during Long’s tenure Upper Dublin resident Mario Mele was the first and only Upper Dublin resident to be elected County Commissioner.
  2. 74.In the early 1960s, an Upper Dublin Republican Dorothy Townes, who had served in County government and a long-term member of Upper Dublin School Board (its first and only female member in twenty years when she began her service in 1945 and reelected twice), sought the GOP nomination for State Representative in 1962. CITE When she lost GOP endorsement, she withdrew her petition. CITE In the 1950s she was elected to leadership positions within various GOP women’s groups both in the county and statewide, and she went on a speaking tour of Republican political meetings in Pennsylvania’s northern tier. CITE She was named as a defendant in litigation against school board members in 1952 when she voted to authorize providing high school education in Upper Dublin prior to completion of the construction of the new high school building in 1954. CITE. Whether that controversy, her sex, her being born in England or being a graduate of Oxford University, undermined her attempt to secure party endorsement is not known. CITE
  3. 75.In his last hurrah seeking elective office, in 2005, Mele ran unsuccessfully against incumbent Democrat Ira Tackel for Upper Dublin Ward 4 commissioner.
  4. 76.As Attorney General, Shapiro had one announcement, made on the Upper Dublin football field, in which an Upper Dublin High School graduate, Joe Lubowitz, played a significant role supporting Shapiro’s proposed crackdown on opioid distribution. Laura Benshoff, Shapiro details massive, multistate probe into dug companies’ role in opioid crisis, WHYY, Sept. 17, 2017. Tragically, months later Lubowitz was indicted and later convicted on federal opioid fraud charges. Victor Fiorillo, Northern Liberties Man Indicted by Feds in Hugh Opiod Crisis Fraud Probe, Phila. Magazine, Sept. 3, 2018.
  5. 77.However, much earlier, women have served as vice-chair, with the first likely to have been Annie Lewis, who served as vice-chair of the Board in 1926.
  6. 78.Other than Barack Obama’s two successful presidential campaigns and several statewide row office candidates of both parties and, beginning in the early 2000s, several school board elections (first by a Republican, Dr. Bert Saddler, and most recently by one or more Democrats) no Blacks have succeeded in winning election to represent Upper Dublin at any level. In 1996 Lydell Clark, a Black resident of Ambler Borough, was the Democratic candidate in an unsuccessful campaign for State Representative for the 151st State House district (which included much of Upper Dublin) against incumbent GOP State Rep. Eugene McGill. In 2019, Democrat Cecelia Robinson lost her bid for Ward One Commissioner to incumbent Republican Liz Ferry.