WILKES-BARRE — Wilkes University political science professor Tom Baldino has been interviewed by more than a dozen foreign journalists about last week’s presidential election.
“I’m amazed. They all want to understand the Trump phenomenon and are using Luzerne County as kind of microcosm,” he said.
Finnish, German, Brazilian and French reporters have interviewed him, and he participated in a Skype interview with an Arab broadcasting company based in Lebanon. A session with an Australian news agency is set for later this week.
“It’s just been astounding. I can’t keep track of them,” he said of the requests.
Why is Luzerne County in the limelight?
Baldino said it started in the April primary, when 77 percent of county Republicans chose Donald Trump as their presidential nominee, which the professor said was the largest margin Trump had in the state.
“It did stick out that Luzerne County was very generous to Trump back then,” he said.
But the true test was the general. While Republican registration picked up this year, county Democrats retained their registration stronghold for the Nov. 8 election, with 108,054 Democrats compared to 74,116 Republicans, state statistics show.
The Democratic registration edge didn’t hold back Trump. He received 78,303 votes in the county last week, surpassing Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton, who pulled in 52,092, according to unofficial results.
That vote difference of 26,211 made up more than 40 percent of Trump’s unofficial statewide lead of 64,347 over Clinton. As of Monday afternoon, the unofficial Pennsylvania vote count was 2.9 million for Trump and 2.84 million for Clinton, the state election website says.
The county’s final results will be released after the election office completes its official count, which includes tallying of provisional and military/oversea absentee ballots. The count was still in progress at the close of business Monday evening.
“It’s all about Luzerne County, and what is it about Trump that made Luzerne County swing,” Baldino said.
To put the shift in perspective, Trump was the majority choice in 146 of the county’s 180 voting districts on Nov. 8, a review of the county’s unofficial results shows.
In comparison, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney won in only 64 voting districts in the 2012 general, when the county had 189 districts before subsequent consolidation.
David Sosar, a political science professor at King’s College, said Trump tapped into something Clinton, Romney and others have not: “He spoke their language. He sounded like the guy who lived next door to you.”
Sosar said he’s also been inundated with requests from international news outlets, including a reporter from England who accompanied Sosar to the Beltway Diner in Hazleton to obtain local reaction.
Baldino echoed Sosar’s assessment, saying Trump told people “what they wanted to hear in language people clearly appreciated and understood.”
Attorney Mike Butera, who has been active with the county Democratic Party for more than two decades, expected a close presidential race in the county with Clinton prevailing.
Trump’s positions against abortion, illegal immigration and Obamacare and in support of gun rights resonated with county voters. Butera described the county as “very Catholic.”
“Donald Trump was the perfect candidate for the demographics of Luzerne County,” Butera said. “His numbers in Luzerne County were incredible.”
While his pick did not win, Butera said he will keep an open mind regarding the new Republican leader.
“I”m sure the country will survive, and I hope the country will flourish,” he said. “I’m expecting him to do a lot of good for the country.”
Two downtown Wilkes-Barre workers taking a break on Public Square Monday expressed opposite post-election views indicative of the divide lingering in the county and country.
Kim Layman, 31, who commutes to work from Scranton, said she didn’t agree with all of Clinton’s policies but supported her for her experience and demeanor. Layman said she’s taking a wait-and-see stance.
“I feel he’s under-experienced,” Layman said of Trump. “I just don’t like his attitude. He’s so rude and racist.”
Bob Wyshock, 52, a Wilkes-Barre resident, said he’s “tired of the same people in Washington” and found Clinton’s use of a private email server disturbing.
Trump’s business success appealed to Wyshock, who has become frustrated that some of the Clinton supporters he knows are “sore losers.”
“I think it’s great,” he said of the Trump win. “We need someone who knows economics.”


