Why has the GOP not done much to get PA back to being a Republican state? We hear about how important Ohio is, and how the GOP can't lose TX, but couldn't the GOP get back PA if they put more effort into it? It's not that blue, and the minority population isn't great enough for the Republicans to not win.
Philadelphia. That's your answer. Seriously, the vote concentration in Philly and its suburbs dominates the rest of the state in almost ever election. Most times, the votes from Pittsburgh & Harrisburg are just icing on the cake.
What this points out for Presidential elections, is the problem that we see in the maps for Illinois & many other states (even the whole US maps). All of those Counties/Districts colored in
Red, yet the full slate of electors going to the
Blue candidate. That is the huge problem of the "winner take all" method of allocating a state's electors.
I believe only two states do it differently, Maine and (I think) Nebraska. In those states, the winner of the popular vote in each Congressional District gets the elector. And I think, not 100% sure, that the overall state popular vote winner gets an extra elector or two.
Just think about that when you see those maps...... winner take all basically disenfranchises voters in many, many districts throughout the country in every Presidential election. Candidate Blue gets every single electoral vote (winner take all) in many states in which they have actually won a small percentage of the Districts. Illinois is a great example, as is Pennsylvania.