Editor’s Note: David Thornburgh is a longtime Pennsylvania civic leader. The former CEO of the Committee of Seventy, he now chairs the group’s Ballot PA initiative. He is the second son of former GOP Governor and U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion on CNN.
Pennsylvania, one of the nation’s political bellwethers, is working to wrap up a chaotic and acrimonious primary season.
Based on my analysis of the available data, the primary was the first one in the Commonwealth’s 235-year history in which voters had the chance to vote for candidates in open gubernatorial and US Senate races, new state House and Senate districts, and new congressional districts. It was an historic opportunity for voters – except independent voters, who are barred from Pennsylvania primaries – to make a mark on the future of their communities.
