Trump didn’t just win Pennsylvania. He carried down-ballot Republicans with him.

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By Julia Terruso and Anna Orso (The Philadelphia Inquirer/TNS)

Republicans on Tuesday rode a Donald Trump-marshaled red wave across Pennsylvania.

After months of pundits signaling the presidential contest could be the closest in years, the former and future president's win was decisive — on track to be the largest Republican margin of victory in Pennsylvania since Ronald Reagan, and the widest by any presidential candidate here in three election cycles.

In Pennsylvania, with about 4% of the vote left to count, Trump received more Republican votes in the state than any candidate ever. He pulled more votes out of Philadelphia and the state than he had in 2020, and he flipped two bellwether counties — Northampton and Erie — back to Republicans.

In every state that had counted most of its votes, Trump improved on his performance from 2020 and clinched a return to the White House early Wednesday morning.

The former president's strategy to motivate even more voters here and in other states than he did four years ago clearly worked to lift him over Vice President Kamala Harris — and there are signs it fueled Republicans down ballot.

The state's high-profile Senate race looked on the cusp of flipping to Republican, with Dave McCormick up about 80,000 votes over third-term incumbent, Democratic Sen. Bob Casey , who led the race in most polls throughout the campaign.

Republicans also have flipped two U.S. House seats held by Democrats in the state. In the Lehigh Valley, Republican State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie defeated three-term incumbent Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild by about 6,000 votes with 98% of the vote reported.

Republican Rob Bresnahan defeated U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright , a Democrat vying for his sixth term, by about 7,500 votes in the district spanning parts of Monroe, Lackawanna and Luzerne counties.

And incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Perry, a close Trump ally and the former head of the conservative Freedom Caucus, hung onto his seat despite a well-funded challenger, as did incumbent Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, who represents Bucks County.

Republicans also swept down-ballot row offices. The state's incumbent treasurer, Stacy Garrity, and auditor general, Tim DeFoor, were reelected. GOP nominee Dave Sunday was elected the state's attorney general.

Control of the state House, where Democrats hold a narrow majority, remained in flux Wednesday morning. Republicans were expected to hold onto control of the state Senate.

And the GOP appeared poised to flip a state Senate seat in northeast Philadelphia that was held by Democratic Sen. Jimmy Dillon. With all but one precinct having reported results, Republican challenger Joe Picozzi — a 29-year-old who wasn't backed by the Republican Party in the city — led by more than 1,000 votes.

There were signs Republicans were making gains in the state, both in rural areas that have long gone red and in longtime Democratic strongholds like Philadelphia.

Over the last four years, Republicans cut in half Democrats' 685,000-resident voter registration advantage in the state. Purple Bucks County flipped from a Democratic advantage to a Republican one. Some Democratic Party leaders have dismissed those registration gains as a lagging indicator of Trump's already-significant support in the state, but the GOP saw it as a sign Trump was on track to grow his support in Pennsylvania.

Statewide, Democrats still have a registration edge, with nearly 4 million registered voters compared to Republicans' 3.7 million.

And despite polls showing the race between Trump and Harris as a dead heat in the final days of the campaign, surveys showed broad dissatisfaction with the status quo among the electorate, and President Joe Biden carried a low job approval rating.

Sam Chen, a GOP consultant based in the Lehigh Valley, said Harris would have had to overcome strong perceptions that the economy is weak in order to win — and didn't.

He said the Trump campaign's advertising in the home stretch featuring Harris saying she wouldn't diverge from Biden's agenda "really starts creating this perception of like, she's on board with inflation."

Interviews with voters across the state suggest Pennsylvanians were frustrated with the economy, inflation, immigration — and with the Democratic Party in general.

"I just have a bad taste in my mouth with regard to Democrats across the board," said Alan Geist, 68, an engineer who voted for Trump in Schwenksville, Montgomery County.

In Northeast Philadelphia, Bill and Barbara Yarnall said it was an easy choice to vote for Trump, citing their grocery bill.

"We used to spend $75 a week," Bill Yarnall said. "Now we spend anywhere between $109 and $120 a week."

And in Levittown, Bucks County, Walt Nicely, 61, said he voted for Trump because of concerns about the economy and the border.

Walt Nicely, 61, of Levittown, said he had just voted for Trump at Harry S. Truman High School. "I liked everything he did before," said Nicely, who is retired from the tool and die maker industry.

"These Democrats have been in for how long?" he said, "And they are just not doing it."

Inquirer staff writers Kristen Graham and Maddie Hanna contributed to this .