Pennsylvania Democrats were almost unanimous Saturday in selecting a new state party chairman, Marcel Groen, in Gettysburg. But it wouldn’t be Gettysburg — and these wouldn’t be Democrats — if there weren’t a slight tang of gunpowder in the air.
Though Mr. Groen was broadly supported by the nearly 300 state committee members gathered at the Wyndham Gettysburg Hotel, there was a scattered chorus of “no” votes from supporters of his predecessor, Jim Burn.
“I want to thank all of you — especially the people who said ‘no,’ ” Mr. Groen said after he was elected. “Because I want you to get to the point where you come to me and say, ‘I was wrong.’ ”
Mr. Groen’s selection was never in doubt. He faced no serious rival, and is widely lauded for his work chairing the Democratic committee in southeastern Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County since 1994. Once a Republican stronghold, Montgomery has trended increasingly Democratic: Last year, its voters supported Gov. Tom Wolf by a 60-40 margin.
“Marcel has been extremely effective, inclusive and energetic,” said Murray Levin, a state committeeman from Montgomery County. “He has responsibility for a great deal of our success there.”
Mr. Groen replaced Mr. Burn, a former Millvale mayor and Allegheny County councilman who had chaired the committee since 2010. Last year, Mr. Burn sought re-election to the post, though Mr. Wolf backed another contender, Katie McGinty.
Mr. Wolf withdrew from the fight, later hiring Ms. McGinty as his chief of staff. But many Democrats believe the governor, as the party’s standard-bearer, is entitled to select his party’s leaders. Questions about the party’s direction dogged Mr. Burn until July, when he announced he’d be stepping down. Support quickly coalesced around Mr. Groen, 70, a lawyer with Fox Rothschild in the Philadelphia area.
On Saturday, Mr. Burn said he was resigning to avoid distractions before this November’s election, in which three state Supreme Court seats are at stake. “Folks outside this great organization that you serve are trying to make it about me,” he told state committee members. “I cannot allow that to go on.”
But he made no apologies for standing his ground in 2014. He noted that Democrats swept a series of statewide row offices in 2012, and defeated Gov. Tom Corbett last year. Such success, he said, “happened because you decided who you wanted to chair and lead your institution.”
Some supporters also sounded a defiant note, symbolically nominating a challenger for Mr. Groen: Adams County Democratic Committee chairman Roger Lund. Mr. Lund, a Burn ally, declined the nomination, explaining, “I’m very hopeful that under the leadership of Marcel, we’re going to have an open party.”
In the past, some rural leaders have complained of being shut out by big-city Democrats. By contrast, Mr. Burn nurtured close relationships with rural party elders.
“I thought Jim Burn was doing a great job, and I’m not pleased to see him being forced out,” said Sherri Morgan, chairwoman of the Franklin County Democratic Committee.
Mr. Groen has been reaching out to Democrats statewide this summer. Among his first proposals as party chairman was to have representatives from various regions present regular reports, so that “people in Montgomery County are [learning] what’s happening in Montour County.”
For his part, Mr. Burn embraced Mr. Groen at the committee meeting after stepping down. “I’m happy for him,” he later said. He said he was weighing possible next steps, including a future run for office, though he would not identify a race.
“Right now,” he said, “I’m ex-officio everything.”
Ms. McGinty, meanwhile, is seeking the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate race next year, challenging Republican incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey. She gave a well-received speech to committee members at a dinner Friday night, but it remains to be seen how Burn loyalists will respond when asked to support her again in the primary.
Her chief Democratic rival, Joe Sestak, a former congressman and retired Navy admiral, launched his campaign in March with a walking tour of all 67 counties. “Joe is a lot like Jim Burn: He comes to every county,” said Charles Vizzini, a state committeeman from Cambria County.
McGinty spokesman Mike Mikus said she had “traveled from small towns to big cities. She’s committed to strengthening the middle class, and that’s why she has support all over the state.”
Mr. Groen’s supporters said the party’s nominee, whoever it turns out to be, will benefit from his leadership.
“It’s not a question of urban versus rural. It’s a question of performance,” said state Rep. Michael O’Brien, D-Philadelphia. Mr. Groen, he said, could replicate Montgomery County’s party switch all across Pennsylvania. And while Mr. Burn had strengthened the party, he said that “if there was a gaffe in his leadership, it was the differences between him and Gov. Wolf.”
Mr. Wolf’s camp did not respond to a request for comment.
Democrats agree on one point: None of these differences will harm the party’s work for nominees on Election Day.
“We all recognize that the Supreme Court is as important a state race as we’ve had in a 20-year cycle,” said Nancy Patton Mills, who chairs Allegheny County’s Democratic Committee. “Everything else is baloney by comparison.”
Chris Potter: cpotter@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2533.
First Published: September 12, 2015, 6:50 p.m.
Updated: September 13, 2015, 2:26 a.m.
