Fattah reflects on landslide victory in U.S. Rep. race [Audio]

U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA) easily secured a 10th term in Congress in Tuesday’s general election.

With 98.8 percent of precincts reporting, Fattah took home 89.4 percent of the vote (299,567), according to unofficial returns posted on the Pennsylvania Department of State’s website.

Republican challenger Robert Mansfield garnered 9.1 percent of the vote (31,466). Independent candidate Jim Foster grabbed 1.3 percent (4,209).

“The results of my race are probably not a surprise to anyone in the district, but it’s obviously a tremendous honor,” said Fattah late Tuesday night. “I’m in the prime of my career and I’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Looking ahead

Going forward, Fattah, who has held the seat since 1995, said he will focus on retaining and growing manufacturing, neuroscience and obtaining funding for co-ops and employee-owned businesses.

Fattah also noted that he will announce an aggressive effort around poverty in the city in January, when his new term officially begins.

“This is one of the challenges that we face locally that’s not talked about,” he said, also discussing obstructionist foes and a divided country.

Challenger reacts to the results

Reached Tuesday night, Foster, a newspaper publisher in Germantown, said he wasn’t upset about the outcome of the race.

“No sour grapes here,” he said. “I did this completely on the basis that I felt the city was so corrupt, and that the corruption was entrenched in the bones of the system, that the only way for it for be dealt with was for an independent to bring it to the surface.”

Though he didn’t expect to win, Foster said he is still interested in breaking down Tuesday’s results. He wants to know whether his message resonated with voters who didn’t know of him prior to election season. (On Election Day, he also spoke about Philadelphia’s “machine” politics and “arranged elections.”

Mansfield was not immediately available for comment.

The Second Congressional District covers parts of Philadelphia, including Roxborough, Mt. Airy and Germantown, and Montgomery County.

State Representative results

Democratic hopefuls running for state representative seats based in Northwest Philadelphia were all victorious.

Pamela DeLissio won re-election in the 194th Legislative District, which includes Roxborough and Manayunk.

DeLissio garnered 76.7 percent of the vote en route to an easy win over Republican Linda Bateman. Bateman took home 23.3 percent of the vote.

Rosita Youngblood (D-198), Stephen Kinsey (D-201) and Mark Cohen (D-202) — who all represent parts of Germantown — all ran unopposed in the general election.

Cherelle Parker (D-200), who represents parts of Mt. Airy, Chestnut Hill and Roxborough, and Dwight Evans, who represents parts of West Oak Lane, were also not challenged.