The 2018 midterm election results in Pennsylvania could be a preview of coming attractions in 2020.

In fact, a paraphrased Bette Davis quote from her 1950 movie “All About Eve” sums it up perfectly: Fasten your seat belts; it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

The final tallies show that the chasm between rural, city and suburban voters in the Keystone State has grown wider and deeper.

Looking at the result in the two big races on Nov. 6 — governor and U.S. senate — there are some parallels and some major differences between how well Republicans and Democrats did compared to 2016 when President Donald Trump led the Republican ticket and Hillary Clinton was the Democrats’ flag-bearer.

With 58 percent of the vote, incumbent Democrat Tom Wolf defeated Republican challenger Scott Wagner, who had 41 percent. The margin was about 857,000 votes. Wolf’s second four-year term will be his last since governors have two-term limits.

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey won a third six-year term with 56 percent of the vote to 43 percent for Republican challenger and former Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta. The margin was about 635,000 votes.

Wolf won just 17 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, but most of these counties were in vote-rich urban areas such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh or in the Philadelphia suburbs, such as Chester, Montgomery, Delaware and Bucks counties, along with the Lehigh Valley counties of Lehigh and Northampton. He won Philadelphia with a staggering 87 percent of the vote.

Conversely, Wolf was handily defeated in virtually all rural counties, including Fulton County where Wagner won with 79 percent of the vote. Wolf also lost his home York County 54-45 percent, but, of course, Wagner is from York County, too.

Casey won just 15 of the 67 counties with essentially the same breakdown of votes. He carried Philadelphia with 86 percent of the vote. Barletta carried Fulton County with 78 percent.

Only two counties split their tickets — Luzerne and Cumberland went for Barletta for Senate but for Wolf for governor.

Among the five counties in the Times News area, Wolf and Casey carried Lehigh, Northampton and Monroe, while Wagner and Barletta handily won in Carbon and Schuylkill.

Trump triumphed over Clinton two years ago by a razor-thin 44,292 votes out of 5.9 million cast statewide, and with it won the coveted 20 electoral votes, because Pennsylvania is a winner-take-all state. Trump was more dominating in rural counties than either Wagner or Barletta, taking 56 of the state’s 67 counties.

Trump carried Carbon County with 65 percent to Clinton’s 31 percent; Wagner carried Carbon, 55-43 percent, while Barletta prevailed, 60-40 percent. Schuylkill gave Trump 70 percent to Clinton’s 29 percent. Wagner carried Schuylkill, 55-43 percent, while Barletta won there, 62-36 percent. Trump also carried Northampton County, a traditional Democratic stronghold, with 50 percent to Clinton’s 46 percent. This year, Wolf won the county, 58-41 percent, while Casey carried Northampton, 54-44 percent.

The two local counties that Clinton carried in 2016 were Lehigh, 50.4-45.9 percent and Monroe, 48.4-48.1. This year, Wolf won Lehigh 60-38 percent, while Casey won, 57-41 percent; Monroe gave Wolf a 58-41 percent edge and Casey took the county, 55-43 percent.

Clinton carried Philadelphia with 82 percent, but this was 5 percent less than Wolf carried the city and 4 percent less than Casey’s win.

The state Supreme Court’s-mandated reapportionment of the state’s congressional districts earlier this year evened the playing field among the U.S. House of Representatives’ Pennsylvania delegation, and the Democrats took advantage of it. Republicans came into the election with a 12-6 lead; starting in January, it will be 9-9, as four Democratic women captured seats in the Lehigh Valley and Southeastern Pennsylvania.

Among them is Allentown attorney Susan Wild, who is in Washington now for orientation and who will be sworn in during ceremonies on Jan. 3 as the new representative in the realigned 7th District.

The mission for 2020, then, is for Democrats to hold on to their big city and suburban strongholds and try to cut margins by making inroads into some of the traditionally rural counties. The Republicans need to broaden their base, especially among women, minorities and more college-educated voters and try to cut into the Democrats’ big bases in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley.

Polls have shown that the major voter turnout for this midterm election was a call to arms either for or against Trump, even though he was not on the ballot. Assuming he runs for re-election in 2020, there will be similar major efforts on the part of both parties to get out the vote. The big question mark for Democrats is: Whom will they field to try to take him down. One things we know for sure is that it will not be Hillary Clinton.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com