Pennsylvania: Primary Results Set Stage for Key Battleground
WIth Pennsylvania’s primary in the books, there’s clarity for the general elections in the Keystone State. And with competitive races for the White House, Senate and House, Pennsylvania stands to play a key role in which party is in power next year.
Senate. Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. and Republican Dave McCormick ran unopposed in their respective primaries, but the matchup is officially set in one of the most important races in the fight for control of the Senate. With Republicans likely to pick up a seat in West Virginia, Democrats can’t afford to lose any more of their own, including Casey.
With those high stakes, the DSCC greeted McCormick to the general election with an ad questioning the Republicans’ rural roots and highlighting his business ties to China. Republicans are attacking Casey as a hypocrite for talking about being independent, but voting close to lockstep with President Joe Biden. There will be plenty more attacks over the next six months. Tilt Democratic.
1st District (Northern Philadelphia suburbs) Brian Fitzpatrick, R, re-elected 55%. Biden 52%. The congressman took pro-life activist Mark Houck seriously — and a Democratic group tried to boost Houck — but Fitzpatrick prevailed, and it wasn’t particularly close in the end. Fitzpatrick won 61-39 percent with 99 percent of the estimated vote counted. For some context, Fitzpatrick won his 2022 primary, 66-34 percent. Democrat Ashley Ehasz, who lost to Fitzpatrick by 10 points in the 2022 general…
