News & Brews November 6, 2024
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Trump wins Pa. and the presidency
Former President Trump captured the prize of Pa. yesterday, and with it, the U.S. presidency for the second time. With more than 95% of the vote reported, Trump won the Keystone State by more than 170,000 votes, far more than the margins of victory of the winner in either 2016 or 2020. The AP reports that Trump won Pa. “by improving his margins across the state, shaving Democratic President Joe Biden’s 2020 win in Philadelphia, expanding his own dominance in rural parts of the state, and — at the time The Associated Press called the race at 2:24 a.m. ET — flipping key suburban counties to the GOP column.” Diving deeper, the AP looked at how Trump “weaken[ed] the Democrats’ coalition” and seemed to perform “slightly” better than Biden among Black and Hispanic voters. Of note, per RealClear Pennsylvania Editor Charles McElwee, “Trump had the best performance as a Republican presidential candidate in Pennsylvania since Ronald Reagan in 1984.”
Dave Sunday elected next Pa. attorney general
Republican York County District Attorney Dave Sunday defeated Democrat Eugene DePasquale yesterday in the all-important race for state attorney general. Sunday, whom we supported, ran on his record as a prosecutor and his history of taking dangerous drugs and violent criminals off the streets. DePasquale, meanwhile, had never prosecuted a case in his life and had a history of hopping from elected office to elected office. With more than 95% of the vote reported, Sunday’s lead was more than 4 percentage points (or more than 300,00 votes). In the races for state treasurer and state auditor general, incumbents Stacy Garrityand Tim DeFoor, both of whom we supported, won their re-election bids. This is the first time Republicans have won all three row offices since 1956.
McCormick-Casey race too close to call
With 97% of the votes counted, the U.S. Senate race between incumbent Democrat Sen. Bob Casey and Republican Dave McCormick remains too close to call. Currently, McCormick holds a slim lead of about 1 percentage point, 3,295,272 votes to 3,228,996 votes. With wins in other states, Republicans flipped control of the U.S. Senate. If McCormick’s lead holds, the GOP would expand its lead in the chamber.
Pa. legislative races remain too close to call
With Republicans seeking to end Democrats’ one-seat majority in the Pa. House and Democrats seeking to expand it, multiple races remain too close to call—so the Pa. House majority remains TBD. As of this morning, neither Republicans nor Democrats had flipped any Pa. House seats. In the Senate, where Republicans hold a 28-22 majority, that makeup is likely to remain the same after Democrats flipped one seat and Republicans appear poised to flip the northeast Philly seat currently held by Democrat state Sen. Jimmy Dillon. The Inquirer reports (scroll down in the story), “With all but one precinct having reported results, Republican challenger Joe Picozzi … led [Dillon] by more than 1,000 votes.”
Multiple Pa. congressional races are super close
Republicans are leading or appear to have won several closely watched U.S. House races in Pa. In the 7th congressional district in the Lehigh Valley, Republican challenger state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie currently leads incumbent Democrat U.S. Rep. Susan Wild by about 1.4 percentage points. Farther north in the Scranton area, GOP challenger Rob Bresnahan declared victory over incumbent Democrat Rep. Matt Cartwright. (The race hasn’t officially been called yet.) And in the 10th congressional district in south-central Pa., which Democrats have been targeting for multiple years, incumbent Republican Rep. Scott Perry appears to have held onto his seat against challenger Janelle Stelson.