News & Brews November 13, 2024
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Schumer invites McCormick to orientation after all
Filed under “things that make you go hmmm,” Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer performed an about-face yesterday and invited Republican Dave McCormick to the new-member orientation in D.C. Schumer had previously declined to invite McCormick as final votes are still being tallied, despite the AP already calling the race for McCormick. The Inquirer reports that Schumer extended the invitation “after Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego won his Senate race in Arizona.” Casey has not yet conceded the race to McCormick.
Garrity takes top vote-getter spot from Shapiro
Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who just won re-election last week,“appears to have garnered the largest vote total ever recorded by a candidate for statewide office in Pennsylvania,” the Inquirer reports. Per unofficial results, Garrity has won more votes than Josh Shapiro won in his 2020 race for attorney general, which was “the previous record for state office.” And according to the latest unofficial results available this morning, Garrity’s vote total is even running slightly ahead of President-Elect Donald Trump’s.
Trump’s Pa. win, from multiple angles…
There are numerous analyses out there on Trump’s Pa. win. Here are a few: The Inquirer reports that Trump “made his biggest gains” in Northeast Pa. The Reading Eagle says Trump “made significant inroads” in Reading. The New York Post looks at Trump’s victory among Pa. Amish voters. CBS News notes that Trump’s Pa. win was “fueled by economic concerns among Latino, working-class voters.” And the progressive Pennsylvania Capital-Star posits that the “collapse of [the] urban Democratic vote” handed Trump the victory.
Pa. House Ds and Rs hold leadership elections
Yesterday, Pa. House Republicans and Democrats held their respective elections for leadership posts within the chamber. On the Democrat side, lawmakers re-elected Rep. Matt Bradford (Montgomery County) as Majority Leader, Rep. Jordan Harris (Philadelphia) as Appropriations Chair, and Rep. Joanna McClinton(Philadelphia & Delaware counties) as Speaker. On the Republican side, after Rep. Bryan Cutler announced he would not run for re-election as GOP leader, lawmakers elected Rep. Jesse Topper (Bedford and Fulton counties) to the role. Among others elected were Rep. Jim Struzzi (Indiana County) as GOP Appropriations Chair and Rep. Tim O’Neal (Washington County) as GOP Whip. (Read more on the Republican elections here and on the Democrat elections here.)
Trump Cabinet picks: Pa. edition
Amid reports that President-Elect Trump plans to nominate Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida for Secretary of State, Pa.’s own Sen. John Fetterman posted on X that Rubio “is a strong choice” and Fetterman “look[s] forward to voting for his confirmation.” Meanwhile, PennLive reports that U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, who represents the 15th congressional district in north-central Pa. and currently serves as House Agriculture Chair, “is among the candidates under consideration as Trump’s agriculture secretary.”