Democrats settling House primaries in Pennsylvania swing districts, with Shapiro’s clout on the line

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

WARMINSTER, Pa. (AP) —

Democrats in Pennsylvania were settling primary fights Tuesday to shape their congressional slate for the fall election, in which they hope — with Gov. Josh Shapiro’s help — to capture the state’s four swing districts and ultimately a U.S. House majority.

Janelle Stelson won the party’s nomination in one of three swing seats where Democrats had a contested primary for the right to take on the Republican seatholder in November. Stelson will challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry.

Stelson was endorsed by Shapiro, the Democratic governor who is putting his clout on the line in trying to help Democrats flip key Republican-held U.S. House seats in Pennsylvania and deliver Democratic control of the state Legislature to advance his own agenda.

Shapiro and Republican Stacy Garrity will face each other in November after winning their uncontested primaries.

The governor urged the crowd at his primary election rally Tuesday night to help the party’s candidates win control of the state Legislature for the first time in more than three decades. He said he’ll advance a stronger agenda with Democratic control in Harrisburg.

“Give me a Democratic majority in the Senate and we will fully fund mass transit, we will build more housing, and we will codify abortion rights into state law,” Shapiro said.

For Shapiro, the election year is more than an opportunity to win a second term: It’s a chance show his battleground-state political strength should he decide to run for president in 2028.

The U.S. House campaigns will put Pennsylvania on the front lines of Democratic efforts to retake control of Congress and block the last two years of President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Contested primaries in swing seats

Shapiro and national Democrats are promoting their chosen candidates over progressive rivals, the latest example of a fissure that has divided the party as it grasps for a path back to power in Washington.

Three of the four swing districts have contested Democratic primaries, in addition to a wide-open contest in Philadelphia that will almost surely anoint the next seatholder. Those three swing districts are held by Perry and Republican U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick and Ryan Mackenzie.

Shapiro and the House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, teamed up to endorse the same candidate in each of the three contested primaries.

Washington U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, the chair of the DCCC, said the party wanted “top tier” candidates who were the strongest to take on Republican incumbents.

Two of those — Stelson and Bob Harvie — faced opponents on the left, while another, Bob Brooks, is in a four-way primary contest.

Stelson, a former local television anchor and personality, beat Justin Douglas, a progressive minister and a Dauphin County commissioner.

In Fitzpatrick’s district in suburban Philadelphia, Bob Harvie, a Bucks County commissioner, is up against Lucia Simonelli, a first-time candidate and climate activist.

Brooks’ primary is for the right to challenge Mackenzie in the Allentown-area seat. He’s facing former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, former Northampton County executive Lamont McClure and former legislative aide Carol Obando-Derstine.

In the fourth swing district, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti was unopposed for the Democratic nomination to take on GOP U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, who also was unopposed in the primary.

Democrats see opportunity

In 2018, the last midterm election cycle under Trump, Pennsylvania Democrats flipped four Republican-held congressional seats. In 2024, Perry and Mackenzie’s margins of victory were among the slimmest in that year’s House races — smaller than the margin by which Trump won those districts in the presidential election.

Fitzpatrick won more comfortably, but he is just one of three House Republicans elected in districts that also backed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

Fitzpatrick and Perry are perennial targets of Democrats, and have survived repeatedly. However, Mackenzie is a freshman in his first reelection test.

Without Trump on the ballot, Democrats hope they can capitalize on weaker Republican turnout. Shapiro won the same districts in 2022, and he’s on the top of the party’s ticket this year.

A Philadelphian will go to Washington

In Philadelphia, the Democratic primary for a seat in Congress there is widely viewed as a toss-up among three candidates.

No Republican is seeking that party’s nomination, making the Democratic primary winner a shoo-in to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Dwight Evans.

It features a familiar name to many in the city: Sharif Street, a state senator, former state party chairman and son of the city’s former two-term mayor, John F. Street. He is backed by Mayor Cherelle Parker, former Gov. Ed Rendell and the city’s building trades unions.

A state lawmaker, Rep. Chris Rabb, was endorsed by progressive stalwarts U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and online streamer Hasan Piker and has drawn financial backing from the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Dr. Ala Stanford, a pediatric surgeon who started a Black doctors’ consortium during the COVID-19 pandemic, was helped by millions of dollars from 314 Action, a left-leaning political action committee aimed at electing scientists to Congress.

Shapiro a heavy favorite in November

Shapiro will go into the fall as a heavy favorite to win reelection over Garrity, the state treasurer. Shapiro is on track to break his own campaign spending record and reported outraising Garrity by more than 10-to-1.

Republicans acknowledge Shapiro’s electoral strength, and many in the party hope that Garrity can at least make it a close contest to help protect other Republicans on the ballot.

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Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter

Marc Levy, The Associated Press

by The Canadian Press

Democrats settling House primaries in Pennsylvania swing districts, with Shapiro’s clout on the line

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