Pennsylvania primaries 2024: Lee and Fitzpatrick survive, matchups set for November

538 tracked congressional and downballot primary races in the Keystone State.

Pennsylvania is already in the thick of campaign season for November's presidential and U.S. Senate races, but on April 23, Democrats and Republicans in the Keystone State chose their candidates in a slate of other consequential races down the ballot this fall.

Among the key races to watch: a couple of incumbent House members — progressive Democrat Summer Lee and moderate Republican Brian Fitzpatrick — both fended off challengers from their right, and ballots are now set for a few other consequential contests that could help determine control of the House next year. Plus, some key battle lines for control of the state government in November are set, with the parties finalizing their candidates for attorney general, auditor, treasurer and both chambers of the state legislature.

538 reporters and contributors broke down the election results as they came in with live updates, analysis and commentary. Read our full live blog below.


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Republican Jeffrey Olsommer on track to win Pennsylvania's only special election

In the 139th state House District special election tonight, the only special for state legislative seats of the evening, Jeffrey Olsommer is on track to hold the seat for his party after former state Rep. Joe Adams resigned in February due to health concerns. Olsommer currently leads Democrat Roberta Skibber by about 6 percentage points, a margin that will likely grow as more election day votes are counted, according to the state election returns site. However, he does appear on track for an underperformance in this seat that Trump won by 28 points in 2020.

—Mary Radcliffe, 538


Only one contested U.S. House Democratic primary is still unprojected

The 14th District in southwest Pennsylvania is a solidly Republican seat, but incumbent GOP Rep. Guy Reschenthaler will have an opponent in November. The question is, who? With 96 percent of the expected vote reporting, Navy veteran Chris Dziados leads business owner Ken Bach 54 percent to 46 percent in the Democratic primary. This makes Dziados a pretty clear favorite to win his party's nomination at this point, although the race is unprojected at this time.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538


Checking in on candidates of color

All of today's congressional primary contests where nonwhite candidates were running have been projected, according to reporting by ABC News. Incumbent Reps. Dwight Evans and Summer Lee successfully fended off primary challengers, while Shamaine Daniels and Blake Lynch were both defeated by Janelle Stelson in a crowded Democratic primary for Pennsylvania's 10th. On the GOP side of things, only one candidate of color was running in a contested primary race tonight: Maria Montero lost to state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in the 7th District, which Republicans have been eyeing as a potential flip this November.

—Irena Li, 538


Mackenzie projected to win PA-07 and take on Rep. Susan Wild

And now we have a projection! ABC News reports state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie is projected to win the Republican primary race in the 7th Congressional District, setting him up to square off against Democratic Rep. Susan Wild in this highly contested district in Lehigh Valley this fall.

—Kaleigh Rogers, 538


A crowd of Democrats vying to challenge hard-right Republican Scott Perry in Pennsylvania's 10th District

In the Harrisburg-based 10th District, Republican Rep. Scott Perry won reelection by a little less than 8 percentage points in 2022. But he remains a target for Democrats, thanks to the district's potential competitiveness and Perry's reputation as an archconservative. A crowd of six contenders have entered the Democratic primary to earn the right to face Perry in November, and there's some degree of uncertainty about how this primary might play out.

If there's a front-runner, it's probably former news anchor Janelle Stelson, whose long tenure at WGAL in the Harrisburg-Lancaster-Lebanon-York TV market has made her a familiar face in the region. Stelson had raised $577,000 as of April 3, and she has endorsements from EMILY's List and the business-friendly New Democratic Action Fund. However, Stelson has competition in retired Marine fighter pilot Mike O'Brien, who has slightly outraised Stelson by bringing in $736,000. The other candidate of note is Harrisburg City Council member Shamaine Daniels, the party's 2022 nominee against Perry, although she's only raised $73,000.

But both Stelson and O'Brien have faced questions about their ties to the district, as Stelson lives just outside it in Lancaster County and O'Brien only recently moved to the area. Stelson has also faced scrutiny for having only recently switched her party registration from Republican to Democrat and for having made a racist joke on air around a decade ago involving Asians eating cats. Whether that's enough to derail her remains to be seen: The only recent poll we've seen was a late February survey for Stelson's campaign by Normington, Petts & Associates that found her leading with 36 percent, followed by Daniels at 16 percent and O'Brien at 9 percent.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538