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


Can a hard-right anti-abortion activist take on the GOP's moderate posterboy?

In Bucks County, just outside Philadelphia, steadfast moderate Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick is facing a primary challenge from the right for his seat in the 1st District. Mark Houck is an anti-abortion activist and head of a nonprofit ministry group for Catholic men who made a name for himself as a bit of an anti-abortion martyr when he was charged with assault (but found not guilty) after shoving a 72-year-old clinic volunteer in 2021 while protesting outside a Planned Parenthood in Philadelphia. Fitzpatrick was first elected to Congress in 2016, succeeding his brother (the late former Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick). He's faced a primary challenger in every election since, but has always triumphed.

Fitzpatrick has made a reputation for himself locally and on the Hill as a moderate who keeps his distance from the MAGA right. He's got a track record of bipartisanship and moderate policy stances in Congress and refused to endorse Doug Mastriano, the GOP's far-right nominee for governor in 2022. He even snubbed Trump's visit to Bucks County earlier this month. His position on abortion has been a bit less clear — there's no mention of abortion on his reelection campaign website — though he has drawn ire from abortion rights groups. He's certainly no culture warrior like Houck, whose organization opposes "same-sex attraction disorders" and pornography, and works to shut down "sexually oriented businesses."

But whoever wins this primary isn't necessarily a shoe-in for the seat. Fitzpatrick or Houck will be going up against Democrat Ashley Ehasz. Fitzpatrick defeated Ehasz in 2022 by 10 percentage points, but the area is purple and shows signs of shifting blue — Biden won the district in 2020, and Democrats swept all five seats up for grabs in a recent local school board election. Fitzpatrick is the lone Republican in the districts surrounding Philadelphia, though his is the whitest of those collar counties and the conservative areas of the county are increasingly polarized. That could mean Fitzpatrick faces serious competition from Houck in the party primary, but Houck's far-right leanings could tilt the general election contest toward Democrats if he makes the ballot in November.

—Kaleigh Rogers, 538