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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Downballot races show incumbents leading

I wrote earlier about some of the races for state House. So far, it looks like state Rep. Brown, in West Philadelphia, and state Rep. Salisbury, in the Pittsburgh area, are fending off challenges from the left, according to The New York Times. In the Brown race, Blackwell and Green may have split the vote against him. In the Democratic race for state Senate in Erie, Erie County Democratic Party Chair Jim Wertz is projected to defeat former Fetterman staffer Selena King, according to The New York Times.

—Monica Potts, 538


Pennsylvanians feel more positive about the national economy than the PA economy

Given the way Pennsylvanians feel about the economy in the commonwealth, Tia, whoever makes the ballot in the state treasurer race may have their work cut out for them. Pennsylvania voters are more optimistic about the direction of the U.S. economy than voters in other swing states, according to a GBAO/Fabrizio Lee/Wall Street Journal poll from March. Thirty percent of Pennsylvanians said the U.S. economy has gotten better in the last two years, the highest of the seven swing states surveyed. However, voters are less happy with how things are going in the commonwealth; just 20 percent said that the Pennsylvania economy has gotten better over the last two years, fewer than all but one of the states included in the survey (Arizona, in which 19 percent said things had gotten better).

—Mary Radcliffe, 538


ABC News projects that Sunday will win the Republican nomination for attorney general

ABC News has projected that Dave Sunday will win the Republican nomination for attorney general and will run for the open seat in November. Sunday currently has 66 percent of the vote, with 31 percent of the expected vote reporting. On the Democratic side, Eugene DePasquale is leading with 39 percent, and 54 percent of the expected vote reporting.

—Monica Potts, 538


McClelland has a surprising lead in the Democratic state treasurer race

In one of tonight's competitive statewide races, Pittsburgh-area small business owner Erin McClelland is in the lead over Erie State Rep. Ryan Bizzarro on the back of the mail-in vote from Allegheny County. With around 40 percent of the expected vote in, McClelland is leading with around 57 percent to 43 percent of the vote, according to the state election returns site. Bizzarro may close in on this lead, since he's doing better in other parts of the state — but he's only barely in the lead there as well. (For example, he's up by less than 3 points in Philly and losing by 8 points in Bucks.)

Bizzarro has the state party's nomination and state campaign finance reports show that he outspent McClelland $348,000 to $23,000 in the cycle! This is an impressive showing. It may say something about regional power dynamics in the state, since Bizzarro is one of the few candidates in today's statewide contests who doesn't hail from either the Philly or Pittsburgh regions.

—Tia Yang, 538


Pennsylvania features the first real primary challenge against The Squad

The war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza has paved the way for some bitter Democratic primary fights in 2024. Among those most critical of Israel's actions in the conflict has been The Squad, an informal group of around nine progressive Democrats who often clash with their party's establishment. Of that cohort, Rep. Summer Lee of Pittsburgh is the first to face a contested primary in 2024 — but she won't be the last. At least four members, including Lee, have potentially significant primary opposition in part because of their vocal denouncements of Israel — although increasingly negative views of the Middle East nation's actions among the Democratic base means the conflict may not be as helpful to The Squad's challengers as some may have expected.

Should Lee survive, she would join Reps. Greg Casar of Texas and Delia Ramirez of Illinois among those who've won renomination (Casar and Ramirez faced no opposition in their March primaries). But some members with primaries later this summer may have problems, especially the two who are arguably most endangered: New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Missouri Rep. Cori Bush. For one thing, they've each been outraised by their leading challengers, and they both have potential scandals that could derail their reelection efforts. Last fall, Bowman pulled a fire alarm in a Capitol office building right before a vote, which resulted in him paying a fine and receiving a censure from the House. And Bush faces investigations by the Department of Justice, Federal Election Commission and House Ethics Committee into alleged misuse of funds to pay her security team, including payments to her husband as part of that team.

Beyond those two, Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar may be the other Squad member who could have some trouble. Two years ago, she defeated former Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels by just 2 percentage points in the Democratic primary; now Samuels is back for a rematch, although Omar has already raised more than twice as much as the $2.4 million she'd brought in by the time of the 2022 primary>. Otherwise, there are few signs that New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Massachusetts Rep. Ayanna Pressley will have difficulties. Ocasio-Cortez does have a challenger, but his largely self-funded effort pales in comparison to Ocasio-Cortez's campaign war chest, while Tlaib's little-known opponents only just filed for the race and haven't reported raising any money. Pressley, meanwhile, has no primary opposition ahead of Massachusetts's May 7 candidate filing deadline.

—Geoffrey Skelley, 538