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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Mackenzie still ahead in the GOP primary to face Rep. Susan Wild

In the 7th District in eastern Pennsylvania, hometown boy and state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie is leading the GOP primary to face Democratic Rep. Susan Wild this fall. With 65 percent of the expected vote reporting, Mackenzie has 42 percent, while business owner Kevin Dellicker has 31 percent and attorney Maria Montero has 27 percent. While ABC News is not yet reporting a projection, the AP has projected Mackenzie to take the W, and Wasserman saw enough 45 minutes ago. The winner of this primary will attempt to unseat Wild, a three-term member of Congress who held onto her seat by just 2 points in 2022. It's set to be one of the most competitive House races in the country this fall.

—Kaleigh Rogers, 538


Support for legalizing marijuana in Pennsylvania is decreasing

As a Pennsylvanian, one issue I was looking out for in the attorney general primary was discussion of legalizing marijuana. While the candidates did discuss it at their April 4th debate, it didn't come up much in the conversation around the race. Despite advocating legalization during his term as auditor general, the issue doesn't appear at all on DePasquale's campaign site. That may be because Pennsylvanians' views on legalization have been evolving.

According to the annual Muhlenberg College Pennsylvania Health survey, support for legalizing recreational marijuana in Pennsylvania has decreased in the last few years. In the 2021 survey, 58 percent of Pennsylvanians said they supported legalizing the use of marijuana "for any purpose," and 26 percent opposed legalization, a margin of 32 points. In the years since, the margin has steadily decreased, and in the 2024 survey conducted in February and March, 49 percent said they supported legalizing marijuana, while 31 percent opposed, a margin of 18 points.

Not all of these voters are necessarily opposed to legalization, though: The share of Pennsylvanians who express indifference about legal weed has also grown, with 20 percent saying they "neither favored nor opposed" legalizing marijuana in 2024, compared to 14 percent in 2021.

—Mary Radcliffe, 538


DePasquale projected to win the Democratic AG primary

ABC News reports that Eugene DePasquale is projected to win the Democratic nomination for Attorney General. The only candidate from Western Pennsylvania, he overcame a fundraising advantage held by his opponents. DePasquale made a name for himself as a state auditor general and has promised to prosecute hate crimes against LGBTQ+ people, protect abortion, and other issues.

—Monica Potts, 538


GOP women in the Keystone State

As I mentioned earlier, only two Republican women are running in House races today, compared to 15 Democratic women. And only one woman, Maria Montero in the 7th, is running in a seat where the party could be competitive in November. Pennsylvania has slightly below average female representation in their state legislature (which is just 32 percent female), and they've never had a female U.S. senator or governor (of any party). A state's history of electing women to political office is actually a pretty good predictor of electing more women in the future. Research indicates that once a state has elected a woman to a particular office, future female candidates are more likely to be successful in seeking that same office. Experts suggest this is due to increased familiarity and acceptance of women in political leadership and the establishment of support networks and resources for female candidates.

ABC hasn't made a projection in Montero's race yet, but The Associated Press has already projected it for state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie. Per the latest results, with 50 percent of the expected vote reporting, Montero trails, with 28 percent of the vote to Mackenzie's 43 percent and business owner Kevin Dellicker's 30 percent.

—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor


Where are the female Republican candidates?

Today's House primaries in Pennsylvania feature a dearth of Republican women: Of the 19 GOP candidates running today, just two are women. To get a sense of how lopsided this is, as we saw earlier, 12 out of the 25 candidates running for the U.S. House on the Democratic side are women.

Since about the mid-1990s, Democrats have been electing more women to Congress than Republicans, due in large part to more Democratic women running. That said, in both the 2020 and 2022 cycles, more Republican women ran in primaries than ever before. But what's more important to electing more women is where women are running, and if they are competing in places they can win in November.

In Pennsylvania's 5th District, Alfeia Goodwin is the only Republican candidate on the ballot, so in that sense she's set up to succeed in her primary! However, in November she'll face incumbent Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, who handily won reelection in 2022 and is almost certain to hold the safe blue district. This race illustrates the "sacrificial lamb" phenomenon where a candidate runs unopposed in the primary for a losing seat. There's from political science that Republican women are sacrificial lamb nominees more often than Democratic women.

Things are more interesting in the 7th District race Kaleigh just previewed, where the Democratic incumbent, Rep. Susan Wild, barely eked out a win in 2022 against a female Republican nominee, Lisa Scheller. Scheller isn't running for the GOP nomination this cycle, but another woman, attorney Maria Montero, is on the ballot today against state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie and Kevin Dellicker, a veteran and cybersecurity business owner.

Although this is a seat Republicans are targeting in November, Trump hasn't endorsed anyone in the primary race. But a Trump surrogate, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, has been . She hasn't received an endorsement from any of the GOP women's groups we are tracking (VIEW PAC, Maggie's List, E-Pac, and Winning for Women). That said, E-Pac, which was started by Trump acolyte Rep. Elise Stefanik, hasn't made any primary endorsements this cycle, despite its stated mission to elevate women in primaries.

—Meredith Conroy, 538 contributor