At least $18.7M poured into this year’s critical Pa. Supreme Court retention races
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — Special interests, organizations connected to Pennsylvania’s richest man, and groups with mysterious donors broke spending records to...
MyPillow founder and Trump supporter Mike Lindell says he’s running for Minnesota governor in 2026
SHAKOPEE, Minn. — Mike Lindell, the fervent supporter of President Donald Trump known to TV viewers as the “MyPillow Guy,” officially entered the race for Minnesota governor Thursday in hopes of winning the Republican nomination to challenge Democratic Gov. Tim Walz in 2026. Lindell made the announcement at a news...
Supreme Court weighs Republican appeal to end limits on party spending in federal elections
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court is considering a Republican-led drive, backed by President Donald Trump’s administration, to overturn a quarter-century-old decision and erase limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president. A day after the justices indicated they would overturn a 90-year-old...
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s exit opens room for new political unknown in Georgia
CHATSWORTH, Ga. — U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene built her career as one of Donald Trump’s fiercest defenders. Now, after a dramatic turn against the president she once championed, she’s walking away from a Washington that she said “despised” her. What comes next for her — and for Georgia politics...
How Westmoreland County uses blue ‘pills’ to break more than 200 election ties
Brian Carnahan didn’t even know he’d be a candidate for public office until he cast a write-in vote for himself on Election Day. That single vote was enough to put him into a five-way tie for the position of inspector of elections at his Jeannette 5th Ward precinct for the...
Ohio Democrat Tim Ryan, the ex-congressman who lost a Senate bid to JD Vance, won’t run for governor
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan said Friday that he has decided not to run for Ohio governor next year, eliminating the most significant hurdle to the nomination for former state health director Dr. Amy Acton. Ryan, 52, had been considering a bid after fellow Democrat Sherrod...
Westmoreland to break 200 election ties with draws from a jar
More than 200 races in this month’s municipal election in Westmoreland County ended in ties. The county election board Tuesday issued a precertification of the results of the hundreds of races that appeared on the Nov. 4 ballot after tallying more than 22,000 write-in votes, said Election Bureau Director Scott...
Federal judges block Texas from using its new U.S. House map in the 2026 midterms
EL PASO, Texas — Texas cannot use a new congressional map drawn by Republicans in hopes of securing the party additional U.S. House seats, a panel of three federal judges ruled Tuesday. The ruling was a blow to President Donald Trump’s efforts to have GOP lawmakers in multiple states redraw...
Incumbents, newcomer Katie Noel among West Jefferson Hills school board winners
On Nov. 4, six candidates competed for four four-year terms and one two-year term on the West Jefferson Hills school board. With 20/20 precincts reporting, a total of 17,836 votes were cast for the slate of five candidates vying for four-year terms. Current board president Kimberley S. Finnerty led the...
Trump plans to meet with Mamdani, says he’ll ‘work something out’ with New York City’s mayor-elect
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Donald Trump indicated Sunday that he plans to meet with New York City’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and said they’ll “work something out,” in what could be a detente for the Republican president and Democratic political star who have cast each other as political foils....
Here are the election results for the Quaker Valley area
Quaker Valley area voters made their voices heard and have elected the following folks to school board, council, board of commissioners and supervisors. Many of the races, including mayoral contests, were uncontested. Quaker Valley School Board Board Vice President Daniela Sauro Helkowski (956) and newcomer Ellen Stevenson (840) cruised to...
In latest major elections case, Supreme Court to hear GOP challenge to mail-in ballots
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court will decide whether mailed ballots must be received by Election Day and not just postmarked by then, agreeing to review the Republican Party’s so-far successful challenge to a Mississippi law that could affect similar rules in many other states. In asking the court to hear...
Voters in the Fox Chapel area select some new mayors but retain many other incumbents
Fox Chapel area voters have elected new mayors in Fox Chapel and Aspinwall while re-electing a number of familiar faces for council, school board and other mayoral races. Here are the results from the Nov. 4 election, according to Allegheny County Elections Division records. Fox Chapel Area School Board Incumbent...
Higher-than-expected election turnout boosted by judicial race, officials say
Political leaders on attribute a higher-than-expected voter turnout for Tuesday’s general election to the hotly contested state judicial retention vote. Turnout in Westmoreland County, which featured few contested local races, reached 42%. County election officials had initially predicted turnout would be about 30%. In neighboring Allegheny County, where the Pittsburgh...
Cross-filing backfires for some Allegheny County judicial candidates
Call it the curse of cross-filing. As election results were pouring in Tuesday night, political pundit Joseph Sabino Mistick noticed a trend emerging in the Allegheny County Common Pleas Court race. While all 13 candidates for judge were Democrats, those who were cross-filed — listed on the ballot as both...
Nancy Pelosi won’t seek reelection, ending her storied career in U.S. House
WASHINGTON — Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi will not seek reelection to the U.S. House, bringing to a close her storied career as not only the first woman in the speaker’s office but arguably the most powerful in American politics. Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco for nearly 40 years, announced...
Westmoreland voters opt for computers over paper ballots
The biggest winner on Election Day in Westmoreland County was the touch-screen voting machine. County voters overwhelmingly rejected the use of optional paper ballots at the polls, as just 5% of those who cast ballots at Westmoreland’s 306 precincts used pen and paper to vote Tuesday. “It proves me right....
Cheswick sees slate of incumbents hold council seats
Four incumbents on Cheswick Council seeking reelection held onto their seats in Tuesday’s election. The election saw two races — one with five candidates seeking four four-year terms and another with two candidates seeking two two-year terms. Nicholas Pollino earned the most votes in both races but said he’d likely...
West Deer voters retain 2 supervisors, chose a well-known, experienced newcomer
A busy night of races in West Deer resulted in two incumbents getting reelected and one newcomer being named supervisor-at-large. Republican Vince Mercuri, 68, earned 2,237 (50.1%) votes, securing him the supervisor at-large position. He beat Mark B. Schmidt, 70, a Democrat who earned 2,203 (49.4%) votes. “We’re very excited,...
Democrats win all 4 seats on Plum Council
Democrats carried the day in Plum, unseating incumbent Republicans to claim four seats on borough council. Unofficial results show Ryan Delaney as the top voter-getter with 14.5%, followed by James McBride with 13.9%, Raymond Rall with 13.2% and Phoebus Apollo with 12.8%. The Democratic sweep renders incumbents Paul Dern, Steve...
Toney, DiCarolis victors in New Kensington Council election
Democrats Phillip Toney and Nicholas DiCarolis won two seats on New Kensington Council, according to unofficial results from the Westmoreland County Elections Bureau. In the three-candidate race for two seats, Toney had collected 1,800 votes, DiCarolis 1,534. Republican Chase Balla had 1,238. Toney, 70, and DiCarolis, 37, will take the...
Democrats look to build on election wins in Pa., elsewhere as GOP refocuses
Democrats racked up victories in high-profile races across the country Tuesday night, prompting many on the left to view the wins as a repudiation of President Donald Trump and something to build on going into next year’s pivotal midterm elections. Some top Republicans downplayed the results, while others said Tuesday’s...
2 Pennsylvania counties had to replace poll books in the middle of Election Day voting
HARRISBURG — Two Pennsylvania counties had to replace poll books at all polling places in the middle of in-person voting during Tuesday’s election because of what officials described as mistakes made in creating the voter data. Affected voters deciding local races and whether to give three Democratic justices another term...
Irwin voters opt for 2 incumbents, 2 newcomers
Irwin borough council will see two new members join two reelected incumbents, based on unofficial results from Tuesday’s election. One newly appointed incumbent failed to win a full term. Councilman Tyler Baum, a Republican, led all candidates with 23.6 of the vote in his bid for a second four-year term...
Yough voters return all 4 incumbents to school board
Yough voters gave all four incumbent school board directors another term in Tuesday’s election, according to unofficial results. Jared Filapose of Sewickley, current board president, led the ticket with 23.3% of the vote, followed by Linda Knor of Herminie at 20.3%. Matt Gardner of South Huntingdon, board vice president, received...
