Election category, Page 76
Judges weigh GOP bid to delay 2 Pa. House special elections
HARRISBURG — Preparations are far along for two Pittsburgh-area special elections that the Republican leader of the Pennsylvania House has filed a lawsuit to delay past their scheduled date in early February. With Democrats and Republicans nearly even in the state House, the two special elections could determine partisan control...
Erica Brusselars launches bid for Allegheny County treasurer
For the first time in nearly 25 years, Allegheny County could have a new county treasurer, as Democrat Erica Rocchi Brusselars announced her candidacy Tuesday. Incumbent John Weinstein, a Democrat, was first elected to the treasurer position in 1999 and has held the position since then. It’s unclear if Brusselars...
Pa. county is about to start a hand recount of its 2020 presidential election results
This article is made possible through Spotlight PA’s collaboration with Votebeat, a nonpartisan news organization covering local election administration and voting. This article is available for reprint under the terms of Votebeat’s republishing policy. More than two years after the last ballot was cast in the 2020 election, Lycoming County...
Majority of 16k canceled Pa. mail-in ballots were from Democrats
HARRISBURG — New data from Pennsylvania’s elections agency shows an early November state court decision that barred mail-in ballots without accurate handwritten dates on their exterior envelopes resulted in otherwise valid votes being thrown out. The Department of State said this week more than 16,000 mail-in ballots were disqualified by...
Kevin McCarthy voted down time after time for House speaker
WASHINGTON — House Republicans flailed through a long second day of fruitless balloting Wednesday, unable to either elect their leader Kevin McCarthy as House speaker or come up with a new strategy to end the political chaos that has tarnished the start of their new majority. Yet McCarthy wasn’t giving...
Kevin McCarthy fails in marathon votes for speaker, House adjournsVideo
WASHINGTON — Unable to elect Republican leader Kevin McCarthy as the new House speaker Tuesday, the Republicans adjourned for the day in disarray as the party tries to regroup from his a historic defeat after a long, messy start for the new Congress. The surprise move end to Day One...
Black support for GOP ticked up in this year’s midterms
WASHINGTON — Black voters have been a steady foundation for Democratic candidates for decades, but that support appeared to show a few cracks in this year’s elections. Republican candidates were backed by 14% of Black voters, compared with 8% in the last midterm elections four years ago, according to AP...
Pennsylvania certifies election results after recount delay
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top elections official fully certified results from the November vote late last week after recount petitions in some counties had delayed the process, the Department of State said Tuesday. An agency spokesperson said acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman completed certification of all races in the 2022...
Josh Shapiro’s win is high note amid antisemitism surge
PITTSBURGH — Josh Shapiro will be taking office as Pennsylvania’s next governor in January after running a campaign in which he spoke early and often about his Jewish religious heritage. At a time of rising concern about overt expressions of antisemitism, some observers are seeing a bright spot in his...
Arizona lawyers: Kari Lake election loss lawsuit lacks merit
PHOENIX — Republican Kari Lake didn’t offer evidence to back her claims of widespread, intentional misconduct on Election Day at her two-day trial challenging her loss to Democrat Katie Hobbs in Arizona governor’s race, lawyers for the state said Thursday. Lake also never established her claim that printer problems at...
County vote moves Pennsylvania closer to certifying election
HARRISBURG — A suburban Philadelphia county elections board voted Tuesday to certify its November results, a development Pennsylvania officials had said was required before they can issue a statewide certification. Bucks County government spokesman Jim O’Malley said its Board of Elections wrapped up certification, although litigation over recount requests has...
Special election candidates selected for 3 state House races in Allegheny County
The fields have been set in three pivotal special elections in Allegheny County, with the local branches of the Democratic and Republican parties selecting their candidates in the races. The Allegheny County GOP on Saturday selected its three candidates for the upcoming special elections in the 32nd, 34th, and 35th...
Former Armstrong County elections director sues for discrimination, alleges election security issues
A former Armstrong County elections director filed a federal lawsuit against the county and one of its contractors, alleging discrimination and security concerns with the county’s voting system. Marybeth Kuznik of Penn Township, Westmoreland County, was fired in 2021 shortly after she requested a new scan of ballots after the...
Vote totals from recounted precincts certified in Westmoreland County
The Westmoreland County Election Board this week issued a final certification of results from five voting precincts subjected to a court-ordered recount. Voters from precincts in Salem, Hempfield, Loyalhanna, Lower Burrell and Ligonier Borough petitioned the courts to recount votes cast as part of the Nov. 8 general election for...
Mitch McConnell: Trump’s candidates fumbled 2022 away for GOP in Senate
WASHINGTON — Mitch McConnell said former President Donald Trump’s overwhelming influence in Republican Senate primaries led to hobbled candidates in 2022 who lost winnable general election races, leaving Democrats in control of the upper chamber for at least another two years. “Our ability to control the primary outcome was quite...
Recount requests delay Pennsylvania election certification
HARRISBURG — Five weeks after Election Day, winning candidates in Pennsylvania from governor to Congress are waiting for their victories to become official. An effort that appears to be at least partially coordinated among conservatives has inundated counties with ballot recount requests even though no races are close enough to...
Joe McAndrew wins Democratic nomination for special election to replace Rep. Tony DeLuca
Following the death of longtime incumbent state Rep. Tony DeLuca, an Allegheny County district has its first nominee to fill that seat. Joe McAndrew of Penn Hills secured the Democratic nomination after winning a nominating session on Sunday. McAndrew prevailed among eight candidates to replace DeLuca, who passed away in...
Young voters’ enthusiasm for Democrats waned during midterms
WASHINGTON — Young voters who have been critical to Democratic successes in recent elections showed signs in November’s midterms that their enthusiasm may be waning, a potential warning sign for a party that will need their strong backing heading into the 2024 presidential race. Voters under 30 went 53% for...
GOP sues over special elections in Pa. House majority battle
HARRISBURG — The top-ranking Republican in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives asked a court late Friday to prevent voters from filling three vacant seats in February that will determine majority control of the chamber. Rep. Bryan Cutler of Lancaster, who served as speaker until Nov. 30, asked Commonwealth Court to...
Democrats, GOP to nominate candidates for 3 special election races for state House
Democratic and Republican committees in Allegheny County will pick their nominees to run in three pivotal special election races for state House within the next week and a half. The three races will determine which party holds power in the state House. Allegheny County Democrats said Thursday they will hold...
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock beats Herschel Walker in Georgia runoffVideo
ATLANTA — Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock defeated Republican challenger Herschel Walker in a Georgia runoff election Tuesday, ensuring Democrats an outright majority in the Senate for the rest of President Joe Biden’s current term and capping an underwhelming midterm cycle for the GOP in the last major vote of the...
Warnock or Walker? Georgia runoff to settle last Senate seat
ATLANTA — Georgia voters on Tuesday are deciding the final Senate contest in the country, choosing between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican football legend Herschel Walker after a four-week runoff blitz that has drawn a flood of outside spending to an increasingly personal fight. This year’s runoff has lower...
Arizona certifies 2022 election despite GOP complaints
PHOENIX — Arizona’s top officials certified the midterm election results Monday, formalizing victories for Democrats over Republicans who falsely claimed the 2020 election was rigged. The certification opens a five-day window for formal election challenges. Republican Kari Lake, who lost the race for governor, is expected to file a lawsuit...
Iowa caucuses, built on myth, lose place at head of the line
DES MOINES, Iowa — The Hy-Vee Hall ballroom in Des Moines erupted in cheers in 2008 when the youthful Illinois senator hinted at the improbable possibility of the feat ahead: “Our time for change has come!” That Iowa, an overwhelmingly white state, would propel Barack Obama’s rise to become America’s...
Democrats move to make South Carolina, not Iowa, 1st voting state
WASHINGTON — Democrats voted Friday to remove Iowa as the leadoff state on the presidential nominating calendar and replace it with South Carolina starting in 2024, a dramatic shakeup championed by President Joe Biden to better reflect the party’s deeply diverse electorate. The Democratic National Committee’s rule-making arm made the...
