With just over a month to go until the midterm elections, major campaigns in battleground states could make a difference to the balance of power in Congress next year.
One of these states is Pennsylvania, a state where the US Senate seat, the governor’s chair, and all 17 seats in the US House of Representatives are in dispute.
Pennsylvania, perhaps more than most other states, is a vanguard of political sentiment across the country, split between rural counties that tend to lean more Republican and major metropolitan areas that vote Democratic.
In 2016, Donald Trump won just over 44,000 votes in the Keystone presidential election. Joe Biden returned the state to blue in 2020, nearly doubling Trump’s margin of victory and winning Pennsylvania more than 80,000 votes.
Democrats currently hold a small majority in office statewide, with one senator representing each party, nine Republicans and nine Democrats splitting the state’s 18 seats, but in 2020 After the results of the census, it was reduced to 17 seats. Democratic Governor Tom Wolfe is giving the party an edge.
That could change on Nov. 8, though, with a new congressional map giving Republicans a slight boost in the state.
Pennsylvania Midterm Elections
Perhaps Pennsylvania’s most high-profile campaign, and certainly the one that received the widest public attention, was between Democratic Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman and TV personality Dr. Mehmet Oz. Senate elections in between. Republican.
The Senate seat is currently held by Republican Senator Pat Toomey. With the Senate split 50-50 on her, Keystone State is key to both parties’ political plans.
Signs of Republican candidates in the Pennsylvania midterm elections are seen at local businesses. (via Spectrum News)
At stake is President Joe Biden’s agenda. From budgets to foreign affairs, to federal court vacancies and other appointments.
If Fetterman wins the Pennsylvania Senate seat, the Democrats as a whole have an 81% chance of winning the Senate, according to FiveThirtyEight calculations. But Fetterman’s lead has shrunk in a number of polls in recent weeks, with the Cook Political Report recently changing the race from Fetterman’s slight favorite to a toss-up.
Pennsylvania is also holding a gubernatorial election, with Republican Senator Doug Mastriano vying with Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
Mastriano’s views are firmly in the mold of his supporter, former President Donald Trump, but he is much considered a longshot.
“If he wins the Pennsylvania election, he’s a different person than other candidates who have held statewide offices in states that usually promote more moderate, traditional candidates,” Muilenberg said. said Professor Christopher Bollik, who runs a respected vote center in The university told Spectrum News in Mastriano.
The governor’s office appoints the state’s chief elections officer, who influences major issues such as the economy and abortion.
The economy has been a particular focus in at least one House election. In Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district, incumbent Democrat Susan Wilde and Republican challenger Lisa Scherer, like many other state candidates, are reviving a new generation of local manufacturing. We are running a campaign to
“What I want to do is put in place policies that bring manufacturing back to the United States: low taxes, reasonable regulation, good infrastructure, safe communities,” Scheller told Spectrum News. Scherrer runs a third generation chemical company with offices in seven countries.
Wild countered by saying that Scherrer’s expansion was not in Pennsylvania, but in China, as Scherrer’s company website makes clear.
“The only American job reserved at Silberline Manufacturing is that of Lisa Scheller as CEO and owner of the company,” Wild told Spectrum News.
Steel is no longer king, but a new economy is growing in Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Valley. Along with inflation, it’s a problem we see in other parts of the country as well.
“overall unemployment rate [is] Professor Borik added to Spectrum News:
important subjects
For most of the midterm, power in Congress typically drifts away from the party that holds power in the White House. But in June, the Supreme Court rejected federal abortion rights.
One such Democrat is Rep. Wilde, who runs a television ad attacking Scherrer’s position on abortion rights.
“I speak to women all the time who remember the dark days of illegal abortion. Rape and incest are unconscionable to me, and neither Lisa Scherrer nor anyone in the government does their part to tell you what your body can do.”
Republican candidate Lisa Scherrer of Pennsylvania’s 7th congressional district attended the event. (via Spectrum News)
According to Scherer’s campaign website, she “supports abortion bans, including parental notice for minors seeking abortions, bans on late-term abortions, and bans on taxpayer funding of abortions.” .”
Scherrer has focused primarily on issues such as crime and the economy, with a recent ad declaring that “Lisa will fight hard for workers and their families.”
Access to abortion rights is one of the top issues for some Pennsylvanians, but many who spoke to Spectrum News said they were concerned about rising gas prices, rising inflation and even the outcome of the last election. Other issues are more important, he said.
“I just saw my 401K. I’m crying right now because I want to retire one day,” Pennsylvania voter Terry Lynn told Spectrum News.
Craig Rohrbach from Pennsylvania told Spectrum News:
“I’m more Republican than Democrat, because at least Republicans aren’t going to lie to you,” another Pennsylvania voter, Terry Quick, said in part.
These responses are largely in line with voter sentiment nationwide, and may be a sign of the chagrin of Democrats who hoped abortion would turn the tide in their favor.
An NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted in early September found that inflation and the economy matter to a majority of Americans, but far more so to Republicans than Democrats. . Abortion was the second most important issue, followed by health care.