It’s primary election day in Pa. with the polls opening at 7 in the morning and closing at 8 p.m., and what will be decided is who the major party candidates are for the general election on Nov. 2.
Returns can be found here .
There will also be a special election to determine who will represent Pennsylvania’s 12th District in Congress for the remainder of the term left vacant by John Murtha’s Feb. 9 death. The term will end Jan. 3, 2011.
Senate Races
The race getting the most attention is the Democratic U.S. Senate primary fight between incumbent and party-endorsed party-switcher Arlen Specter and Congressman Joe Sestak of the 7th District who is not seeking re-election to his congressional seat. Polls show it to be neck and neck.
Seeking the GOP U.S. Senate nomination are businessman and former Congressman Pat Toomey and activist Peg Luksik. Toomey is the strong favorite.
12th Congressional District
The special election has Republican businessman Tim Burns facing off against Democrat Mark Critz , who was Murtha’s aide and touts himself as a knowledgeable Washington insider.
There is also a primary race, however, and it is in the realm of possibility that the winner of the special election will not be on the November ballot. The GOP race is between Burns and William Russell who was the Republican candidate for the seat in 2008.
Critz has an easier path with his opponents being novices Ryan Bucchianeri and Ronald Mackell Jr.
Other Congressional Primary Contests
3rd District
Incumbent Kathy Dahlkemper has a Democratic primary challenger in Mel Marin. Republicans seeking to take on the winner in November are Clayton Grabb, Martha Moore, Steven Fisher, Mike Kelly, Ed Franz, and Paul Huber.
4th District
Keith Rothfus and former U.S. attorney Mary Beth Buchanan battle to be the GOP nominee vs. incumbent Dem Jason Altmire.
6th District
Manan Trivedi and Doug Pike are striving to be the Democrat nominee while GOP incumbent Jim Gerlach faces a challenge from Patrick Henry Sellers.
8th District
Republicans seeking to take on Democrat incumbent Patrick Murphy are Michael Fitzpatrick, Gloria Carlineo, James Jones and Ira Hoffman.
10th District
Republicans Malcolm Derk, David Madeira and Thomas Marino are fighting to be the nominee against vulnerable Democrat incumbent Christopher Paul Carney.
11th District
Democrat incumbent Paul E. Kanjorski faces a primary challenge from Corey O’Brien. Winner takes on Republican Lou Barletta in November.
13th District
Republicans seeking the nomination to take on Democrat incumbent Allyson Schwartz in November are Brian P. Haughton, Joshua Quinter and Carson Dee Adcock.
15th District
Republican incumbent Charles Dent faces a primary challenge from Mat Benol. Winner faces Democrat John B. Callahan in November.
17th District
Democrat incumbent Tim Holden faces a primary challenge from Sheila Dow-Ford. Seeking the GOP nomination are Dave Argall, Allen Griffith, Josh First and Frank Ryan.
19th District
Republican incumbent Todd Platts faces a primary challenge from Michael Smeltzer. Winner faces Democrat Ryan Sanders in November.
Governor Races
In the GOP governor’s race, party-endorsed Attorney General Tom Corbett is facing challenge from State Rep. Sam Rohrer and it appears to have him surprisingly worried .
The Democrat who want the gubernatorial nomination are Dan Onorato, the Allegheny Countyexecutive; State Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams, who represents the 8th District which includes large parts of southwest Philadelphia andsoutheast Delaware County, Jack Wagner, the state auditor general; and Joe Hoeffel, a Montgomery County commissioner.
Lt. Gov Races
With regard to the lieutenant governor slot, nine Republicans are seeking it. They are:
Chet Beiler — former Lancaster County GOP chairman
Steve Johnson– York County businessman
Russ Diamond,founder of PaCleanSweep
BillyMcCue, a businessman
JohnKennedy, a former state representative
Jim Cawley, a Bucks County Commissioner who calls himself a “fiscal conservative” and is being pushed by Corbett.
Jean Craige Pepper, who once ran for state treasurer and whose platform seems to be that she’s the only girl in the game.
Stephen Urban, a Luzerne County Commissioner
Daryl Metcalfe, the state representative for the 12th District who just submitted a bill based on Arizona’s illegal immigration law.
The Democrats running for lieutenant governor are party-endorsed Jonathan Sadel, a former Philadelphia city controller; DorisSmith-Ribner, a retired Commonwealth Courth judge; and Scott A. Conklin, the state rep for the 77th District.
State Senate Races
While there are no contested Republican State Senate primaries, there are several on the Democrat ticket which are:
4th Senatorial District
W. Lamont Thomas
Leanna Washington (incumbent)
6th Senatorial District
(seat held by Republican Tommy Tomlinson)
John Jordan
Bryan Allen
8th Senatorial District
Anthony Hardy Williams (incumbent who is also running for lieutenant governor)
Carmen Hopson
14th Senatorial District
(Seat being vacated by Democrat Raphael Musto)
John T. Yudichak
Tom Leighton
22nd Senatorial District
(Seat being vacated by Democrat Robert J. Mellow who is retiring to enjoy a $313,000 annual pension )
Joseph J. Corcoran
Charles J. Volpe
Jim Wansacz
John Blake
Christopher Doherty
Christopher Phillips
32nd Senatorial District
Ronald Gallo
Richard Kasunic (incumbent)
Other races
To see the contest primaries in the 203 State House districts visit here .
To see the races for State Democrat Committee visit here
To see the races for State Republican Committee visit here .
Category: Election Archive
Why The GOP Attacks On Rohrer?
Conventional wisdom holds that party-endorsed Tom Corbett , who is Pennsylvania’s attorney general, is a sure bet as the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate but with a handful of days left till the May 18 primary the establishment has launched a massive strike on lone opponent state Rep Sam Rohrer who represents the 128th District and is GOP chairman of the House Finance Committee.
The attack came in a mass mailer highlighting Rohrer’s vote for the controversial 2005 pay raise which caused numerous legislators to deservedly lose their jobs, and is likely the most embarrassing thing on Rohrer’s record.
Given time and resources — which he lacks — Rohrer would likely dodge this bullet as he has in his House races since he is may be the least greedy politician in the Commonwealth.
He and his wife, Ruth Ann, declared $83,650 in 2008, most of which was his $71,112 legislative salary, which showed him to be by far the poorest of those seeking the governor’s office. They also showed he gave $16,187 to charity that year, which was by far the most of the candidates.
In his unflagging underdog campaign, Rohrer’s constant theme has been the financial crisis facing the state and how it was possible to fix it.
Corbett Quits Scheduled GOP Debate
PCN, the non-profit cable network covering Pennsylvania government and culture, has announced that it is canceling the debate scheduled for tomorrow between State Rep. Sam Rohrer and Pennsylvania Attorney General Tom Corbett after Corbett announced he would not attend. Rohrer and Corbett are the candidates in the GOP gubernatorial primary which is May 18.
Rohrer said both teams had confirmed participation and that he remains willing to debate.
The debate was to be held at 1 p.m. at PCN’s studio at Camp Hill and co-hosted by ABC27 and the Pennsylvania Independent.
A call-In program was to follow the live debate in which viewers would be able to directly address the guest.
In other election news, State Rep. Bryan Lentz (D-161) who is almost certainly going to be the Democratic nominee in the race to replace Congressman Joe Sestak in the 7th District, has had a turnout of five persons at town halls he held Monday and Tuesday in Brookhaven and Radnor despite the governments of both municipalities being controlled by Democrats.
Specter Takes Gloves Off With Admiral Joe
So it is a horse race in the Pennsylvania Democrat senate primary. Showing why he’s not called Snarlin’ Arlen for nothing, the incumbent Specter, yesterday, released a blistering attack ad against challenger Congressman Joe Sestak (D-7) called “No Show Joe” in which he notes Sestak was “relieved of duty in the Navy for creating a poor command climate” and has the “worst attendance of any Pennsylvania congressman”.
Until this month , Specter, who is the party-endorsed candidate, had been leading the congressman handily in the polls.
Pass the popcorn.
Why Santorum Endorsed Specter
Maybe Pennsylvania conservatives owe Rick Santorum an apology.
Many stayed home in 2006 setting the stage for Democrat Bob Casey to take the senate seat Santorum held since 1995. Some even actively worked against him.
And it was all because Santorum endorsed incumbent Arlen Specter over insurgent Pat Toomey in the 2004 GOP senate primary. Yes, children Arlen Specter was a Republican in those days.
Santorum has now revealed to Specter’s consternation that the endorsement was contingent on Arlen supporting President Bush’s judicial nominees.
Could this be something Santorum is making up? Well, Specter unequivocally supported Bush’s judicial nominees, a thing that is biting him in his butt now that he has switched parties.
Congressman Joe “The Red Admiral” Sestak has crept to within two points of the party — that’s Democrat Party — endorsed Specter in the latest Rasmussen poll to be the Dem’s senate nominee this November.
With 10 percent undecided, I think I’d actually put money on The Red Admiral in the May 18 primary.
A Million Pa. Independent Voters To Miss A Primary Choice
Pennsylvania’s primary election is May 18 and, third-party romantics aside, from it will be chosen the candidates who will be the people who lead this state.
A little over a million of Pennsylvania’s 8.4 million registered voters will not participate in this choice because they have registered as something other than a Republican or Democrat. Pennsylvania is one of 14 closed primary states. The actual breakdown of labels is 36,473 Libertarians; 484,597 “no affiliation”
and 490,526 “other voters.
All but two of those running for governor this year have expressed support for Pennsylvania becoming an open primary state in which one can vote in whatever party’s race regardless of what his registration happens to be.
The dissenters are State Sen. Anthony Williams, a Democrat who represents the 8th District that includes a large part of Delaware County and state Rep. Sam Rohrer, a Republican who represents the 128th District in Berks County.
Williams would like to eliminate primaries altogether and just have a general election.
Rohrer would like to encourage independents to join a major party, which is a reasonable thing. If one is part of a group not choosing its candidate on primary day registering with a major party would give one two shots at how the state would be run. Ironically, Rohrer’s non-establishment campaign would likely be boosted by an open primary.
For the record, there are 4.3 million Democrats and 3.1 million Republicans in the state.
It’s A Dem Dead Heat In Pa. Senate Fight
The latest Rasmussen Poll has endorsed incumbent Arlen Specter with just a two-point lead over Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pa7) to be the Democrat nominee for the Pennsylvania senate race.
The primary is May 18.
Specter is ahead 44 to 42 percent with 10 percent undecided and 4 percent wishing they could vote for someone else, a wish, btw, that will not come true now that Sestak has knocked everyman challenger Joe Vod Varka off the ballot.
Last month Rasmussen had Specter preferred to Sestak by Democrat voters 48-37 percent.
The most recent Franklin & Marshall Poll had Specter beating Sestak 32 to 12 percent but with 52 percent undecided.
The winner of the primary faces Republican Pat Toomey in November.
Admiral Joe Knocks Regular Joe Off Dem Ballot
Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled today that Joe Vod Varka failed to get the 2,000 valid signatures required to be on the May 18 ballot for the Democrat Party senate primary election.
Vod Varka, a small business owner from Allegheny County, shocked the political establishment by appearing to get the signatures last March.
He describes himself as a
conservative Democrat. He is against ObamaCare and has been an NRA
member for 36 years.
The action came after a challenge by Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pa7) and the ruling leaves the race between him and party-endorsed incumbent Arlen Specter.
Specter responded with this statement: The people, specifically Democratic Primary voters, should have decided
whether Mr. Vodvarka was worthy of support, not Joe Sestak and the court
system. And Cong. Sestak was happy to pay big bucks to his lawyers to knock a
regular guy like Joe Vodvarka off the ballot, but he’s not willing to
pay the minimum wage to his own campaign employees.
Dem Fails In Strange Attempt To Stop A Congressional Election
The man expected to be the Democrat nominee to replace Joe Sestak to represent Pennsylvania’s 7th District in Congress tried a bush-league trick to force the Republican nominee from the race which could have been seen as doomed to fail by a first-year law student.
Actually, it could have been seen as doomed to fail by anyone who caught five minutes of a rerun of an old Ally McBeal but that didn’t keep state Rep. Bryan Lentz (D-161) a.k.a. The Man Who Would Be Joe from giving it a whirl.
The Republican — former U.S. Attorney and Delaware County DA Pat Meehan — caught some signatures on his nominating petition that he thought forged and turned them over to the proper authorities.
Lentz basically said “hey, if those are forged then everything is forged” and filed a challenge to disqualify 2,624 or so of the 3,623 signatures obtained by Meehan knocking beneath the 1,000 required to be on the ballot.
On Thursday, Commonwealth Court Judge Rochelle S. Friedman ruled as expected that Lentz’s challenge had no merit. Lentz had spent tens of thousands of dollars in his strange attempt to stop an election in the 7th District.
He could have spent that money advertising his positions instead but for some strange reason he chose to fight over trivia and technicalities.
Strong School Choice Advocates In Both Pa. Gov Primaries
Maybe there are Democrats with some sense. One of the four seeking that party’s nod for governor in the May 18 primary is being strongly backed by school choice advocates. This means he actually cares about children and is willing to oppose those whose goal is to collect a fat paycheck and bennies for pretending to which, of course, is the usual Democrat constituency.
The candidate is state Sen. Anthony Hardy Williams who represents the 8th District which covers southwest Philadelphia and southeast Delaware County.
Williams has been given $1.5 million by Jeff Greenberg, Arthur Dantchik and Jeff Yass who are the founders of the Bala Cynwyd investment firm Susquehanna International Group, and who are major school choice advocates. The money was funneled to Williams via political action committees supporting school choice and charter schools.
A strong school choice proponent is running on the Republican side as well. Underdog candidate state Rep Sam Rohrer, who represents the 128th District in Berks County, authored the EducationalImprovement Tax Credit Program, which may be the most successful school choice program in the country and is something he would like to expand.