Contested primaries in swing seats
Shapiro and national Democrats promoted their chosen candidates over progressive rivals, the latest example of a fissure that has divided the party as it grasps for a path back to power in Washington.
Three of the four swing districts had contested Democratic primaries, in addition to a wide-open contest in Philadelphia that will almost surely anoint the next seatholder. Those three swing districts are held by Republican U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie and Scott Perry.
Shapiro and the House Democrats’ campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, teamed up to endorse the same candidate in each of the three contested primaries.
Washington U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, the chair of the DCCC, said the party wanted “top tier” candidates who were the strongest to take on Republican incumbents.
Two of those — Stelson and Harvie — faced opponents on the left, while Brooks was in a four-way primary contest.
Stelson, a former local television anchor and personality, beat Justin Douglas, a progressive minister and a Dauphin County commissioner.
In Fitzpatrick’s district in suburban Philadelphia, Harvie, a Bucks County commissioner, defeated Lucia Simonelli, a first-time candidate and climate activist.
Brooks will challenge Mackenzie in an Allentown-area seat. He beat former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, former Northampton County executive Lamont McClure and former legislative aide Carol Obando-Derstine.
In the fourth swing district, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti was unopposed for the Democratic nomination to take on GOP U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, who also was unopposed in the primary.
Democrats see opportunity
In 2018, the last midterm election cycle under Trump, Pennsylvania Democrats flipped four Republican-held congressional seats. In 2024, Perry and Mackenzie’s margins of victory were among the slimmest in that year’s House races — smaller than the margin by which Trump won those districts in the presidential election.
Fitzpatrick won more comfortably, but he is just one of three House Republicans elected in districts that also backed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Fitzpatrick and Perry are perennial targets of Democrats, and have survived repeatedly. However, Mackenzie is a freshman in his first reelection test.
Without Trump on the ballot, Democrats hoped they could capitalize on weaker Republican turnout. Shapiro won the same districts in 2022, and he’s on the top of the party’s ticket this year.