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FILE – Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks to the crowd at a Clinton County Democratic Party event at the Avenue 209 coffee shop, April 11, 2026, in Lock Haven, Pa.<\/p>\n
Marc Levy\/AP Photo\/Marc Levy<\/p>\n
FILE – Ryan Crosswell, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, poses for a photograph in Bethlehem, Pa., May 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
Matt Rourke\/AP Photo\/Matt Rourke<\/p>\n
FILE – Bob Brooks, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, poses for a photograph in Bethlehem, Pa., May 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
Matt Rourke\/AP Photo\/Matt Rourke<\/p>\n
FILE – Carol Obando-Derstine, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, poses for a photograph in Bethlehem, Pa., May 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
Matt Rourke\/AP Photo\/Matt Rourke<\/p>\n
FILE – Lamont McClure, a candidate for the Democratic nomination in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District, poses for a photograph in Bethlehem, Pa., May 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
Matt Rourke\/AP Photo\/Matt Rourke<\/p>\n
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) \u2014 Democrats in Pennsylvania will settle primary fights on Tuesday to shape their congressional slate for the fall election, where they hope to capture the state\u2019s four swing districts and ultimately a U.S. House majority.<\/p>\n
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Gov. Josh Shapiro and national Democrats are promoting 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.<\/p>\n
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Three of the four swing districts have contested Democratic primaries, in addition to a wide-open primary contest in Philadelphia that will almost surely anoint the next seatholder.<\/p>\n
The campaigns will put Pennsylvania on the front lines of Democratic efforts to retake control of Congress and block the last two years of President Donald Trump\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n
They will also test Shapiro\u2019s influence ahead of a possible White House campaign. He\u2019s heavily favored to win reelection over Republican candidate Stacy Garrity, the state treasurer, so Shapiro is putting his clout on the line in primaries that will determine his party\u2019s chances in November.<\/p>\n
Contested primaries in swing seats<\/p>\n
Three of Democrats\u2019 primary fights are in swing districts held by Republican U.S. Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie and Scott Perry.<\/p>\n
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Shapiro and the House Democrats\u2019 campaign arm, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, have teamed up to endorse the same candidate in each of those contested primaries.<\/p>\n
Washington U.S. Rep. Suzan DelBene, the chair of the DCCC, said the party wanted \u201ctop-tier\u201d candidates who were the strongest to take on Republican incumbents.<\/p>\n
Two of those \u2014 Janelle Stelson and Bob Harvie \u2014 are facing opponents on the left, while another, Bob Brooks, is in a four-way primary contest.<\/p>\n
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Stelson, a former local television anchor and personality, is running in Perry\u2019s south central Pennsylvania district and competing for the nomination against Justin Douglas, a progressive minister and a Dauphin County commissioner.<\/p>\n
In Fitzpatrick\u2019s district in suburban Philadelphia, Harvie, a Bucks County commissioner, is up against Lucia Simonelli, a first-time candidate and climate activist.<\/p>\n
Brooks\u2019 primary is for the right to challenge Mackenzie in the Allentown-area seat. He\u2019s facing former federal prosecutor Ryan Crosswell, former Northampton County executive Lamont McClure and former legislative aide Carol Obando-Derstine.<\/p>\n
Voters aren’t necessarily following endorsements<\/p>\n
The message of Shapiro’s endorsements isn’t always getting through to voters.<\/p>\n
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Tara Chickey, a Democrat voting in south central Pennsylvania\u2019s 10th District on Tuesday, said she likes Shapiro and his endorsement of Stelson might have made a difference to her \u2014 if she had known about it.<\/p>\n
Instead, she voted for Douglas to take on Perry. She’d simply heard more about Douglas than Stelson, she said.<\/p>\n
Cindy Durian, meanwhile, wants Democrats to take back the U.S. House and Senate this fall, but she\u2019s not that interested in whom party leaders think she should vote for in the contested primaries.<\/p>\n
Durian, 65, voted for Douglas instead of Stelson. She viewed Douglas as being more engaged with regular voters during the campaign.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI like Josh Shapiro, but I don\u2019t have to agree with everything he says, right?\u201d Durian said. \u201cI mean, that\u2019s what makes us a democratic state.\u201d<\/p>\n
Democrats see opportunity<\/p>\n
In 2018, the last midterm election cycle under Trump, Pennsylvania Democrats flipped four Republican-held congressional seats. In 2024, Perry and Mackenzie\u2019s margins of victory were among the slimmest in that year\u2019s House races \u2014 smaller than the margin by which Trump won those districts in the presidential election.<\/p>\n
Fitzpatrick won more comfortably, but he is just one of three House Republicans elected in districts that also backed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n
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Fitzpatrick and Perry are perennial targets of Democrats and have survived repeatedly. However, Mackenzie is a freshman in his first reelection test.<\/p>\n
Without Trump on the ballot, Democrats hope they can capitalize on weaker Republican turnout. Shapiro won the same districts in 2022, and he\u2019s at the top of the party\u2019s ticket this year.<\/p>\n
A Philadelphian will go to Washington<\/p>\n
In Philadelphia, the Democratic primary for a seat in Congress is widely viewed as a toss-up among three candidates.<\/p>\n
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No Republican is seeking that party\u2019s nomination, making the Democratic primary winner a shoo-in to succeed retiring Democratic Rep. Dwight Evans.<\/p>\n
It features a familiar name to many in the city: Sharif Street, a state senator, former state party chairman and son of the city\u2019s former two-term mayor, John F. Street. He is backed by Mayor Cherelle Parker, former Gov. Ed Rendell and the city\u2019s building trades unions.<\/p>\n
A state lawmaker, Rep. Chris Rabb, was endorsed by progressive stalwarts U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and online streamer Hasan Piker and has drawn financial backing from the Congressional Progressive Caucus.<\/p>\n
Dr. Ala Stanford, a pediatric surgeon who started a Black doctors\u2019 consortium during the COVID-19 pandemic, was helped by millions of dollars from 314 Action, a left-leaning political action committee aimed at electing scientists to Congress.<\/p>\n
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Follow Marc Levy at http:\/\/twitter.com\/timelywriter<\/a>.<\/p>\n