Election category, Page 88
Westmoreland Democrats leadership vote delayed in fallout over GOP Senate primary vote count
Despite the fact that David McCormick dropped out of the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate, it was the fallout from the continued fight over votes that prompted Westmoreland County Democrats on Friday to indefinitely postpone their weekend meeting to elect a new party chairperson. Democratic Committee Chairwoman Tara Yokopenic...
‘We came so close’: McCormick concedes GOP race for U.S. Senate; Oz to face Fetterman
Former hedge fund CEO David McCormick on Friday dropped out of the close Republican primary race for the U.S. Senate against celebrity heart surgeon Mehmet Oz. The concession means Oz will face Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat, in the fall. “We came so close,” McCormick, 56, said at the...
John Fetterman reveals undisclosed heart condition that led to stroke
Democratic U.S. Senate nominee John Fetterman revealed Friday in a campaign statement that he was diagnosed with a heart condition in 2017 and didn’t follow up with a physician for years until he suffered a stroke in May. Fetterman said the condition led to his stroke. His campaign also released...
Democrats, Republicans fight to a redistricting stalemate
After nearly a year of partisan battles, number-crunching and lawsuits, the once-a-decade congressional redistricting cycle is ending in a draw. That leaves Republicans positioned to win control of the House of Representatives even if they come up just short of winning a majority of the national vote. That frustrates Democrats,...
Pa. court orders contested ballots counted in Senate primary
HARRISBURG — A state court agreed Thursday night in a ballot-counting lawsuit with the campaign of David McCormick, who is in a neck-and-neck Republican primary contest for the U.S. Senate against celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz. In the decision, Commonwealth Court Judge Renee Cohn Jubelirer ordered counties to count...
Westmoreland County on pace to finish recount in GOP Senate race on Friday
Westmoreland County election officials said the state-ordered recount of ballots cast in last month’s Republican U.S. Senate primary is on pace to be completed Friday. About 15 county staffers worked 12-hour shifts Wednesday and Thursday to scan the more than 87,000 ballots cast this spring. “The worst-case scenario is we...
Explainer: Can GOP gov. candidate Mastriano make voters reregister?
HARRISBURG — Doug Mastriano, Pennsylvania’s Republican candidate for governor, has made no secret of his endorsement of former President Trump’s assertion that widespread fraud cost him the 2020 election. A state senator and retired Army colonel, Mastriano says he wants to make everyone reregister if they want to vote again....
Allegheny County recount begins for Pa.’s Republican U.S. Senate race
Election workers in Allegheny County on Wednesday braved the heat inside the county’s election warehouse on Pittsburgh’s North Side to conduct a recount of votes cast in the May 17 primary. The recount was triggered by a state law because the race between celebrity surgeon Mehmet Oz and former hedge...
Write-in candidate wins Democratic primary to run for 55th District state House seat
A retired corporate executive has won the Democratic primary to run for the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives seat in the 55th District. Westmoreland County elections officials Tuesday issued a precertification of results from the May primary that included more than 600 write-in votes for Scott Gauss of Murrysville in...
Supreme Court order could affect Pennsylvania Senate count
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday temporarily blocked the counting of some mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania, an order that could affect the tight Republican Senate primary between former hedge fund CEO David McCormick and celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz. An order from Justice Samuel Alito paused a lower-court...
Christian nationalism on the rise in some GOP campaigns
PITTSBURGH — The victory party took on the feel of an evangelical worship service after Doug Mastriano won Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial primary this month. As a Christian singer led the crowd in song, some raised their arms toward the heavens in praise. Mastriano opened his remarks by evoking Scripture: “God...
Allegheny County recount to begin Wednesday for GOP Senate race
A recount of votes cast in Allegheny County in the Republican primary race for U.S. Senate will begin at 8 a.m. Wednesday, elections division officials announced Friday. Allegheny County’s recount, ordered by Acting Secretary of State Leigh Chapman, will occur at the county’s Elections Division Warehouse. The margin in the...
High-profile GOP primary losses could make Pitt funding a target in Pa. budget process
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — The primary defeat of one of Harrisburg’s top budget negotiators and the potential loss of another could embolden a...
Provisional ballots challenged as Westmoreland officials gear up for recount
John Holwell had no intention of letting the ballot he cast this month be invalidated, so he came to the Westmoreland County Courthouse on Friday armed with information to defend his vote. “I was ready to do battle,” said Holwell, 66, of Madison. Holwell’s provisional ballot was one of eight...
Oz declares ‘presumptive win’ in Pa. GOP’s U.S. Senate primary
Dr. Mehmet Oz has seen enough, and he isn’t waiting for a recount. Sitting on a 910-vote lead in preliminary, unofficial tallies from Pennsylvania’s Republican Senate primary race as of Friday morning, Oz declared himself the presumptive winner in a new video release in which he took a definitive turn...
Michigan GOP governor hopefuls off ballot, court fight next
Two of the leading candidates for the GOP nomination for Michigan governor say they will ask the courts to intervene after they were found ineligible Thursday for the August primary, reshaping the race to challenge Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in the battleground state this fall. Former Detroit Police Chief James...
Abrams-Kemp slugfest promises to be pricey, long and ugly
ATLANTA — Georgia voters didn’t get much of a break from election talk on the day after the Tuesday primary in which Republican Gov. Brian Kemp demolished GOP challenger David Perdue and Democrat Stacey Abrams finally clinched a nomination waiting for her after no other members of her party jumped...
All but 30 ballots counted in Allegheny County as statewide recount in U.S. Senate race looms
Allegheny County election officials as of Wednesday had counted all but 30 challenged provisional ballots cast in last week’s primary, and hearings will be held Friday to determine whether the remaining ballots should be counted. Nearly 1,750 provisional ballots were scanned and tallied Tuesday and Wednesday, ultimately adding 103 votes...
Oz, McCormick race heads into recount in Pa. Senate primary
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top election official said Wednesday that the margin between the top two candidates in last week’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate is tight enough to trigger a statewide recount, dragging the outcome into June as the candidates fight in court. The state’s acting secretary of state, Leigh...
‘Trump is in the past’: Mounting losses show limits of power
WOODSTOCK, Ga. — Donald Trump opened May by lifting a trailing Senate candidate in Ohio to the Republican nomination, seemingly cementing the former president’s kingmaker status before another possible White House run. He’s ending the month, however, stinging from a string of defeats that suggests a diminishing stature. Trump faced...
Brian Kemp wins Georgia GOP governor’s race in stinging rebuke of Trump
ATLANTA — Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia easily dispatched Donald Trump’s hand-picked challenger on Tuesday in a Republican primary that demonstrated the limits of the former president and his conspiracy-fueled politics in a critical swing state. Kemp will face Democrat Stacey Abrams this fall in what will be one of...
How a mail ballot ruling in Pa. could affect 2022 primary election results
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan newsroom powered by The Philadelphia Inquirer in partnership with PennLive/The Patriot-News, TribLIVE/Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and WITF Public Media. Sign up for our free newsletters. HARRISBURG — A federal appeals court ruled Friday that election officials in one Pennsylvania county must count legally cast mail ballots...
GOP to intervene in lawsuit over Pa. Senate race vote-count
HARRISBURG — The national Republican Party is stepping in on the neck-and-neck GOP primary contest for U.S. Senate and opposing a lawsuit that could help former hedge fund CEO David McCormick close the vote gap between him and celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania’s votes. McCormick’s lawsuit was...
David Perdue says Stacey Abrams ‘demeaning her own race’ ahead of primaryVideo
ATLANTA — Georgia Republican candidate David Perdue on Monday accused Stacey Abrams of “demeaning her own race” in Abrams’ recent criticism of Georgia’s quality of life for its residents. Abrams is bidding to be the first Black woman to be a governor of an American state. She’s without opposition in...
Michigan bureau: 2 top GOP governor candidates short signatures
LANSING, Mich. — Michigan’s elections bureau said late Monday that five Republican candidates for governor, including two leading contenders, failed to file enough valid nominating signatures and should not qualify for the August primary. The recommendations immediately transformed the race in the battleground state and dealt a major blow to...
