HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania legislative Republicans are eager to implement additional voter identification requirements, restrict abortion and implement election changes to boost their chances of winning judicial races. Democrats want to raise the state’s minimum wage and expand civil rights for LGBTQ people.
In the closely divided General Assembly, these proposals have gone nowhere.
Next month, the state’s voters will decide whether to change that dynamic to fill all 203 seats in the House of Representatives and half of the 50-member Senate. Democrats enter the elections with a one-seat majority in the House of Representatives, while in the Senate the Republicans have 28 seats and therefore have majority control.
Democrats would need to flip three Senate seats to push the chamber into a 25-25 deadlock, which would require Democratic Lt. Gov. Austin Davis to cut ties on procedural votes but not on legislative votes. final approval of the legislation. They hope to pick up where they left off by taking GOP seats in Harrisburg, Erie and the Pittsburgh area, while returning all their own incumbents.
This year, several dozen legislative races across the country could determine party control in state capitals, affecting state laws on abortion, guns and transgender rights. Statehouse control is politically more important in the wake of the recent weakening of the US Supreme Court’s decisions federal regulatory oversightgiving states more power.
In state House elections, it is common for only a few dozen races to be close enough to be competitive – a handful in the runoff Suburbs of Philadelphia along with others across the state.
Democrats were helped by redrawn district lines when they flipped a net of 12 seats two years ago, regaining control after more than a decade in the legislative wilderness. A state House rule that ties majority status to the results of elections rather than new vacancies has helped Democrats maintain control of the chamber floor even as two members resigned this summer and Republicans lost a 101- 100 gifts. Those seats were held by Democrats running unopposed on September 17, and both are also unopposed in the general election.
This fall, more than half of House districts will have just one candidate on the ballot.
One of the Republican targets in the House of Representatives is Frank Burns, a Democrat from Cambria County who has somehow stayed in office despite the GOP’s biennial challenges in the Republican Johnstown area. Another is Rep. Jim Haddock, a freshman Democrat who won a district in Lackawanna and Luzerne by about 4 percentage points two years ago.
Democrats are hopeful of ousting Rep. Craig Williams, R-Delaware, who made an unsuccessful bid for the Republican attorney general nomination this spring. Outside of Pittsburgh, Rep. Valerie Gaydos is also seen as relatively vulnerable.
Rep. Nick Pisciottano, a Democrat, is giving up his Allegheny County district to run for Senate. Rep. Jim Gregory lost the Republican primary to Scott Barger, who is unopposed in a Blair County district. Brian Rasel, a Republican, has no other candidate to replace Rep. George Dunbar, R-Westmoreland, to succeed.
Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, is unopposed for re-election, but he is also running for auditor general, raising the possibility that the two parties will be tied after votes are counted.
The state Senate races widely considered the most competitive are the reelection efforts of Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, and Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-Allegheny. Sen. John DiSanto of Dauphin County, a Republican, is not seeking another term after his district underwent significant changes through redistricting. State Rep. Patty Kim, D-Dauphin, and Nick DiFrancesco, a Republican and Dauphin County treasurer, are facing off to succeed DiSanto.
Democrats must defend a Senate opening in Pittsburgh because of the retirement of Sen. Jim Brewster, a Democrat. Pisciottano will face Republican security company owner Jen Dintini for Brewster’s seat.