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PENNSYLVANIA - Pennsylvania voters will head to the polls on Tuesday to decide several races that will shape leadership in both the state and the country.
Pennsylvania is one of the most hotly contested states in the race for the White House between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. With 19 electoral votes, Pennsylvania is perhaps the largest swing state of the seven that are considered up for grabs.
Voters in the Keystone State will also cast their ballots in a tight race between incumbent Bob Casey and David McCormick. Casey has been in the U.S. Senate since he was first elected in 2006, and McCormick is trying again after he was bested by Dr. Mehmet Oz for the Republican nomination two years ago.
Statewide races also include a battle for Pennsylvania Attorney General between Eugene DePasquale and Dave Sunday, an auditor general race between Philadelphia native Malcolm Kenyatta and Tim DeFoor, and dozens of state senate and house openings.
President: Kamala Harris (D) vs. Donald Trump (R)
All eyes are on Pennsylvania for the second-straight presidential election as many experts predict the notorious swing state with 19 electoral college votes will heavily influence who will lead the country for the next four years.
Both candidates made countless stops in Pennsylvania during their campaign blitzes, and the only presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was hosted in Philadelphia – a city with over one million registered voters.
Trump, who won Pennsylvania in 2016 and lost to Joe Biden in 2020, had several key campaign moments in the battleground state. The former president dodged an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in Butler, and worked behind the counter at a McDonald's to troll Harris's claim that she worked at the fast food chain.
Harris also emphasized Pennsylvania in her sweep through the swing states, making stops in Philly and its heavily populated suburbs that help carry the state's vote. She hosted a bipartisan event with Liz Cheney, who predicted that "millions" of moderate republicans would choose Harris at the ballot box.
Neither candidate was able to get a bite on Pennsylvania in the polls leading up to Election Day, with many pollsters predicting razor-thin margins or virtual ties. Pennsylvania carries 19 electoral college votes, which is tied with Nebraska for sixth most in the country.
U.S. Senate: Bob Casey (D) vs. David McCormick (R)
Incumbent Bob Casey (D) and David McCormick (R) along with five other candidates are vying for Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seat. Casey, whose website describes him as "a voice for middle-class families, workers, and seniors," has won his last three re-election bids since he first won a U.S. Senate seat in 2006.
Meanwhile, McCormick has never held a political office and lost the 2022 Pennsylvania Republican primary for U.S. Senate to Dr. Mehmet Oz, who ultimately lost to John Fetterman (D). Still, the Associated Press called McCormick's campaign "the strongest challenge to Casey in his three reelection bids."
McCormick, an ex-hedge fund CEO, earned an endorsement from former president Trump during his campaign. Casey, meanwhile, was endorsed by Harris and Fetterman.
Attorney General: Eugene Depasquale (D) vs. David Sunday (R)
Dave Sunday, a Navy veteran, has emphasized his 15 years as a prosecutor in York County, a Republican majority area with about 460,000 residents south of Harrisburg, near Maryland.
DePasquale is a lawyer, former York City economic development director and three-term state representative. As auditor general he drew attention to a large backlog of untested rape kits, unanswered calls to Pennsylvania's ChildLine child abuse hotline and nursing home conditions.
DePasquale's time running the auditor general's office "has nothing to do with criminal law," Sunday said during a debate earlier this month.
DePasquale, who lives in Pittsburgh, said he would prioritize protecting voting and emphasized his support for abortion rights.
READ MORE: Pennsylvania voters to decide key statewide races in fall election
Sunday said he would "enforce and defend the abortion laws in Pennsylvania," arguing there is "no scenario that exists where I would ever prosecute a woman for having an abortion." Many of Sunday’s Republican supporters favor an abortion ban, DePasquale said, and GOP state lawmakers tried to push through a constitutional amendment saying it does not guarantee any rights relating to abortion or public funding of abortions.
DePasquale said he has "serious concerns" about capital punishment, while Sunday said that in the "most sad, tragic, terrible cases" he supports the death penalty.
Kathleen Kane became the first woman and first Democrat elected to serve as attorney general in 2012. Pennsylvania attorneys general had all been Republicans since the job became an elected post in 1980. Kane's term ended with her resignation after being charged with perjury and other offenses in 2016.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, succeeded her and won reelection in 2020, relinquishing the job after being elected governor nearly two years ago. Shapiro picked his top deputy at the attorney general’s office, Michelle Henry, as his successor, but she said when she was confirmed that she would not run for reelection.
Auditor General: Malcolm Kenyatta (D) vs. Tim DeFoor (R)
DeFoor, a former Dauphin County controller who won by about 3 percentage points in 2020, has focused on increasing financial literacy and planning a forensic auditing unit to respond to signs of criminality.
His recent decision to audit the state's motor-voter registration system drew pushback from Shapiro's transportation secretary and Kenyatta, who said his opponent's move will give "cover for dangerous conspiracies and election denialism."
Kenyatta became the first openly gay person of color to serve in the state House. He finished third in the 2022 Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate that was won by John Fetterman. He is simultaneously seeking another term as state representative.
"I’ve done this same kind of work for over 30 years," DeFoor said. "My entire career has been spent on how taxpayer dollars are being used, if they’re being used properly and if the programs that government has, are they working?"
Kenyatta has criticized DeFoor's decision to stop school audits that DeFoor said were of little value to districts.
The auditor general could have changed the scope of the school audits rather than stopping them, Kenyatta said.
DeFoor presided over audits of balances kept on school district books and state fees paid to pharmacy benefit managers under Medicaid, but Kenyatta said they were poorly done and politically motivated. Kenyatta said his priorities include an audit of school facilities and a look into how labor laws are being enforced.
Treasurer: Erin McClelland (D) vs. Stacy Garrity (R)
Garrity, a retired Army Reserve colonel and three-tour Iraq veteran, was serving as vice president of a tungsten smelting plant when she beat incumbent Democratic Treasurer Joe Torsella by less than 1 percentage point four years ago. A resident of Athens in Bradford County, Garrity has aggressively promoted her office's efforts to return unclaimed property to its rightful owners.
She also takes credit for handling state savings programs for people with disabilities and students and for pushing the governor and Legislature to increase savings in the state's rainy day fund.
McClelland, a former congressional candidate with a background in mental health and substance abuse counseling who lives near Pittsburgh, argues Garrity has tended to use her position to engage in issues related to the national political debate.
"I want to pull all the politics out of the job," McClelland said. "I believe this job is an honest broker that protects the taxpayers, not a lap dog for one party or the other."
Garrity's campaign has painted McClelland as lacking gravitas. Garrity's much better-funded campaign received an indirect boost earlier this month when Shapiro announced endorsements of several fellow Democrats but did not endorse anyone in the treasurer's race.
Shapiro's endorsements were for candidates who asked for his support and where he thinks he can "make the biggest difference," a spokesman said.
U.S. House
Voters will elect 17 candidates from each of the state's 17 U.S. House districts.
In the 1st District, four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in Bucks County, just north of Philadelphia, is a top target again for Democrats: He is one of the Biden 16.
But Fitzpatrick, a mild-mannered former FBI agent who took over the seat from his late brother, has a potent winning formula that includes his family’s name recognition and inroads into traditional Democratic voting districts.
He is endorsed by top-tier labor unions, as well as the AFL-CIO, and is running a digital ad calling himself the "No. 1 most bipartisan congressman."
His opponent is Ashley Ehasz, a former Army helicopter pilot he beat in 2022 by almost 10 points.
Democrats have attacked Fitzpatrick's vote for Trump’s tax-cutting legislation, his opposition to Trump's impeachment and his support for a 20-week abortion ban in 2017.
Fitzpatrick is running an ad saying he backs abortion rights — specifically, Pennsylvania's law that protects the right to an abortion until 24 weeks of gestation, the Roe v. Wade standard of viability — and cites his votes to protect access to IVF and contraception.
Fitzpatrick has more than doubled Ehasz's fundraising and her campaign hasn't attracted any outside groups to spend against Fitzpatrick.
In the 7th and 8th Districts, three-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild and six-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright are each a perennial Republican target in their eastern Pennsylvania districts and each has consistently fended off challengers, if by slim margins.
Their races are emerging as the most expensive congressional contests in the state.
Cartwright has the distinction of being one of five Democrats nationally running for reelection in a district won by Trump in 2020 — even though his 8th District seat includes Scranton, the city where Biden was born and that played prominently into Biden's winning presidential campaign.
Wild and Cartwright represent neighboring districts with similar geographies: small cities, suburbs and stretches of rural eastern Pennsylvania that include anthracite coal country. The districts are also similar in the narrow registration that Democrats hold over Republicans.
Challenging Wild in her Allentown-area 7th District seat is state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie. Wild outraised Mackenzie almost 7-to-1 through June 30.
Challenging Cartwright is Rob Bresnahan, a first-time candidate and developer who runs a family construction company.
Cartwright outraised Bresnahan by more than 2-to-1 through June 30, with outside groups pouring more than $11 million into it, according to disclosures to the Federal Election Commission.
The Wild-Mackenzie race isn't far behind, with outside groups spending more than $10 million on it, according to the disclosures.
Pennsylvania Senate
Voters will elect 25 candidates from each of the state's 25 odd-numbered senatorial districts.
Districts 5, 9, 11, 19 are local to the FOX 29 Philadelphia viewing area.
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Voters will elect 203 candidates from each of the state's 203 legislative districts.
Candidates on your ballot will be dictated by the congressional district voters live in. The following districts are local to the FOX 29 Philadelphia viewing area: 5, 13, 18, 26, 29, 31, 53, 54, 75, 126, 129, 130, 131, 137, 138, 140, 141, 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 158, 160, 161, 162, 163, 165, 166, 167, 168, 172, 178, 183, 187