Election category, Page 92
Sarah Palin joins 50 others in running for Alaska U.S. House seat
JUNEAU, Alaska — Sarah Palin on Friday shook up an already unpredictable race for Alaska’s lone U.S. House seat, joining a field of 50 other candidates seeking to fill the seat held for decades by the late-U.S. Rep. Don Young, who died last month. Palin filed paperwork Friday with a...
Lamb revives gun incident to attack Fetterman in Senate race
Conor Lamb is accusing rival John Fetterman in Pennsylvania’s Democratic U.S. Senate primary of skipping candidate forums to avoid talking about a 2013 incident when shotgun in hand, he confronted a Black man because he suspected the man was involved in gunfire nearby. The accusation marks a sharp escalation in...
Senate candidate Oz talks fracking support and election fraud at Canonsburg campaign event
Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz spoke at a campaign event in Canonsburg on Wednesday evening, highlighting his energy policies and taking questions about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Oz, the surgeon and former host of the Dr. Oz television show, held a panel discussion with prominent campaign supporters...
Herschel Walker, Dr. Oz removed from Biden’s sports councilVideo
HARRISBURG — The White House has removed Dr. Mehmet Oz — best known as daytime TV’s host of “The Dr. Oz Show” — and former football star Herschel Walker from the President’s Council on Sports, Nutrition and Fitness as both men run for U.S. Senate. Oz and Walker — both...
Michigan Republicans delay absentee ballot signature rules
LANSING, Mich. — Republican lawmakers on Tuesday delayed until after the November election rules that will tell Michigan election clerks how to match the signatures of people applying for and submitting absentee ballots. The GOP-led Joint Committee on Administrative Rules’ maneuver to propose bills keeps the regulations from taking effect...
Democratic Senate candidates square off in political forum at CMU
Democratic candidates for Pennsylvania’s open U.S. Senate seat on Sunday agreed on several important party platform items but disagreed when it came to big tech companies and the Supreme Court. Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, Jenkintown Borough Council member Alex Khalil and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb...
Democratic gains in legislative maps might not last long
DENVER — The surprising advantage Democrats gained during the torturous process of rewriting the nation’s congressional maps may be short-lived, creating the potential for more frequent clashes over how political power should be distributed across the United States. As the once-a-decade scramble to draw new legislative lines, a process known...
Westmoreland’s clout in Harrisburg cut through redistricting
For the past decade, state Rep. George Dunbar’s 56th District local office has operated in a building just south of Clay Pike, near the Circleville Volunteer Fire Hall in North Huntingdon. For a while last week it was unclear whether the veteran state lawmaker would be able keep his office...
Josh Shapiro unveils tax cut and gas rebate plan during Western Pa. visit
Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro visited Western Pennsylvania Friday to unveil his plan to cut taxes and provide rebates in order to offset some of the rising costs residents are currently facing. Shapiro said global forces — like the war in Ukraine, the pandemic, and supply chain...
State legislative redistricting causes changes in Alle-Kiski Valley communities
With the state Supreme Court affirming the commonwealth’s new legislative district maps this week, state House and Senate representation changed in many communities in the Alle-Kiski Valley. Pennsylvania’s highest court Wednesday rejected final legal challenges to affirm the state’s new legislative district maps. A list of local communities and how...
Mail-in ballots on way for elections to replace House seats vacated by Gainey, Wheatley
Allegheny County’s Elections Division has begun sending mail-in and absentee ballot packets to voters who will be participating in the special elections to fill state House seats vacated by Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and his chief of staff, Jake Wheatley. The special elections to fill the seats in the 19th...
Ex-hedge fund CEO aims to be hometown boy in Senate race in Pennsylvania
LEBANON — As CEO of the world’s largest hedge fund, David McCormick wore suits, lived on Connecticut’s ritzy Gold Coast, talked up bipartisanship and described China as America’s most important “bilateral relationship.” Now, as a Republican running for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, McCormick wears jeans and casual dress shirts. He...
Colorado elections clerk indicted in voting system breach
DENVER — A grand jury in Colorado has indicted a county election clerk who sowed doubt about the 2020 presidential election, alleging she was part of a “deceptive scheme” to breach voting system technology that is used across the country. Tina Peters, a Republican elected in 2018 to oversee elections...
Texas primary sets up Abbott-O’Rourke race as midterms begin
AUSTIN — Republican Gov. Greg Abbott will face Democrat Beto O’Rourke after voters in Texas opened what could be a lengthy, bruising primary season poised to reshape political power from state capitals to Washington. Both easily won their party’s nomination for governor on Tuesday. Abbott is now in a commanding...
Murrysville, North Huntingdon Republicans blast new congressional map; Democrats invigorated by changes
Republicans in Westmoreland County towns included in a redrawn congressional district based in Pittsburgh said they fear their communities will be excluded from key decision-making and have a reduced voice in national politics. Meanwhile, local Democrats said the move to align the county’s largest municipalities with traditional Democratic enclaves will...
Search for new Westmoreland elections director stalls
The Westmoreland County commissioners have indefinitely halted a search for a new election bureau director. The department has been without a top executive since the commissioners fired the former director last summer after she served 10 months on the job. Since June, it has been operated with two interim directors...
Mail-in ballot applications sent to voters as questions remain ahead of May primary
About 350,000 applications for mail-in ballots were sent to voters in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties over the past two weeks as local election officials prepare for a May primary election in the midst of uncertainty over the legality of the state’s voting laws and jurisdictions of congressional and state legislative...
Millions follow rich candidates in Pennsylvania Senate race
HARRISBURG — Cash is pouring in to Pennsylvania’s hotly contested race for U.S. Senate, as wealthy and well-connected candidates moved in from out of state, followed by millions of dollars going into TV ads and super PACs. Filings posted online by the Federal Election Commission before Monday night’s deadline showed...
Westmoreland officials favor congressional map that unifies county
Westmoreland County could be consolidated into one congressional district or see some of its western and northern communities split off into another that includes parts of Pittsburgh and the city’s eastern suburbs under proposals that redraw the map determining Pennsylvania’s representation in Washington, D.C. The state will lose one seat...
‘American Idol’ star Clay Aiken will run for N.C. seat in Congress
Clay Aiken, the “American Idol” star and a Raleigh native, wants to represent North Carolina in Congress. Aiken, a Democrat who previously ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2014, announced Monday that he’s planning to run this year in the Durham-centric House district that’s now open. The 6th...
Stalemates, court battles could squeeze Pennsylvania primary election
HARRISBURG — More extreme time pressures could push the bounds of how Pennsylvania’s elections are run in 2022, with wide-open races for a U.S. Senate seat and the governor’s office driving voter interest and partisan stalemates in the statehouse sowing uncertainty. It is barely a month before candidates can legally...
Pennsylvania Senate committee to hold hearings on its audit of the 2020, 2021 elections
A state Senate committee plans to forge ahead with hearings in early spring on any information discovered in a controversial audit seeking to uncover irregularities in Pennsylvania’s 2020 elections and last year’s primary, a Republican spokeswoman said Thursday. The Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee would conduct the hearings on any findings...
Pennsylvania elections chief warns lawmakers about deadlines
HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s top statewide elections official warned legislative leaders that delays in drawing new General Assembly district lines may require them to push back next year’s spring primary election. Acting Secretary of State Veronica Degraffenreid told the floor leaders Tuesday for both parties in the two chambers on the...
Pennsylvania redistricting: New proposed maps for state House, Senate districts released
This article is part of a yearlong reporting project focused on redistricting and gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It is made possible by the support of Spotlight PA members and Votebeat, a project focused on election integrity and voting access. HARRISBURG — A panel of Pennsylvania’s most powerful lawmakers released new proposed...
Court battle over Pa. GOP’s subpoena of sensitive voter data centers on legislative power vs. privacy
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 — An appellate court leveled sharp questions Wednesday in the opening round of a closely watched court case over whether...
