HARRISBURG — Today, voters across Pennsylvania will decide which Democrats and Republicans win dozens of competitive state House and Senate primaries.
The stakes are high.
This could be a year in which control of at least one chamber flips. Democrats hold the state House by one vote, a slim margin that Republicans believe is vulnerable. Republicans have controlled the state Senate for decades, but Democrats say they see a narrow path to overtaking them this year.
Some of today’s winners will go on to run in competitive fall elections against the opposing party. In other races, overwhelmingly partisan districts mean the primary will almost certainly determine who holds the seat after November. In several cases, incumbent lawmakers are facing serious challenges.
That’s the case in the 166th state House District, which covers parts of Delaware and Montgomery Counties. Its incumbent representative, Greg Vitali, has held the seat since 1993, making him the longest continually serving member of the state House.
Vitali chairs his chamber’s committee on Environmental and Natural Resource Protection, and has for decades focused heavily on the issue.
He’s opposed by Judy Trombetta, a Haverford Township commissioner and former legislative staffer who is promising to bring “fresh energy and proven leadership” to the district, according to her campaign website. She told the Philadelphia Inquirer she thinks Vitali has “neglected” non-environmental issues, like transit funding.
Some voters who spoke to Spotlight PA at the polls in Havertown on Tuesday morning were moved by Trombetta’s promise of change. Manuel Spigler, who voted alongside his wife, Marci, said that Vitali has been in office for too long. He wants to see more active representation, pointing to the ongoing national fight over mid-cycle redistricting.
“We had the opportunity to meet with Judy Trombetta,” Marci Spigler told Spotlight PA. “We were impressed with her energy and her agenda.”
Other voters said they felt loyalty to the longtime incumbent. Judy Newsome, who said she is concerned about the price of gas and affordability broadly, said she liked that Vitali knocked on doors and made “sure we know what he’s about.”
“I know who he is, I didn’t have to research him,” she said. “[Trombetta], I didn’t know at all.
Gwen DiLauro said she came out specifically “to vote for Greg Vitali.”
DiLauro said Vitali and his staff have been a resource to her over the year, helping her fill out forms to obtain her REAL ID and claim a property tax rebate.
She didn’t vote for any of the races on the back of her ballot, which were all for Democratic committee positions.
“I don’t know anyone on the back. Why would I vote for them?” DiLauro said.
Inundated with ads
Whichever candidates end up with legislative seats after November will have a say as Harrisburg grapples with a long list of thorny issues.
For several years, lawmakers have tried to reach an agreement to regulate and tax skill games, an effort that has led to an influx of lobbying and spending from the monied industry as well as from gambling interests like sports betting companies.
Members are also debating data center regulation, public school funding, recreational marijuana legalization, and how to boost the economy through policies such as raising the minimum wage and cutting environmental regulations.
In the 48th state Senate District, which covers a triangular swath of the suburbs and exurbs between Harrisburg, Lancaster, and Reading, gaming money is having a significant impact.
The GOP primary will be the definitive race in this district — no Democrat is running in November. The incumbent Republican, Chris Gebhard, is facing horse breeder and professional cowboy Clovis Crane, who calls himself “THE Conservative Republican for District 48” on his campaign website.
Their primary is one of three in which opposing gaming and gambling interests are pumping in big money in hopes of swaying tax and regulatory policy. Skill games companies are trying to oust incumbents who have proposed taxing them more heavily than they want, including Gebhard, who introduced a bill the industry opposes. Sports betting companies are spending to support the incumbents.
Voters who spoke to Spotlight PA at the Lebanon Valley Expo Center after casting their ballots laughed when asked if they knew much about the Gebhard-Crane race. The heavy ad spending, they said, has had an impact — though not always how the spenders intended.
Rose Lantz said she has felt “inundated” by the mailers she has received daily in the past few weeks from both candidates. She’s supporting Gebhard, and cited campaign ads claiming Crane used to be a registered Democrat and criticizing him for his involvement in a car crash more than 20 years ago that left a woman paralyzed. Lantz also said she knew the Gebhard family personally.
But another voter, Curtis Olweiler, said all the attack ads against Crane made him sympathize with the challenger and consider the candidacy in a more meaningful way than he would have otherwise.
Despite the ads causing him to question Crane’s background, Olweiler said he wanted to take a risk on Crane because he didn’t see him “get down in the muck and mire” to jab at Gebhard. (There have been plenty of ads misleading voters about Gebhard’s record in the legislature, according to LNP | LancasterOnline.)
Olweiler said he, too, was fed up with the negativity in the campaign. He summed up his desire for the 48th District race to end by paraphrasing a Star Trek quote.
“Beam me up, Scotty,” Olweiler said. “There's no intelligent life on this planet.”
Decided during the primary
In the 22nd state House District, which covers part of blue Allentown and its surrounding suburbs, progressive City Councilor Ce-Ce Gerlach is challenging party-endorsed incumbent Ana Tiburcio, running on a platform of “bold, unapologetic change.”
The 22nd is a majority-Latino district where most voters make under $75,000 a year, and it is heavily Democratic. While a Republican is running in November, whoever wins this competitive Democratic primary will almost certainly take the seat.
On Tuesday afternoon in Allentown’s east end, young and older voters who spoke to Spotlight PA were behind Gerlach.
"She seems like she’s willing to fight," said Jo Rojas, a 24-year-old barista, "and I trust she will."
Rojas said she particularly liked Gerlach for standing up for transgender people and the homeless, and expected Gerlach to do the same in Harrisburg.
Jade Wilson and Sapphire Kinard, two 18-year-olds, showed up to the polls together. They split their vote in the 7th congressional primary — Wilson for Ryan Crosswell, Kinard for Bob Brooks. But they both voted for Gerlach.
"She's been really interactive with the community," said Wilson. She said she wants elected officials who'll tax billionaires while tackling affordability by lowering the cost of housing and gas. Despite their youth, they were already worried about ever being able to afford a house of their own.
Richard Solga, a 72-year-old nurse practitioner who works in mental health, felt those same fears for the younger generation. He voted for Gerlach, too.
"You are supposed to represent the people," he said.
Tiburcio may be the incumbent, but she’s a relatively new face in Harrisburg. She won the seat during a February special election after being selected to run by local Democratic party leaders.
Gerlach also sought the Democratic nomination for that special election, but was passed over.
The Democratic primary will also be the definitive race for Pennsylvania’s 148th state House District in Montgomery County, just outside of Philadelphia. Four candidates are competing for an open seat to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Mary Jo Daley. No Republican will be on the ballot in November.
The candidates are environmental attorney and community organizer Jason Landau Goodman, former Narberth Mayor Andrea Deutsch, former English teacher and legislative staffer Megan Griffin-Shelley, and community organizer Leo Solga.
At the Cynwyd Club in Bala Cynwyd on the Main Line, staffers for two of the candidates were out stumping in the 90-degree heat.
“Convince me,” one voter said to the staffers as they approached the polling place.
Liam Riley, the communications director for Solga’s campaign, talked about the candidate’s public school background and his separation from the state Democratic Party apparatus. Brendan Mattox, the field director for Landau Goodman, told the voter about his candidate’s positions on the environment, anti-semitism, and LGBTQ rights.
The precinct’s largely Democratic voters told Spotlight PA they were looking for a candidate who had experience, was willing to work across the aisle, supported women’s rights, and didn’t support “aggressive protesting.”
Herb Engelsberg, 76, told Spotlight PA that he ended up choosing Megan Griffin Shelley, the party-endorsed candidate. The decision was a “toss-up,” he said, but he listened to his next-door neighbor, who was involved in the local party.
“All things being equal, it’s good to have someone with some experience,” Engelsberg said. “Just in terms of knowing how things work. I’m assuming they all kinda have the same principles.”
Laurel Yarros, 29, came to her polling place at Bala Gymnastics without knowing who would be on the ballot. Yarros told Spotlight PA she was out of the country for a year, but now that she’s back, she wanted to make sure she was using her right to vote.
She talked to a volunteer for Jason Landau Goodman outside of the polling place and read an article on the candidates before going in to vote.
Yarros said that experience mattered most to her when choosing a candidate: “Experience matters no matter what office.”
Legacy in Lancaster County
The legacy of outgoing state Rep. Bryan Cutler, who served for 20 years and rose to become the speaker of the House, is looming over the Republican primary to replace him.
Voters in southern Lancaster County told Spotlight PA that one candidate’s criticisms two years ago against Cutler weighed heavily on them in this year’s election.
Landscaping company owner Dave Nissley unsuccessfully challenged Cutler in the 2024 GOP primary, criticizing the incumbent for his initial support of Pennsylvania’s no-excuse mail ballot system and his failed attempt in 2023 to maintain a favorable House speaker when Democrats flipped control of the chamber. Nissley lost that race by less than 700 votes.
After Cutler announced he would not seek reelection this year, Nissley jumped into the race to replace him.
Joyce Mankin was among several voters who said she didn’t like the way Nissley spoke about Cutler in the 2024 campaign, though she couldn’t recall specific jabs. She voted for former State Police trooper Kelly Osborne.
“Just attacking somebody?” Mankin said. “You don't do that to try and win.”
Elizabeth Henry felt similarly. In addition to the old attack ads against Cutler, Henry recalled watching Cutler and Nissley debate each other two years ago. She did not like the way Nissley referred to Cutler by just his last name without any titles, like mister or representative.
“I wish that we could all just be respectful in elections and stuff, especially politicians,” Henry said.
Cutler has also thrown his support behind Osborne — plus nearly $50,000 on May 6, according to 24-hour disclosures required by state law leading up to the primary.
No Democrat sought the nomination to oppose whoever wins the Republican primary.