The results of congressional elections in Pennsylvania will determine which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.
Pennsylvania is poised yet again to be one of the most significant battlegrounds for the upcoming midterm election cycle. The results of elections across the Commonwealth will determine which political party controls the U.S. House.
“The U.S. House of Representatives is really closely divided, and all it’s going to take is a flip of a few seats to change,” said Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College, in a recent interview.
“Pennsylvania has at least four congressional districts that are going to be closely contested. In 2024, they were decided by narrow margins. Those are going to be the places where both parties look to either defend the majority, in the case of Democrats,” Yost said.
Races in Pennsylvania’s 7th, 8th, and 10th Congressional Districts are expected to be the most contested of the cycle.
Cook Political Report, which provides nonpartisan election analysis, has rated Congressmen Mackenzie and Perry’s districts as toss-ups. Congressman Bresnahan’s district is rated as “Lean Republican.”
Eli Cousin, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a recent interview that the DCCC believes each of the three contested seats are winnable for Democrats.
“All four of Pennsylvania’s swing-seat Republican congressmen are uniquely vulnerable due to their own failures and self-inflicted wounds. What Bresnahan, Mackenzie, Fitzpatrick, and Perry all have in common is the fact that they have overseen skyrocketing costs on everything from health care to groceries to electricity – and they will be held accountable at the ballot box next November,” said Cousin.
Reilly Richardson, a spokesperson for the National Republican Campaign Committee, issued a statement saying that the GOP will look to build off national efforts to lower costs and bolster public safety.
“President Trump and House Republicans have been successful in Pennsylvania by being laser-focused on lowering costs, improving community safety, and strengthening American manufacturing. While disorganized Democrats continue to nominate out-of-touch candidates who move further left by the day, Republicans are united and ready to win this November,” said Richardson.
Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Greg Rothman said in an interview last year that defending the 7th and 8th Congressional District seats will be critical in the upcoming midterm cycle.
“The two new ones – Bresnahan and Mackenzie – those are the ones that made the difference in flipping. We flipped those. But we’ll protect them all, and we’ll work for all of them,” said Rothman.
In 2024, Democrats came close to unseating Congressman Perry in Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District. Former TV anchor Janelle Stelson lost by only 5,133 votes and will be running again to unseat Perry.
Matt Beynon, a spokesperson for Perry’s campaign, said that Stelson “will lose again because the Voters of the 10th congressional district know they have a leader in Scott Perry fighting for them.”
The midterm elections will be important to track in Pennsylvania especially. The Commonwealth will determine the party that controls the U.S. House.
