This report focuses on the results of the 2020 General Election. Of primary interest for our clients are the results for seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania Senate. Going into yesterday’s vote, the House was Republican controlled by a 109 to 93 majority, with one vacancy. The Senate was Republican controlled by a 28 to 21 majority, with one independent, John Yudichak from Luzerne County, caucusing and generally voting with the Republicans.
As of noon today, there are still approximately 1.2 million uncounted mail ballots across the state in various county election offices. This includes about 275,000 in Philadelphia County, 175,000 in Allegheny County, 115,000 in Montgomery County, 76,000 in York County, 67,000 in Bucks County, 60,000 in Delaware County, and 47,000 in Lehigh County to name the largest. Therefore the following results must be read with the understanding that some outcomes may change.
Nine incumbent Republican representatives are retiring at the end of session November 30, 2020. Six (6) incumbent Democrats are retiring and one, Maria Donatucci, was defeated in the primary election. In the Senate, one Republican, Senate Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and one Democrat, Andrew Dinniman are retiring. Two Democrats, Larry Farnese and Daylin Leach, were defeated in the primary. In total there were 16 open House seats and four open Senate seats on the ballot yesterday.
Looking at the election results available at this time, in the House, one Republican incumbent is losing as well as eight incumbent Democrats. In the Senate, no incumbent Republicans and two incumbent Democrats are losing at this time. Many of these races are close and again, with the uncounted ballots, results could change.
One open seat which was held by House Republicans looks to have flipped to the Democrats while one House Democratic seat looks to have flipped to Republican.
Notable incumbent races in the Senate include Tom Killion (R-Delaware Co.) leading by 8,000 votes, Pam Iovino (D-Allegheny Co.) behind by 21,000 votes, and Jim Brewster (D-Allegheny Co) behind by 12,000 votes
Notable incumbent races in the House include House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody behind by 3,500 votes. Additional incumbent Democrats who are behind are Bizzarro, Snyder, Petrarca and Sappey while Matzie is up by 50 votes.
When the new General Assembly is sworn in on January 5, 2021, the Republicans will maintain the majority in the House and will increase their majority to as much as 115-88. Republicans will also maintain the majority in the Senate, increasing their majority to 30-20 or 31-19.
PLEASE NOTE: For the two senatorial races in Allegheny County and neighboring counties, there are several thousand mail in ballots from Allegheny County that still needs to be tabulated. For the entire county, there were still 100,000 that have not been counted as of 4pm. Bottom line – those races are still too close to call.