Shapiro backs 3 Democrats in four House races — Pa Primary 2026
pa primary 2026 puts four Pennsylvania House races on Tuesday’s ballot as Democratic voters choose nominees to challenge Republican-held seats. Gov. Josh Shapiro has weighed in on three of the contests, backing candidates in the 1st, 7th and 10th congressional districts.
The primary also includes races for lieutenant governor and both chambers of the General Assembly, and only registered party members can vote in their party’s contest. Pennsylvania had nearly 9 million registered voters as of May 11, including 3.8 million Democrats, 3.6 million Republicans and about 1.2 million unaffiliated voters.
Shapiro and the four seats
Shapiro endorsed Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie over Lucia Simonelli in the 1st District, backed Bob Brooks in the 7th District primary and chose Janelle Stelson to challenge Scott Perry in the 10th District. Paige Cognetti is unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the 8th District, where she will face Rob Bresnahan if Democrats nominate her for the fall race.
The four seats sit in districts that are already on both parties’ lists of competitive House races. Kamala Harris narrowly carried the 1st Congressional District in 2024, while Donald Trump carried the 7th, 8th and 10th Districts by larger margins that same year.
Republican-held districts
Brian Fitzpatrick, Ryan Mackenzie, Rob Bresnahan and Scott Perry are all unopposed in their Republican primaries. That means Tuesday’s Democratic contests will determine which candidates get a head start in the fall campaign against four incumbents who are not facing internal party challenges.
Only registered Democrats may take part in the Democratic primary, and the same rule applies to Republicans in their own contest. Independent or unaffiliated voters may not participate in either primary, leaving about 1.2 million Pennsylvania voters outside the process on Tuesday.
Pennsylvania ballot turnout
Turnout in recent primaries shows the scale of that restriction. About 1.1 million Democratic primary votes were cast in Pennsylvania’s 2024 presidential primaries, compared with about 953,000 Republican primary votes. In 2022, Republican and Democratic voters each cast roughly 1.3 million votes in the U.S. Senate primaries.
The bigger November ballot reaches beyond the House races. Half of Pennsylvania’s 50 state Senate seats and all 203 state House seats are up for election, with Democrats holding a slim majority in the state House and Republicans holding an edge in the state Senate.
Shapiro's ballot position
Shapiro has no primary opponents in his bid for a second term as governor, while Stacy Garrity is his Republican opponent in November and is also unopposed in her primary. Tuesday’s vote will settle which Democratic names move into the four House contests and set the rest of the party’s statewide ticket for November.
