Pennsylvania

Democrats won’t find pickups as easy as they hoped.

A bombshell of a fact check.

The Trump era has been tough on Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and no one has been tougher on her than President Trump himself, with his references to her as “Pocahontas.”

Today on the Daily Standard Podcast, Jonathan V. Last and Michael Warren talk about the Pennsylvania special election, the Blue Wave, political happy talk, and the wisdom of children.

Republicans may have just lost a district that went for President Donald Trump by 20 points in 2016 and has been reliably red for nearly two decades, but GOP lawmakers on Wednesday downplayed the blow.

Today on the Daily Standard Podcast, senior writer Mike Warren and host Charlie Sykes discuss President Trump's wild weekend, the PA-18 special election, and Betsy DeVos's painful '60 Minutes' interview.

We are coming down to the wire in Pennsylvania’s 18th District, where Republican Rick Saccone will face Democrat Conor Lamb in a special election, for a term of just seven months. Here are four questions (and answers) to clarify what’s at stake, how close the contest is, and what it means for 2018…

State legislative elections are easily overlooked, but they can carry enormous consequences for policy and politics, even on the national level. Democrats were reminded of this truth the hard way in 2010, when Republicans took control of state governments across the country amid the Tea Party wave.…

If a congressional campaign won’t tell you the candidate’s schedule two weeks out from a tight special election, it’s a safe bet to go to an American Legion post (it doesn’t matter which one, any post will do) and simply wait. This is how I found myself at a Friday night fish fry at American Legion…

Today on the Daily Standard Podcast, John McCormack and Haley Byrd discuss the upcoming special congressional election in Pennsylvania, the escalating culture war over guns, and Jared Kushner's no good, very bad day.

CALLERY, Pa.

In less than a month, voters in Pennsylvania’s 18th District will head to the ballot box for one of the most interesting special elections of the year. Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone will be vying to fill the seat vacated by resigning Republican Rep. Tim Murphy. (The pro-life…

In less than two months, the 2018 election will head straight into Trump-land: the southern suburbs of Pittsburgh. Last October, Republican Rep. Tim Murphy resigned (he was facing ethics issues regarding his treatment of employees and had encouraged his mistress to get an abortion—not a great look…

Pave Breezewood. I'm back from my trip to Cleveland (where I covered the Browns #PerfectSeasonParade), and as is tradition, I had to drive through the godforsaken town of Breezewood, Pennsylvania. Over at the Examiner, Salena Zito has an appreciation of the place. One thing's for sure, having…

BREEZEWOOD — Rick Sheridan has been a banker, a factory worker, and a commercial truck driver. A Kent State University journalism school graduate, he has also worked as a reporter, editor, and photographer for local northeastern Ohio papers, dabbled in the dairy business, owned his own photography…

Pennsylvania’s kaleidoscopic regions—divided by geography and socio-economics—make predicting its electoral outcomes a perpetual guessing game. But Pennsylvania also suffers the sentence handed down by James Carville. He once described the state as Paoli (suburban Philadelphia) and Penn Hills…

Greta Van Susteren, APP Baron? You of course remember Greta from her long tenures on CNN and Fox News and her brief one on MSNBC, right? Now, she's about to release an "APP" that she wants you to install on your phone. It's called Sorry:

In a speech championing Republican tax reform efforts on Wednesday, President Donald Trump attempted to deflect criticism that the GOP tax plan disproportionately favors the wealthy with a novel argument: The rich don’t even want a tax cut.

A U.S. district judge denied a motion to halt a recount of Wisconsin ballots cast in the presidential election Friday, while similar legal action is pending Pennsylvania and Michigan's re-tabulation was stopped this week.

Vote totals in states where former presidential candidate Jill Stein and the Green party have requested recounts hadn't budged much as of Tuesday morning, the Associated Press reports, with the process in Michigan still in its nascent staged amid a flurry of court action.

Have a question for Matt Labash? Ask him at askmattlabash@gmail.com or click here.

On election night, Pennsylvania shocked the country by voting for a Republican presidential candidate for the first time in 28 years. Just days before, Pennsylvania had been written off by experts who assumed the state’s streak of voting Democratic would continue. But in addition to proving them…

Donald Trump owes his victory in the Electoral College to three states he won by the smallest number of votes: Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. So it's fair to say that the 2016 presidential election was decided by about 77,000 votes out of than 136 million ballots cast. According to the…

Senator Pat Toomey has been reelected in Pennsylvania after a tight race with Democrat Katie McGinty, likely securing the Republican majority in the Senate.

Youngwood, Penn.

Donald Trump believes he has lost the presidential election. That's the only reasonable explanation for the Republican nominee's decision on Saturday in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to reiterate his claim that the more than 10 women who have accused Trump of past acts of sexual assault are liars.…

A few cheeky tweets took down the chairman of the board of trustees at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Self-styled student activists started an online shame campaign last week, which led insurance executive and Ursinus alumnus Michael Marcon to quit the board chairmanship on…

Two recent Quinnipiac University polls have some good news for Senate Republicans.

Clinton ally and Pennsylvania attorney general Kathleen Kane was forced to resign from her post Tuesday after a jury found her guilty of nine criminal offenses.

Pennsylvania has long been viewed by election analysts as a potentially decisive state in the 2016 presidential contest, but new polls out of the Keystone state show a race that isn't even close.

Some Republicans eager to unify behind Donald Trump argue unification is important not only to win the presidency, but to win Senate and other races in 2016. A new Quinnipiac poll in one important swing state suggests that keeping distance from Trump could be helping at least one Republican senator…

Voters are dissatisfied and bearish on the economy in a place where the Republican legislature and Democratic executive just can't seem to get along. In that respect, to describe the United States is to describe the commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Retired Navy Admiral and Senate hopeful Joe Sestak was asked recently at the Pennsylvania Press Club Luncheon about the recent catpure of 10 U.S. Navy sailors by the government of Iran.

Chaka Fattah (né Arthur Davenport), the Democratic congressman who represents part of Philadelphia and its environs, has never been challenged in a primary election. Since he joined the House in 1995, he has never garnered less than 86 percent of the vote in his impregnable district.

Rick Santorum is keeping expectations low for his second presidential campaign. Asked if he would need to win the Iowa caucuses to stay in the race, the former senator said it “depends.”

The Chamber of Commerce has launched two new ads focusing on what are expected to be some of the closest Senate races of the 2016 cycle: the seats up in Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Both Florida Republicans running for president are tied for first among registered voters in their party, according to a new poll of the Sunshine State from Quinnipiac.

Pennsylvania's Democratic governor Tom Wolf is just shy of a month into the new job, but one his cabinet nominations has raised eyebrows in Harrisburg and across the state. Wolf has nominated Pedro Cortes to be secretary of state, a job Cortes held in the last Democratic administration, two-term…

A visitor to Richmond can’t leave without a trip to John Marshall’s house, a living shrine to the greatest chief justice in the history of the United States. Passing through the halls of his former home, it is as if the spirit of the great man is present in the articles he used and the rooms he…

When Prohibition ended in 1933, Pennsylvania governor Gifford Pinchot promised to make purchasing alcohol “as inconvenient and expensive as possible.” To this day, Pennsylvania has some of the most stringent—and absurd—liquor laws in the country. Beer and wine can’t be sold in grocery stores, and…

Allyson Schwartz, the Democratic suburban Philadelphia congresswoman running for governor, was the director of the Elizabeth Blackwell Health Center, an affiliate of Planned Parenthood, from 1975 to 1988. Her time there coincided with the formative years of abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s infamous…

The problem with Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist on trial for killing a mother and at least seven infants born alive after botched abortions, is that the government has too many anti-abortion regulations and not enough public funds for providing abortions to poor women. That’s…

One of the most sinister characters on TV appears in AMC’s hit series The Walking Dead and is known as the Governor. Initially presented as a selfless leader, the Governor is soon exposed as a deranged tyrant who demands absolute loyalty from everyone around him and worships death to the point of…

Gettysburg

Fox News projects Barack Obama will win Pennsylvania. Mitt Romney's campaign gave a late push there, but it appears not to have paid off.

Democratic senator Bob Casey has held on to his Senate seat in Pennsylvania, Fox News projects. Casey, whose significant lead in the polls dropped in the final weeks of the campaign, has held off a challenge from Republican Tom Smith, a businessman from Western Pennsylvania.

Blue Bell, Pa.

Reuters writes the following about Mitt Romney’s Sunday night rally on the outskirts of Philadelphia:  “The rally drew a huge crowd, but Romney arrived some 90 minutes after he was expected and hundreds of people streamed out of the rally as he spoke, angry and cold after waiting at a facility with…

Two recent polls maintain that Republican Tom Smith of Pennsylvania is statistically tied with his Democratic opponent, Bob Casey Jr., in the race for the U.S. Senate. The first poll, an internal Smith poll released Friday, shows the candidates tied at 46 percent. The second, a Susquehanna Research…

The Romney campaign seems to have committed to a late push into Pennsylvania, to the derision of Team Obama. The latter sees this as a desperation ploy by a foundering campaign, similar to John McCain’s late entrance into the Keystone State in 2008. Is that right?

A new ad from Republican Senate candidate Tom Smith of Pennsylvania features a personal testimonial from Smith's daughter, Allison.

Mitt Romney's campaign has a new television ad directed at voters in Pennsylvania. The ad juxtaposes Barack Obama's record and rhetoric on the coal industry with Romney's plan.

Bob Casey, the incumbent Democratic senator from Pennsylvania suddenly caught in a tough reelection fight, fought to secure $90 million in taxpayer funds for the Philadelphia Housing Authority as part of the 2009 stimulus law. But those funds Casey secured have come under increased scrutiny. C.J.…

Democratic senator Bob Casey Jr. of Pennsylvania only leads his Republican opponent, Tom Smith, by one point, according to a new poll from Rasmussen. Of the 500 likely voters polled, 46 percent support Casey while 45 percent support Smith. The new Rasmussen poll shows a three-point drop in support…

Mitt Romney leads Barack Obama by four points in Pennsylvania, while Republican Senate candidate Tom Smith leads incumbent Democrat Bob Casey by two points, according to a state GOP poll conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research. Of the 1,376 likely Pennsylvania voters surveyed, 49 percent…

The latest Quinnipiac poll, which shows Mitt Romney just four points behind Barack Obama in Pennsylvania, also shows a three-point Senate race. The incumbent, Democrat Bob Casey, Jr., leads his Republican challenger, Tom Smith, 48 percent to 45 percent, with 7 percent undecided.

Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney in Pennsylvania by only 4 points, according to a new Quinnipiac poll. Of the 1,519 likely voters in Pennsylvania polled, 50 percent support Obama and 46 percent support Romney. That's an 8-point swing in Romney's favor from the previous Quinnipiac poll of…

The Washington Post reports: 

Republican Tom Smith, once thought a long-shot for the U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, continues to close in on his Democratic opponent, incumbent senator Bob Casey, Jr. A new poll of 725 likely voters from the Republican-affiliated firm Susquehanna Polling and Research shows a 2-point race, with…

Among the nine key swing states, Pennsylvania is the closest thing to a must-win for President Obama.  Until the first presidential debate, he was comfortably ahead in the Keystone State.  But two polls taken either entirely or partly after the debate show Obama’s lead having dwindled to just 3…

In Pennsylvania, Republican Tom Smith is facing an uphill battle against Democratic senator Bob Casey, the son of the beloved former governor. But in four of the five most recent polls of likely voters, Smith, a 64-year-old farmer and coal mining businessman from Western Pennsylvania, has been…

President Barack Obama is far ahead of Mitt Romney in three important swing states, according to a new poll from Quinnipiac. Obama leads Romney by 12 points in Pennsylvania (54 percent to 42 percent), by 10 points in Ohio (53 percent to 43 percent), and by 9 points in Florida (53 percent to 44…

Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey, who is up for reelection this year, carefully put some space between himself and Barack Obama's recent comment that American entrepreneurs didn't build their businesses on their own.

Of the ten swing states, unemployment dropped in only one--Ohio--in the month of June. And things got worse in 6 of the ten swing states, according to the Wall Street Journal.

This write-up from the Hill on a recent Pennsylvania poll is pretty similar to many others these days:

On his personal website, former congressman Artur Davis confirmed at least some of the recent rumors surrounding him—that the lifelong Democrat, the man who endorsed Barack Obama for president early in 2007 and seconded his nomination at the Democratic party convention in 2008, now considers…

Vice President Joe Biden, who has been out on the campaign trail in Ohio, visited Hogfather's Old Fashioned BBQ in Washington, Pennsylvania on his way to the Pittsburgh airport.

Rick Santorum is leading in his home state of Pennsylvania, according to a new Quinnipiac poll:

The Republican presidential primary race in Pennsylvania is tightening, according to the findings of a recently released Franklin and Marshall poll:

Quinnipiac polls former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum's home state:

A Rasmussen poll of likely voters in the “four key states” of Ohio, Florida, Virginia, and North Carolina, shows Rick Santorum leading President Obama by 5 percentage points among independents, while Obama leads Mitt Romney by 3 percentage points among that crucial group of voters. The Rasmussen…

A new Quinnipiac poll shows that President Obama is now trailing both Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney among independents in the crucial swing states of Florida and Ohio. The poll shows that, among independents, Gingrich leads Obama by 4 percentage points (45 to 41 percent) in Florida and by 1…

A new Public Policy Polling survey shows Mitt Romney with a six-point lead, at 30 percent, among Florida primary voters. Rick Perry is in second with 24 percent--the first time the Texas governor has not lead in a PPP poll in a Southern state since he entered the race.

As John McCormack reports, some leading Pennsylvania Republicans are apparently flirting with the idea of changing the state’s method of allocating electoral votes from the usual winner-take-all method—the norm since the American Founding—to a method of allocating one electoral vote for each…

If there is a must-win state for President Obama, it’s Pennsylvania. The only time that Republican presidential candidates win Pennsylvania is when they don’t need it, while no Democrat has won the presidency without Pennsylvania in the past 60 years.

The Allentown Morning Call reports:

JTA's Ron Kampeas reports on the brouhaha developing in Pennsylvania between Democratic Senate candidate Joe Sestak and the Emergency Committee for Israel: