U.S. Congressional Races

Eight of Pennsylvania’s 18Congressional races had contested primaries that challenged either the incumbent’s party nomination or the opportunity to challenge the incumbent in the fall election. Here are the results for those primaries:

District 5

Glenn “GT” Thompson will face Brookville School Board President Kerith Taylor (D) in the fall in his bid to win a fourth term in Congress. Taylor defeated Thomas Tarantella (D), a retired Army veteran, with 54.52 percent of the vote. The 5th district is located on northwestern Pennsylvania and includes all or part of 16 counties from Erie to Centre County.

District 8

Veteran and former-CIA analyst Kevin Strouse won the Democrat nomination to challenge Republican incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick. Strouse earned 51.13 percent of the vote against Shaughnessy Naughton, a businessman/chemist, who earned 48.87 percent of the vote. U.S. Rep. Fitzpatrick was first elected to Congress in 2004 and represented the district from 2005 to 2007. He lost to Patrick Murphy in 2006 but was reelected to Congress in 2010 and 2012. The 8th District consists of Bucks County and portions of Montgomery County.

District 9

Congressman Bill Shuster (R) won his bid for an 8th term with 52.78 percent of the vote after facing two Republican challengers. Retired Coast Guard Captain Art Halverson (R) received 34.51 percent, and former candidate and Army Veteran Travis Schooley (R) received 12.70. Congressman Shuster, who was first elected in 2001, will face Alanna Hartzok (D), a mental health professional and environmental activist, in the fall. The 9th Congressional District consists of all or parts of 15 counties from Fayette County, near Pittsburgh, to the Susquehanna River in Harrisburg and from the Maryland border north to Clearfield County.

District 12

Business woman Patricia McClellan won the Democrat primary with 68.14 percent of the vote over John Hugya, former aide to Congressman John Murtha, to earn the opportunity to challenge freshman Republican Keith Rothfus in the fall election. Tom Prigg (Green), a neurobiology research scientist and army veteran, will also be on the fall ballot. The district is comprised of Beaver County and parts of Allegheny, Cambria, Lawrence, Somerset and Westmoreland Counties.

District 13

There was a four-way Democrat primary and a two-person Republican primary to replace Allyson Schwartz (D), who ended her fifth term representing the district with her bid for governor. On the Democratic side, sitting State Rep. Brendan Boyle defeated Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies and sitting State Sen. Daylin Leach, earning 40.56 percent of the vote. Boyle will face businessman Carson “Dee” Adcock, who defeated Col. (ret) Beverly Plosa-Bowser in the Republican primary. The district includes neighborhoods of Northeast Philadelphia and portions of Montgomery County.

District 14

Rev. Janis C. Brooks (D) lost her second bid to unseat 10-term Rep. Mike Doyle in the Democratic primary. Doyle won 84.09 percent of the vote over Brooks’ 15.91 percent.  There is no Republican candidate in the fall election. The district includes all of Pittsburgh and parts of surrounding suburbs, including McKeesport and Wilkinsburg.

District 16

Two Democrats were vying for the opportunity to challenge Congressman Joe Pitts (R) in the fall. The Democrat winning the nomination was Tom Houghton, who received 63 percent of the vote over Raja Kittappa, who received 37 percent. Houghton formerly served on the London Grove’s Board of Supervisors and as a state representative for the 13th PA House district. Also running in the fall will be Constitution Party candidate Robert Nulton. The district includes all of Lancaster County and parts of Chester and Berks County.

District 17

David “Doc” Moylan won a three-way Republican primary for the opportunity to challenge first term incumbent Congressman Matt Cartwright (D). Moylan received 44.73 percent of the vote over former state senate nominee Matt Connolly’s 33.75 percent and charter pilot Matt Dietz’s 21.52 percent. Moylan is an oncologist who has been in practice in Carbon and Schuylkill Counties since 1986 and currently serves as Schuylkill County’s coroner. The 17th District includes parts of Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Northampton Counties, as well as all of Schuylkill County.