Voters to choose federal and state office nominees

Keith Gushard, The Meadville Tribune, Pa.
·3 min read

May 17—As Democratic and Republican voters in Crawford County head to the polls today, they'll join voters across Pennsylvania in choosing nominees for a number of federal and state offices.

Depending where they reside, some county voters will find they're now within a different state House district than they were in the 2020 election.

At the federal level, voters will select nominees for a U.S. Senate seat as well as their U.S. congressional representative; at the state level, voters will choose nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, and members of the state House and Senate.

Crawford County remains part of three state House districts, but they now are 6th, 64th and 65th due to redistricting based on the 2020 U.S. Census.

Redistricting is required every 10 years following a federal census to keep legislative districts as equal in population as possible due to population shifts.

In Crawford County, redistricting resulted in the 6th District now encompassing the Meadville and Cochranton areas and all of western Crawford County; the 64th District has the Titusville area and southeastern part of Crawford County; and the 65th District has northcentral and northeastern Crawford County including Cambridge Springs and Saegertown.

County Democratic and Republican voters will choose nominees for both state and local committee members of their respective parties.

While a primary election decides the party's nominees for a particular office and many have multiple candidates on both sides of the aisle, not all races are contested.

While the Republicans have nine candidates vying for governor, there's only one Democrat running for that party's nomination. The Republican gubernatorial ballot is crowded with Lou Barletta, Douglas V. Mastriano, Nche Zama, Dave White, Melissa Hart, Bill McSwain, Charlie Gerow, Joe Gale and Jake Corman. But Corman and Hart announced in recent days they were dropping out of the race and would support Barletta. The Democratic ballot has Josh Shapiro as the only candidate.

For lieutenant governor, Democrats will choose between three candidates — Austin Davis, Ray Sosa and Brian Sims; Republicans have nine choices — Clarice Schillinger, James Earl Jones, Rick Saccone, John Brown, Chris Frye, Jeff Coleman, Russ Diamond, Carrie Lewis Delrosso and Teddy Daniels.

For U.S. Senate, Democrats will choose between four candidates — Alex Khalil, Conor Lamb, Malcolm Kenyatta and John Fetterman; Republicans will choose from seven — Kathy Barnette, Dr. Mehmet Oz, George Bochetto, Jeff Bartos, Dave McCormick, Sean Gale and Carla Sands.

Among the other races on ballots in Crawford County — 16th District U.S. Congress, Pennsylvania Senate and Pennsylvania House — the only race is for the Democratic Party's nominee for the 16th District U.S. congressional seat.

Dan Pastore and Rick Telesz are vying to be the Democratic nominee for the 16th District U.S. Congress seat. Mike Kelly, a Republican and the incumbent, is unopposed in his bid for the Republican nomination.

For the Pennsylvania 50th Senatorial District, Rianna Czech is the lone candidate for the Democratic Party nomination while Michele Brooks, a Republican and the incumbent, is the lone Republican candidate.

Nerissa Galt is unopposed to be the Democratic nominee for the Pennsylvania House 6th District seat. Brad Roae, a Republican and the incumbent, is unopposed for the Republican Party's nomination.

The Democratic Party has no nominees on the ballot for either the state House 64th District or state House 65th District seats.

R. Lee James, a Republican and the incumbent in the 64th District, and Kathy Rapp, a Republican and the incumbent in the 65th District, both are unopposed in their respective bids for their nominations.

Keith Gushard can be reached at (814) 724-6370 or by email at .