PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Thanks to Sen. Pat Toomey’s decision to not seek another term in the U.S. Senate, Pennsylvania will be sending a new senator to Washington next year.
The seat has been opened up to a new cast of Democratic and Republican players. It is highly coveted by both parties because it will help determine which one has control of the U.S. Senate, making it one of the most competitive midterm elections in the country.
“I believe this is the most important Senate seat in the country,” said Democrat Conor Lamb, who is on the May 17 primary ballot.
The primary election will determine who makes it to the ballot in the Nov. 8 general election. To help voters prepare, we have broken down the five most competitive Democrats and the seven most competitive Republicans below.
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Important primary voting dates
May 2: Deadline to register to vote
May 10: Deadline to request a mail-in or absentee ballot
May 16: Military and overseas absentee ballots must be sent no later than 11:59 p.m. on May 16, to be received by the county Board of Elections by May 24.
Tuesday, May 17: Primary Election Day
Polls are open 7 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Your county Board of Elections must receive your mail-in and civilian absentee ballots by 8 p.m. on May 17.
The general election is on Nov. 8.
DEMOCRATS
Dr. Kevin Baumlin
When Philadelphia native Dr. Kevin Baumlin officially launched his campaign a year ago, he stepped down as chair of emergency medicine at Pennsylvania Hospital, left his position at the medical school, and paused his clinical practice.
Baumlin has more than 30 years of experience in the medical field, but he is a newcomer to politics — which some may see as an advantage. He is the co-founder of the nonprofit think tank and community resource OAK Street Initiative.
He has said that he wants to address the inequities exposed by the coronavirus pandemic. If elected, he would be the first openly gay man elected to the U.S. Senate.
Key issues:
— Affordable, portable health care
— Improved care for seniors and lower prescription drug costs
— Decriminalization and treatment of people with substance use disorders
— Support for rural hospitals
— Ending the gun violence epidemic
— $15 minimum wage
— Rebuilding national infrastructure
— Protections for the LGBTQ community
Endorsements:
KYW Newsradio was unable to verify any key endorsements for Dr. Kevin Baumlin.
John Fetterman
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman was one of the first Democrats to enter the U.S. Senate race. He is formerly the mayor of Braddock, Pa, a suburb of Pittsburgh. He ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate in 2016. After winning a five-way Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in 2018, and later the general election, he toured the 67 counties to speak with voters about legalizing marijuana. He returned to Harrisburg with a report that he said convinced Gov. Tom Wolf to put his support behind legalization.
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As chair of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons, Fetterman has used the position to advocate for inmates serving time for non-violent offenses and for those who have been wrongfully convicted. He has taken steps to make the pardon application process easier and less costly, and during his tenure, the Board has recommended commutation of sentences for more applicants than it has in decades.
Take a deeper dive into John Fetterman's candidacy.
Key issues:
— Raising the minimum wage
— Legalizing marijuana
— Universal health care
— Criminal justice reform
— Second chances for formerly incarcerated
— Environmental justice
— LGBTQ rights
Key endorsements:
— United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776
— United Steelworkers District 10
— MarchOn
— National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana
— United Rural Democrats
— Democratic Lieutenant Governors Association
— Public figures, including the mayors of Rankin, Braddock and Upper Darby; and several outstate county commissioners, council members and school board members.
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Malcolm Kenyatta
Progressive Pa. state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, born and raised in Philadelphia, knows how to get social media attention for fiery moments at the mic in the Capitol. He has called out disparities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that one’s skin color and ZIP code should not determine health or economic outcomes.
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He was elected in 2018 as the first openly gay, Black state legislator. If elected in the Nov. 8 general election, he would become the youngest member of the U.S. Senate, at 31. He would also be the first openly gay man and the first LGBTQ person of color elected to the U.S. Senate — though he has said he doesn’t want his identity to be the focus of his campaign. Rather, he says, as a candidate who will bring life experiences of Pennsylvania’s disadvantaged communities, he is the “antithesis” to outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey .
In Pennsylvania, a Black candidate has won a statewide election only once — when Tim DeFoor, a Republican, was elected auditor general in 2020.
Take a deeper dive into Malcolm Kenyatta's candidacy.
Key issues:
— Government reforms
— Cancelation of student loan debt
— Affordable college education
— Health care for everyone
— Wealth tax on people worth $50 million or more
— Moratorium on fracking
— LGBTQ protections
Key endorsements:
— American Federation of Teachers
— Philadelphia Federation of Teachers
— The SEIU Pennsylvania State Council
— AFSCME Local 1199C
— AFSCME District Council 33
— Temple Association of University Professors
— Teamsters Local 623
— Teamsters BMWED
— Working Families Party
— Collective PAC
— One Pennsylvania
— Democracy for America
— Victory Fund
— Brand New Congress
— Chester City Democratic Party
— Chester County Young Democrats
— Philadelphia First Ward Democrats.
— A list of at least 200 public figures, including Gloria Steinem; Wanda Sykes; Cristela Alonzo; Lee Daniels; members of Congress; state senators; state representatives; Philadelphia City Councilmembers; metropolitan and outstate mayors, county, city and borough council members, school board members; Democratic committee leaders
Alexandria Khalil
Jenkintown Borough Councilmember Alex Khalil is the child of Palestinian-Muslim immigrants. Khalil is also a member of the Jenkintown Education Foundation and Jenkintown Advisory Committee.
Khalil has done work with the Pa. Department of Health to fight disparities, and helped create a community outreach initiative to educate the community about the Affordable Care Act.
She is an IT specialist and former small business owner and an advocate for special education and parents of children with disabilities. She hosts dinner events at which neighbors cook extra meals to be donated to food banks.
Khalil traveled throughout the state and country to support Sen. Bernie Sanders, President Barack Obama, and other Pennsylvania Democrats. She was a Sanders delegate in 2020, and she carries those progressive values into the U.S. Senate race.
Take a deeper dive into Alexandria Khalil's candidacy.
Key issues:
— “Medicare For All” health care model
— Affordable prescription drugs
— Fair and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines and medications
— Reproductive and abortion rights free from government interference
— NIH childhood cancer research funding
— Legalization of marijuana, with profits going toward economic development in communities disproportionately hurt by the war on drugs
— Paid sick leave and vacation time
— $15 minimum wage
— Green New Deal
— Rebuilding schools with federal funds
Key endorsements:
KYW Newsradio was unable to verify any key endorsements for Alexandria Khalil
Conor Lamb
U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, a Marine and a federal prosecutor in the Obama administration, entered the Democratic primary race in August. Lamb represents Pennsylvania’s 17th district, including Pittsburgh-area suburbs and all of Beaver County.
He won a special election in 2018 in a reliably Republican district that Donald Trump won by nearly 20 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election. He was re-elected eight months later after redistricting pulled him into a race against three-term Republican Keith Rothfus in the general election. He was re-elected in 2020.
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A moderate, he has opposed single-payer health care, defunding of police, and bans on fracking.
Take a deeper dive into Conor Lamb's candidacy.
Key issues:
— Increased wages
— Access to health care
— Expanding Medicare and Social Security
— Cutting prescription drug prices
— $15 minimum wage
— Creating and protecting jobs
— Strengthening unions
Key endorsements:
— U.S. Reps. Bob Brady, Matt Cartwright, Joe Neguse
— State Reps. Amen Brown, Ryan Bizzarro, Michael B. Carroll, Joe Ciresi, Tina Davis, Frank Dermody, Dan Frankel, William C. Kortz, Bridget Malloy Kosierowski, Anita Kulik, Steve Malagari, Robert Matzie, Dan Miller, Gerald Mullery, Kyle Mullins, Napoleon Nelson, Eddie Day Pashinski, Nick Pisciottano, Pam Snyder, Joe Webster, Jake Wheatley, Dan K. Williams
— State Sens. Jim Brewster, Jay Costa, Wayne D. Fontana, Sharif Street
— Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney
— Philadelphia City Councilmember Curtis Jones
— Mayors of Pittsburgh, Bethlehem, Allentown
— Delaware County District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer
— At least 25 labor unions in and around Pittsburgh, including a few in Eastern Pennsylvania
— The Philadelphia Democratic Party
— The Steel City Stonewall Democrats
— National Organization for Women PAC
— Latino Caucus of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party
— James Carville, political consultant
REPUBLICANS
Kathy Barnette
A 10-year Armed Forces Reserves veteran, former adjunct professor of corporate finance, and conservative political commentator, Kathy Barnette would be Pennsylvania’s first Black, female senator in state history if elected.
Barnette ran for Congress in 2020 and lost to incumbent Democrat Madeleine Dean, and afterward became embroiled in various failed attempts to prove election fraud.
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She wrote a book, “Nothing to Lose, Everything to Gain: Being Black and Conservative in America,” the central premise of which is that liberal policies have failed the Black community and will fail the rest of America if the Democrats move to the hard Left.
At the same time, she says, she wants to steer Republicans away from “despotic and debased individuals,” and toward strong, authentic voices who will defend the U.S. Constitution.
Former president Donald Trump, who endorses fellow television celebrity Mehmet Oz, has publicly attacked Barnette, saying she cannot beat a Democrat in the general election.
Barnette's supporters — who are more in line with the MAGA movement — say Trump made a mistake when he endorsed Oz, saying he is everything they are not.
Take a deeper dive in Kathy Barnette's candidacy.
Key issues:
— Support for the Second Amendment
— School choice policies
— Pro-life
— Border security
— Banning teaching of critical race theory
Key endorsements:
— BlakPAC
— Pennsylvania State Police FOP Pioneer Lodge #37
— U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens
— State Sen. Doug Mastriano
— Former U.S. National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn
— Actor John Ratzenberger
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Jeff Bartos
Montgomery County real estate developer Jeff Bartos, differentiates himself from other high-profile Republicans in the race by touting his local roots as a lifelong conservative Pennsylvanian with a business background. He has tried to distance himself from former President Donald Trump.
Bartos, a former Republican nominee for lieutenant governor, and chair of the state Republican Party’s finance committee, was one of the first to enter the race. He has called Mehmet Oz, David McCormick and Carla Sands “political tourists,” who made their fortune elsewhere and are now spending their money in Pennsylvania.
He founded the Pennsylvania 30 Day Fund, a nonprofit that gave forgivable loans to businesses hit hard by the COVID-19 so they could survive the pandemic.
He is counting on a strong grassroots campaign with a team of 67 “county captains” supporting him across the state.
Take a deeper dive into Jeff Bartos' candidacy.
Key issues:
— Lower taxes
— Regulatory cuts
— Strong foreign policy that stands up to China and Iran
Key endorsements:
— Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity
— State Sens. Ryan Aument, Wayne Langerholc, Dan Laughlin, Scott Martin, Bob Mensch, Pat Stefano and Judy Ward
— State Reps. Torren Ecker, Sue Helm, John Hershey, Barry Jozwiak, Dawn Keefer, Jack Rader, Frank Ryan, Tommy Sankey and Jesse Topper
— Public officials, including several county commissioners, and sheriffs
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George Bochetto
Like Bartos, attorney George Bochetto says his background as a Pennsylvanian set him apart from his fellow Republican candidates. According to his campaign website, he is an avowed opponent of the “woke, liberal mob,” dedicated to taking on “left wing radicals” in the U.S. Senate and bringing “responsible leadership” to the nation’s capital.
Bochetto certainly has the lawyerly bona fides. He represented Friends of Marconi Plaza in a lawsuit against the city of Philadelphia, when there was a movement to remove the Christopher Columbus statue from the South Philly park. His law firm, Bochetto & Lentz, worked with former President Donald Trump’s defense team during his second impeachment trial in 2021. And Bochetto himself has appeared before the U.S. Supreme Court and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
In a pugilistic primary, his service as the state’s boxing commissioner in the late 1990s and early 2000s under former Gov. Tom Ridge may do him good.
Take a deeper dive into George Bochetto's candidacy.
Key issues:
— Reining in federal spending
— Opposition to cancel culture and “left wing nuts and woke mobs that are destroying our country,” according to his campaign website
— Philadelphia’s murder rate
— Preventing the teaching of critical race theory
Key endorsements:
— Fraternal Order of Police Philadelphia Lodge #5
— Italian Sons and Daughters of America
— PRIMO Magazine
— Former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman
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Much of business and health care attorney Sean Gale’s campaign website is dedicated to aligning himself with former President Donald Trump and setting himself apart from outgoing Republican Sen. Pat Toomey. On his campaign website, he calls Toomey a “never-Trump RINO (Republican in name only) swamp rat” who voted to convict Trump at his impeachment trial and didn’t vote for the wall at the Mexican border; and he casts himself as the antidote to “radical left-wing Democrats,” “socialist Europe” and “communist China.”
Gale criticizes his Republican opponent Jeff Bartos for being on friendly terms with Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a potential Democratic opponent for the U.S. Senate seat. And he promises to restore a “conservative backbone” to a Congress he says has lost its way.
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Gale ran his brother Joe’s campaign when he bucked the Montgomery County Republican Committee by running unendorsed for the minority seat on the county Board of Commissioners — and winning. (Joe Gale, who is running for governor, may be best known for stoking controversy as a Montco commissioner — earning censure by fellow commissioners for calling Black Lives Matter a “left-wing hate group,” and being sued for violating sunshine laws when he deleted negative comments on his social media accounts.)
Take a deeper dive into Sean Gale's candidacy.
Key issues:
— Secure borders
— "America-first" anti-globalism
— Not being Pat Toomey
Key endorsements:
KYW Newsradio was unable to verify any key endorsements for Sean Gale
Army veteran and former hedge fund executive David McCormick officially entered the race as an “America-first” candidate in January. He promises a moderate, economy-focused campaign.
McCormick served under former President George W. Bush in the Commerce and Treasury Departments. His wife, Dina Powell, also served in the second Bush administration, as well as that of Donald Trump. His father, James McCormick, was the first chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.
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Until recently, McCormick was the CEO of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund. He faces scrutiny from fellow Republicans and Trump faithfuls for his business dealings in China — which he once called America's “most important bilateral relationship" as CEO of Bridgewater, but which he now calls an “existential threat," according to multiple reports.
He gained Sean Parnell’s endorsement after a judge’s decision to award his estranged wife sole legal custody of their three children, in light of spousal abuse allegations, forced his exit from the U.S. Senate race in November. Parnell had been the sole Republican to gain former President Donald Trump’s endorsement.
Take a deeper dive into David McCormick's candidacy.
Key issues:
— Illegal immigration
— Conservative control of school curriculum
Key endorsements:
— National Border Patrol Council
— Butler County Republican Committee
— U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz
— U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser
— Former U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
— Former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders
— Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee
— Former U.S. Senate candidate and Army ranger Sean Parnell
— Butler County Sheriff Mike Slupe
Dr. Mehmet Oz
If elected, celebrity doctor and heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz would be the first Muslim in the U.S. Senate seat.
Oz, who entered the race late last year, casts himself as anti-establishment. He is also an outsider, with no political background. He has lived in New Jersey, but he registered to vote in Pennsylvania using the address of a Montgomery County medical office connected to his wife’s father, leading fellow candidates to criticize him as a carpetbagger.
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Oz first made a name for himself during guest appearances on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” though he has been criticized for promoting questionable medical advice on his own nationally syndicated “Dr. Oz Show” — including a call to testify before the Senate for promoting weight loss supplements from a company that had been accused of falsifying data.
Nonetheless, he brings to the Republican race a medical background, which may be significant after a long period of misinformation that threatened public health during the pandemic. Though he has said that the Washington establishment “took away our freedom” during the coronavirus pandemic.
On April 9, 2022, former President Donald Trump endorsed Oz's campaign.
Take a deeper dive into Mehmet Oz's candidacy.
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Key issues:
— Against mask and vaccine mandates
— Tighter southern border
— No more outsourcing to China
— Favors tougher policing
Key endorsements:
— Donald Trump
— U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler
— Ted Nugent
— Former U.S. Secretary of Energy Rick Perry
Carla Sands
A businesswoman and third-generation chiropractor, Carla Sands was a big supporter of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign and his “America-first” agenda. After he was elected, she served on Trump’s Economic Advisory Council and was named his ambassador to Denmark in 2017.
Sands credits the Girl Scouts, her parents’ Christian ministry, and high school student council for inspiring in her an early interest in public service.
After husband Fred Sands died in 2015, Carla stepped in to lead his company, making her the first woman to serve as chairman and CEO of Vintage Capital Group.
Take a deeper dive into Carla Sands' candidacy.
Key issues:
— Energy security
— Election integrity
— Border security
— Common-sense regulation of Pennsylvania farmers
— Killing the New Green Deal
— Reversing inflation
— Curbing federal spending
— Banning the teaching of critical race theory
— Bringing manufacturing back to Pennsylvania
Key endorsements:
— State Reps. Greg Rothman and David Maloney
— Adams County Sheriff James Muller
— Cumberland County Sheriff Jody Smith
— Conservative activist Marc Little
— A list of at least 15 former U.S. ambassadors
— Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich
— Former National Security Advisor Robert C. O'Brien
— Former Counselor of the U.S. Department of State Ulrich Brechbuhl