PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The 2022 primary election season promises to be one of the busiest Pennsylvania has ever seen. It’s not just the high-profile races for governor and U.S. Senate, but also races in the state legislature.
“It seems like we're going to have more primary challenges in state races than we've seen in quite a long time,” said Chris Boric, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, and the director of the college’s Institute of Public Opinion.
“The overall number seem to be considerably up from from past cycles.”
He said that even as races have not yet been finalized yet, part of the increase comes from the typical trend for redistricting which happens every 10 years after the census is completed. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court upheld the new legislative maps earlier in March.
“We also have within both parties right now, both the Democratic and the Republican Party, some stark ideological divides. For challengers in primaries, they're often looking at incumbents that might not be aligned with their views on where the party should hit,” said Boric.
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“More conservative Republicans versus more moderates, more populist Republicans against the more traditional group, the more left-leaning urban Democrat against the more traditional kind of moderate Democrat in the state.”
Boric said that such a combination of factors is building an unusually competitive field of primary races this spring in Pennsylvania.
“New districts, some incumbents stepping aside, an ideological split that transcends both parties, and you get a lot of people that want to step up and take a shot right now,” he said.
Boric added that elections take a “positive course” when incumbents have to face tougher races to earn re-election.
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“General elections could sometimes be a place where there's not that much competition,” he said.
“Therefore, primaries take on a really key role. It might be where the biggest challenges are that you can see in electoral politics. Seeing higher numbers of individuals stepping forward and having competitive primaries, I think is a healthy sign for democracy in Pennsylvania.”
A lot of state lawmakers are giving up their seat this year. Some are retiring, while others are stepping down to run for a different office.
The Penn-Capital Star has a running total that, as of Thursday, was up to 37 legislators who are not keeping their seats. According to them, a pair of incumbents, Rep. Isabella Fitzgerald, D-Philadelphia and Rep. Chris Rabb, D-Philadelphia, will battle each other in a primary because of redistricting.
Related podcast: The results of the recent redistricting due to the latest U.S. Census.
Additionally, these incumbents in the Delaware Valley will not be seeking re-election, per the Penn-Capital Star:
- Rep. Angel Cruz, D-Philadelphia
- Rep. Mike Driscoll, D-Philadelphia
- Rep. Frank Farry, R-Bucks
- Rep. Dianne Herrin, D-Chester
- Rep. Tracy Pennycuick, R-Montgomery
- Rep. Meghan Schroeder, R-Montgomery
- Rep. Brian Sims, D-Philadelphia
- Rep. Wendi Thomas, R-Bucks
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