Multiple media outlets are declaring Democrat John Fetterman the winner in Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race. Fetterman told supporters late last night he's their next senator. "I never that we were going to turn these red counties blue, but we did what we needed to do," Fetterman said. Republican Mehmet Oz has not conceded and spoke to backers Tuesday night in Bucks County prior to Fetterman being declared the winner. "When all the ballots are counted, we believe we will win this race. We've been closing the gap all night and we have a lot more ballots to go," Oz said. Oz won at the polling locations Tuesday by more than 478,000, but that was not enough to overcome Fetterman's 615,000 edge in mail-in ballots.
Pennsylvania's next governor will be its current attorney general. Josh Shapiro easily defeated Republican St. Sen. Doug Mastriano Tuesday. "Voters from Gen-Z to our seniors, people from all different walks of life have given me the honor of a lifetime. The chance to serve you as Pennsylvania's next governor," Shapiro said. Speaking Tuesday night, Mastriano was in no hurry to concede the race. "In this constitutional republic that we have, the people get the last word. So, we're going to wait patiently to see what the people of Pennsylvania said and what the people of Pennsylvania say we will, of course, respect that," Mastriano said. With more votes remaining to be counted, Shapiro holds a 630,000 vote, or 13 point, lead on Mastriano.
A state lawmaker from Allegheny County will be Pennsylvania's first Black lieutenant governor. In a speech at a rally with newly elected governor Josh Shapiro last night, Davis vowed to be an advocate for working families. The son of a hairdresser and union bus driver also said he was "blessed by this opportunity" and acknowledged others who came before him. Austin said they made it possible for him to be elected.
In the Lehigh Valley's Congressional race, incumbent Democrat Susan Wild holds a 4700 vote, or two point, lead over Republican Lisa Scheller. Those numbers include 357 of 377 precincts reporting, with some mail-in ballots also remaining to be counted.
In the Lehigh Valley's three state Senate races, only incumbent Lisa Boscola has been declared a winner. In the other Senate races, Democrat Nick Miller holds a 4100 vote edge over Dean Browning and Republican Jarrett Coleman is up by about 12,000 votes over Mark Pinsley. In contested state House races, Democrats Michael Schlossberg, Joshua Siegel, Peter Schweyer and Republicans Milou Mackenzie, Joe Emrick and Ann Flood are leading their races.
Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Leigh Chapman has the final numbers on mail-in and absentee ballots. "For this election, Pennsylvania voters requested more than 1.4 million mail-in and absentee ballots. About 1.15 million, or approximately 83 percent of those ballots were voted and returned to counties," Chapman says. Nearly one million of those mail-in ballots were submitted by Democrats and 303,000 from Republicans.
Acting Pennsylvania Secretary of State Leigh Chapman said that "a free, fair and secure election" has been conducted in the commonwealth. For Tuesday's elections, Pennsylvania voters requested more than a million-and-a-quarter mail-in and absentee ballots. Chapman says about 83 percent of those ballots were voted on and returned to counties. A million of the returned mail ballots came from registered Democrats and a little over 300-thousand came from Republicans.
Results continue to come in for New Jersey's congressional races. Democratic incumbent Bill Pascrell is holding on to the 9th congressional district along with Donald Payne in the 10th. Robert Menendez Jr., newcomer and son of Senator Bob Menendez, is outperforming his Republican opponent in the 8th congressional district, and in the 7th congressional district, Tom Kean, Junior appears to be the winner over Tom Malinowski. Meanwhile, Josh Gottheimer in the 5th congressional district is leading over Republican Frank Pallotta.
Allentown police are investigating after two women were shot last night. They say the two were involved in a disturbance just after 7 p.m. in the 700 block of St. John Street. One woman was taken from the scene by ambulance to a local hospital for treatment. Police believe the other woman was taken for treatment by a private driver. Each has non-critical injuries. Their names haven't been released and officials haven't said what led up to the shooting.
Expected heavy rain Friday is prompting five District 11 football playoff games to be moved up to Thursday night. The Northern Lehigh/Tri-Valley game, Notre Dame-Green Pond/Northwestern game, Palmerton/North Schuylkill, Parkland/Northampton and Freedom/Emmaus games are all being shifted to Thursday evening. A decision on the Southern Lehigh/Whitehall game for Friday night will be made by Thursday. If that game is moved, it will be played on either Saturday or Sunday.