Campaigns & Elections

White, Bartos win GOP straw polls for governor, Senate, respectively

Republican candidates Dave White and Jeff Bartos

Republican candidates Dave White and Jeff Bartos Dave White gubernatorial campaign Facebook and the Jeff Bartos Campaign

Republican candidates for governor and U.S. Senate gathered in central Pennsylvania over the weekend for the Pennsylvania Republican Party’s Central Caucus meeting, which included a straw poll to gauge support for the party’s robust slate of 2022 candidates. 

The results offered a glimpse into who elected party members prefer in 2022 races for governor, lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate – though no formal endorsements were made. And while candidates were quick to tout their straw poll wins over the weekend, Pennsylvania politicos noted that straw poll results don’t necessarily foreshadow who will see success in the coming primary elections. 

Delaware County businessman Dave White won the straw poll for governor, receiving 21 votes from the Central Caucus members. White said the straw poll win signals that his message is resonating with Pennsylvania voters. 



“Today’s victory shows we have the momentum and grassroots support to win in both May and November!” White wrote on social media. 

Former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain placed second, with 17 votes, while former U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta came in third. State Sen. Scott Martin and political strategist Charlie Gerow both received 12 votes, and state Sens. Jake Corman and Doug Mastriano received seven votes and six votes, respectively. 

Montgomery County real estate developer Jeff Bartos, who is running in the GOP primary for U.S. Senate, won the straw poll for that race, besting a primary field that includes conservative commentator Kathy Barnette, celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz, former hedge fund executive David McCormick and former U.S. ambassador Carla Sands. 

Bartos won the straw poll by a wide margin, with 49 total votes. Barnette was second with 30 votes and McCormick came in third with 15 votes. Sands received eight votes, and Oz, Martin Rosenfeld and George Bochetto all received one vote. 

Conor McGuinness, campaign manager for the Bartos campaign, said in a statement that the straw poll results underscores concern about candidates like Oz and McCormick, who have ties to other states.

"Pennsylvanians will not sit idly by and let out-of-staters parachute into our state and steal our Senate seat – and this straw poll is proof,” he said. "Folks are responding to the fact that Jeff's campaign is about continuing his service to Pennsylvania, while his opponents are looking to make Pennsylvania serve them."

Even candidates who didn’t receive the most votes in their respective straw polls looked to frame the results in their favor. But Berwood Yost, the director of Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research, said voters shouldn’t put too much stock in informal surveys. 

“While the results give the winning candidates something to talk about and fundraise on, straw polls don't tell us much of anything about how we should expect the primaries to turn out because we don't know how well these views reflect the views of the entire state committee, for one, and, more importantly, the Republican primary electorate,” Yost told City & State. 

Christopher Nicholas, a veteran GOP strategist, also noted that straw poll results could shift from region to region as the Pennsylvania Republican Party holds other regional meetings. 

Nicholas said the most important takeaway from the Central Caucus meeting was not who won the candidate polls, but that an overwhelming majority of attendees recommended not endorsing gubernatorial or Senate candidates. 

“The most important vote there was they also voted by a two-to-one margin, not to recommend an endorsement at all, which would be the first time in my history going back 30 years that the state party would not have endorsed in big time statewide races,” Nicholas said. “That's just because there's so many candidates in both races that can't seem to get to any type of consensus.”

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.