The City & State Guide to Pennsylvania’s 2026 Primary Elections: The U.S. House of Representatives

Pennsylvania’s 2024 congressional elections had a major impact on control of the U.S. House, as Republicans expanded their majority with victories in the 7th and 8th Congressional Districts, which had previously been represented by Democrats. 

Now, in 2026, Democrats are hoping to ride a wave of discontent to midterm election victories, while Republicans will look to prevent losses that the party in power often experiences in midterm election cycles. 

In advance of this fall’s general election matchups, City & State takes a look at some of the competitive primary races that will shape the ballot this fall. 

THE U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District

For the first time in a decade, the commonwealth’s third congressional district is up for grabs. Four candidates remain in the race to fill retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans’ spot, down from what was a field of roughly a dozen early on in the deep-blue seat that is PA-3. 

According to the Cook Political Report, the North and West Philadelphia district is the most partisan – regardless of party – in the nation. Coming in at +40 in favor of Democrats, the district performed about 40 points more Democratic in two-party vote share than the nation as a whole in 2020 and 2024.

Given the district makeup, the Democratic primary field initially rose to as many as a dozen. The field narrowed throughout the last few months, with three front-runners leading the way as the May primary election approaches: Dr. Ala Stanford, State Sen. Sharif Street and State Rep. Chris Rabb. 

The fourth candidate is a political newcomer in Shaun Griffith. A tax attorney who previously worked for the state government before opening his own firm in Roxborough, Griffith didn't meet the campaign finance threshold to participate in many of the public forums and debates. But in a conversation with City & State, Griffith said his top priorities include a $15-an-hour minimum wage and community protections from data centers. He said the "increasing wealth gap" has made life "unaffordable for working class people." He said, if in office, he would immediately push for a Medicare for All vote and "fight the consensus" to get congressmembers to put their health care stances on the record.

Street had the name recognition and party connections to fuel a successful campaign from the jump. The son of former Philadelphia Mayor John F. Street and the nephew of former State Sen. Milton Street, Sharif Street has been representing the 3rd state senatorial district since 2017. A North Philadelphia native, Street became the first Black man and Muslim to serve as Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair in 2022, succeeding Nancy Patton Mills, with whom he had served as vice chair for nearly four years.

Rabb has sought the progressive crowd since he was first elected to the state House in 2016, aligning himself with organizations including the Working Families Party, the Sunrise Movement and the Philadelphia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. 

Stanford, on the other hand, entered the race without a legislative background. The 55-year-old Philadelphia native, who has been a practicing physician for more than 20 years, received national recognition in 2020 for founding the Black Doctors COVID-19 Consortium, which spearheaded efforts to test and vaccinate Philadelphians, particularly in low-income communities. In 2022, Stanford was appointed by President Joe Biden as the Health and Human Services regional director for the mid-Atlantic region, overseeing efforts to rebuild communities most affected by COVID. 

Stanford jumped into the race with backing from some prominent figures, including former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Evans. 

As the race has tightened, sparring among the candidates has increased. 

Stanford, who’s backed by the science-focused advocacy group 314 Action Fund, has received financial support – a rarity among most political newcomers. Rabb, without evidence, has suggested that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee lobbying group has entered the funding race and that Stanford and 314 are receiving funds from pro-Israel groups. 

Both Street and Rabb have told voters to look at their voting records, saying their legislative résumés speak for themselves and the ideals they’d bring to Congress. Stanford, having spent time in federal administration, has utilized her experiences within the Biden administration to argue she’s seen where the gaps reside between local, state and federal governments. 

Few polls have been conducted as of April, but initial polling from last year showed Street leading both Stanford and Rabb. A Street-sponsored poll showed 27% for Street, 17% for Rabb and 11% for Stanford, while another poll has Street at 15%, Stanford at 7% and Rabb at 6%.

And as of mid-April, prediction markets give Street a 44.5% chance of winning, ahead of Stanford at 29% and Rabb at 27%. 

Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District

Democrats view the Lehigh Valley seat held by Republican Ryan Mackenzie, who upset incumbent Susan Wild in 2024, to be particularly vulnerable. The Cook Political Report calls Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District “a rare true swing seat,” rating the race a tossup in its February assessment, noting that President Donald Trump won the district by just 3 percentage points in 2024, after losing in 2020 by a fraction of a point.

After several early candidates dropped out, four Democrats with diverse résumés are vying to take back the seat this year: Carol Obando-Derstine, an engineer, nonprofit executive and onetime senior adviser to former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey; Bob Brooks, the president of the Pennsylvania Fire Fighters Association; former federal prosecutor and Marine Ryan Crosswell; and former Northampton County executive Lamont McClure.

While recent polling is sparse, Change Research found in December that the race was “wide open,” with voters largely undecided and unfamiliar with the candidates. Initial surveys put McClure on top and Brooks in second – but after hearing the candidates’ biographies, Democratic respondents favored Brooks, followed by Crosswell.

McClure, an attorney, served two terms as Northampton’s county executive and, prior to that, was a two-term Northampton County Council member. He has the endorsements of numerous unions and local politicians, including Easton Mayor Sal Panto.

In Congress, according to his campaign website, he wants to fight the proliferation of warehouses and to protect the region’s green space, building on his successes preserving farmland in Northampton County. He also touts his fiscal responsibility – five county budgets without tax increases.

Obando-Derstine has the backing of Wild, who originally recruited her to run. Also endorsed by Emily’s List, Obando-Derstine is hoping her personal experience with key issues – as the only woman, Hispanic, immigrant and energy professional in the race – will help her overcome a lack of name recognition.

Obando-Derstine emigrated as a child from war-torn Colombia with her parents, whose immigrant struggles inspired her career in community advocacy. Her leadership roles have included several local youth nonprofits, including the Children’s Coalition of the Lehigh Valley, as well as an appointment by then-Gov. Tom Wolf to his Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs and a stint as then-U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s regional manager and statewide Latino affairs advisor. 

Until recently, she worked at PPL Utilities on the renewable energy integration she says will be crucial to meeting the region’s energy challenges. She also says she’ll promote affordability through measures like raising the federal minimum wage and restoring access to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act subsidies; she also supports immigration reform.

Brooks, a retired 20-year firefighter with the City of Bethlehem, was recruited by U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, who represents Western Pennsylvania, and Gov. Josh Shapiro for his effectiveness leading the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association – and, Brooks posits, his ability to connect with the kind of working-class voter Democrats have been losing in recent elections. He has championed successful measures to expand state workers’ compensation benefits to first responders and to restore federal retirement benefits to firefighters and other public servants.

According to his campaign website, Brooks vows to promote affordability, including by raising the minimum wage, and to reduce the influence of money in politics; he also wants to curb warehouse development, modernize transportation and lower housing costs in his district.

Hoping to seize momentum is former federal prosecutor and Marine Ryan Croswell, who is running on an anti-corruption platform. Fighting corruption was his job for years at the Department of Justice, where he investigated public officials’ abuses of power – including indicting the former governor of Puerto Rico for bribery – and eventually resigned over President Donald Trump’s apparent quid pro quo pardon of New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

Inspired to public service by the 9/11 attacks, Croswell enrolled in the Marine Corps while in law school and hopes to bring a focus on justice to Congress, where, according to his website, he wants to cut the cost of living in the Lehigh Valley; protect reproductive rights, Social Security and Medicare; and reform immigration.

Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District

Two Democrats are running in the 10th Congressional District primary with hopes of taking on conservative U.S. Rep. Scott Perry in the fall – one a familiar face who narrowly lost to Perry in the 2024 general election, and another who helped flip the Dauphin County Board of Commissioners to Democratic control in 2023.

Janelle Stelson, a former news anchor with WGAL, won the Democratic nomination in 2024 and narrowly lost to Perry that year by a margin of 49.4% to 50.6% – or 5,133 votes. This time around, Stelson has secured the support of Gov. Josh Shapiro, state Sen. Patty Kim, the Dauphin County Democratic Committee, and more than a dozen labor unions in her bid to unseat Perry and turn the seat blue.

In the primary, Stelson is facing Dauphin County Commissioners Chair Justin Douglas, who defeated Republican incumbent Chad Saylor in 2023 by 184 votes, flipping the board to Democratic control for the first time in 100 years. To date, Douglas has picked up endorsements from the Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, One Pennsylvania and CASA In Action. 

Heading into 2025, Stelson held a significant fundraising edge over Douglas. She ended the year with more than $1.5 million in cash on hand, while Douglas had roughly $14,300, according to Federal Election Commission data. Stelson raised an additional $2.1 million in the first quarter of 2026, bringing her total amount of cash on hand to $3 million.

Over the course of the primary campaign, Stelson has had her attention focused on Perry, calling out the incumbent over rising gas prices in the wake of the country’s ongoing war with Iran. 

“The people of Central Pennsylvania deserve answers, because the cost of living is crushing Central Pennsylvania families and our congressman, Scott Perry, just keeps making it worse,” Stelson said in April outside a Harrisburg gas station. 

She also needled Perry for his support of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which she said are contributing to rising costs: “He supports the tariff policies that are driving up prices of groceries, building materials, household goods and housing. These tariffs are taxes, and they are not being paid by China or any other country; they're being paid by you, by American families, by Central Pennsylvania small businesses.”

Stelson has said that she would seek to repeal Trump’s tariffs if elected, and would also support making Affordable Care Act tax credits permanent. She also introduced an anti-corruption agenda that includes age limits and 12-year term limits for members of Congress, banning members of Congress from trading stocks, limiting presidential pardoning power, reversing the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United court decision and banning public officials, appointees and staff from participating in prediction markets.  

Douglas says his top priorities include bringing back federal investments to Central Pennsylvania, promoting economic development and increasing job opportunities in the region, banning congressional stock trading, and abolishing or reforming U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 

Douglas said his current role as a county commissioner gives him a unique perspective that he could use to better represent the region.

“We need to fight for Pennsylvania, we need to fight for PA-10, we need to fight for Dauphin County,” he told City & State in an interview. “If I was granted with the opportunity to be a congressman, I'd be able to bring that fight to Washington through the lens of what our community truly needs as a county commissioner.”

The nonpartisan Cook Political Report has Pennsylvania’s 10th Congressional District rated as a “toss-up” in 2026, as does Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a project of the Center for Politics at the University of Virginia. Meanwhile, Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rates the district as “tilt Republican.”