Mid-Term Updates | Shapiro wins Dem primary for Pennsylvania governor

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Democrats have made their pick for official governor, handing the nomination to state Attorney General Josh Shapiro for the second term.

Shapiro was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. The incumbent, Democratic Governor Tom Wolf, has a limited term.

Shapiro, 48, of the Philadelphia suburb of Abington, has spent the primary campaign season raising funds and working to bolster his choice for lieutenant governor ahead of what is expected to be a grueling fall campaign.

He is a former state legislator and county commissioner whose record as attorney general includes producing a 2018 report into child sexual abuse in Catholic churches in the state.

Shapiro’s publicity in recent weeks has included spots introducing him to voters, but he has also targeted State Senator Doug Mastriano as the Republican gubernatorial candidate emerged from the big primary field as a frontrunner.

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Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Kentucky, Idaho and Oregon are holding primary elections on Tuesday. Former President Donald Trump put his approval record on the line in two key Republican primaries for open U.S. Senate seats in Pennsylvania and North Carolina. Voters in three states — Pennsylvania, Idaho and Oregon — choose their gubernatorial candidates.

HERE’S WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW:

– Election 2022: Pennsylvania and North Carolina hold key races

– Midterms 2022: What to watch as 5 states hold primaries

— Pennsylvania gubernatorial race divides Republicans, unites Democrats

– North Carolina Rep. Madison Cawthorn faces voters after missteps

– Oregon Democrat at risk as 5 states hold US House primaries

– Idaho governor faces Trump-backed challenger in GOP primary

Follow all AP stories on the midterm elections at https://apnews.com/hub/2022-midterm-elections.

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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

RALEIGH, North Carolina — U.S. Representative Ted Budd won a crowded Republican primary for retiring from GOP Sen. Richard Burr’s seat in North Carolina.

Budd’s victory is also a victory for former President Donald Trump, who elevated the little-known congressman to surprise approval nearly a year ago. A super PAC affiliated with the conservative Club for Growth has spent millions on ads supporting Budd and attacking his main rival, former Governor Pat McCrory, as too liberal.

McCrory was considered a moderate in the 14-candidate primary, but is best known nationally for signing a 2016 “toilet bill” targeting transgender people that cost the state billions . Former U.S. Representative Mark Walker also participated in the race.

Budd avoided a runoff by garnering more than 30% of the vote in the primary. He now qualifies for the general election in November, where he will face Democrat Cheri Beasley, former chief justice of the state Supreme Court. Beasley would be North Carolina’s first black senator if elected in the Republican-leaning state.

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RALEIGH, North Carolina — Cheri Beasley has won North Carolina’s Democratic primary in the race to succeed retired Republican Senator Richard Burr.

The former chief justice of the state Supreme Court beat 10 other Democrats on Tuesday. Beasley would be the first black American senator from North Carolina if she wins in November.

Beasley emerged as the Democratic frontrunner as two key rivals bowed out last fall.

Beasley was elected to the state Court of Appeals in 2008. She was later nominated to the Supreme Court, won an election, and was appointed Chief Justice by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper in 2019. In 2020, she lost a statewide election to remain Chief Justice. by only 400 votes.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Charles Booker has won the Democratic primary election for the U.S. Senate in his bid to snap a decades-long winning streak by Republicans in Kentucky.

Booker defeated three opponents in the Democratic primary. He will challenge Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul in the November election.

The autumn campaign will present very contrasting agendas. Paul promotes limited government while Booker supports extensive health care and poverty alleviation programs.

Bluegrass State has not elected a Democrat to the Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992.

Booker is back with his “hood to howl” campaign agenda after narrowly losing the Democratic Senate primary two years ago.

It promotes social programs such as Medicare for All and a basic universal income. Booker says such proposals would uplift people across the Bluegrass State, including poor urban neighborhoods and struggling Appalachian towns.

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FRANKFORT, Ky. — Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky won his party’s nomination in his pursuit of a third term.

The libertarian-leaning Paul was victorious over five little-known challengers in the GOP Senate primary in Kentucky. Paul is a former presidential candidate who gained a national voice by supporting limited government and a restricted foreign policy.

Kentucky has not elected a Democrat to the US Senate since Wendell Ford in 1992.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the leading candidate in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, said his pacemaker surgery was successful and he was “on track for recovery.” full” after suffering a stroke last week.

Fetterman, 52, said his stroke was caused by atrial fibrillation, a potentially serious but treatable type of irregular heartbeat. He tweeted an update after the surgery on Tuesday, saying “We were confident it was a success.”

Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s office said top Pennsylvania state senator Jake Corman will take over as acting lieutenant governor while Fetterman recovers. Corman, a Republican, is the acting Senate President. Fetterman can resume his duties and powers four days after his office informs state lawmakers that he is not disabled.

Corman had run in the GOP primary for governor but ended his campaign last week.

Fetterman faces three other candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination for the open Pennsylvania Senate seat. Republican Senator Pat Toomey is retiring.

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HARRISBURG, Pa. — Printing errors will force local election officials in Pennsylvania and Oregon to recast thousands of mail-in ballots, a laborious process that could delay the results of some hotly contested races in Tuesday’s primaries. .

In Pennsylvania, where the GOP primaries for governor and U.S. Senate are garnering national attention, officials in Republican-leaning Lancaster County say the company that printed its mail-in ballots included the wrong code. identification, which prevents scanners from reading them. The problem will require election workers to hand-mark new ballots.

In Oregon, where all registered voters receive a mail-in ballot, officials in a politically crucial county face a similar problem. About half of the ballots sent to voters in Clackamas County included a fuzzy barcode that cannot be read by ballot scanners. Teams duplicate each ballot so they can be scanned.

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BRADDOCK, Pa. — Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the leading candidate in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate, receives a pacemaker after suffering a stroke last week.

His campaign said on Tuesday that Fetterman was “about to undergo a standard procedure” to get a pacemaker with a defibrillator. Campaign officials say the pacemaker will “protect her heart and treat the underlying cause of her stroke.”

Fetterman said his stroke was caused by atrial fibrillation, a potentially serious but treatable type of irregular heartbeat.

The stroke landed him in hospital in the final days of the campaign. The 52-year-old says he is expected to make a full recovery.

Fetterman faces three other candidates in the race for the Democratic nomination for the open Pennsylvania Senate seat. Republican Senator Pat Toomey is retiring.