🗳️ How Pittsburgh voted

It was a long night. Allegheny County finished tallying our local ballots just after midnight with about 99% of votes accounted for. Officials say the remaining nine precincts will likely post today, and provisional ballots still need to be reviewed and processed.

But Allegheny is just one of 67 counties in Pennsylvania, and at press time, we’re still waiting on a few races to be officially called by the Associated Press. Just like 2020, our friends in Philadelphia and other counties have been among the last to finish their preliminary tallies. Cambria, for example, held its polls open until 10 p.m. after a malfunction with machines.

✅ What We Know So Far

AP called Pennsylvania for Republican Donald Trump just after 2 a.m. with a 175,000-vote lead, and he's since been confirmed as the next U.S. President. He told a crowd at his Florida watch party that America has given Republicans "an unprecedented and powerful mandate. ... This will truly be the golden age of America." Allegheny County chose Democrat Kamala Harris by a wide margin.

Republican Dave McCormick declared victory in his second bid for U.S. Senate, this time against 18-year incumbent Bob Casey. The win contributed to Republicans reclaiming a Senate majority. The race was one of the most expensive in the country.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Pennsylvania had 17 seats up for grabs. In our region...

• ✅ Incumbent Democrat Summer Lee won handily over Republican James Hayes in District 12, including Allegheny and Westmoreland counties.
• ✅ Democrat Chris Deluzio took the win over Republican Rob Mercuri in District 17, which includes Beaver and portions of Allegheny counties. It was considered one of PA’s five most competitive districts.
• ❓ The U.S. House, or Congress, has 435 representatives, all of whom were up for election last night. It’s not clear yet which party will keep or take control.

Republicans swept in their contests for state row offices — including prosecutor Dave Sunday for attorney general, incumbent Timothy DeFoor for auditor general, and incumbent Stacy Garrity as treasurer.

Republicans hoped to keep their advantage in the PA Senate. In our region, incumbents Devlin Robinson (R) and Jay Costa (D) won in Districts 37 and 43, respectively. Incumbent Democrat Nick Pisciottano looks likely to retain his seat in District 45 as well. At press time, five seats had yet to be called.

In the PA House, several seats were *uncontested. At press time, 21 seats elsewhere in the state had yet to be called. Democrats were defending their state House majority. Winners in our region include:

• District 19: Aerion Abney (D)*
• District 20: Emily Kinkead (D)
• District 21: Lindsay Powell (D)*
• District 23: Dan Frankel (D)*
• District 24: La’Tasha Mayes (D)*
• District 25: Brandon Markosek (D)
• District 27: Daniel Deasy Jr. (D)*
• District 28: Jeremy Shaffer (R)
• District 30: Arvind Venkat (D)
• District 32: Joe McAndrew (D)*
• District 33: Mandy Steele (D)
• District 34: Abigail Salisbury (D)*
• District 35: Matthew Gergely (D)*
• District 36: Jessica Benham (D)
• District 38: John Inglis (D)
• District 39: Andrew Kuzma (R)
• District 40: Natalie Mihalek (R)
• District 42: Dan Miller (D)
• District 45: Anita Astorino Kulik (D)
• District 46: Jason Ortitay (R)

⬅️ How We Got Here

Voter turnout appears to be down slightly in Allegheny County compared to the last presidential election. Nearly 77.1% of registered voters cast ballots in the 2020 general election. Of ballots counted so far, around 74.6% voted this cycle.

• 🗳️ There are around 9 million registered voters in Pennsylvania; Democrats have the edge at 47% compared to Republicans 42%, according to our Department of State. We're still waiting on statewide turnout data.

Pennsylvania doesn’t have early voting, though some counties like Allegheny have created workarounds like satellite voting sites. Whether you cast your ballot in person, by mail, or via a provisional or absentee vote, by law, we couldn’t start counting them until Election Day, which slowed down election returns. It’s similar in Wisconsin, a fellow swing state.

But Allegheny County is much faster at counting than others in the commonwealth because we invested heavily in new technology that can tabulate ballots quickly. Officials say we also have one of the highest mail-in ballot “cure” rates in the state. But since every county manages its own elections, strategies differ.

➡️ What Happens Next

It's not over yet. Statewide, military ballots can arrive for the next week, and it usually takes up to 10 days to reconcile any provisional ballots against those cast by mail and in person. Counties have 15 business days to submit final results.

• 🗓️ The state department is scheduled to certify all Pennsylvania ballots on Dec. 11.