Incumbent Susan Wild (D) defeated Lisa Scheller (R) in the general election for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District on November 8, 2022. Wild received 50.8 percent of the vote and Scheller received 49.2 percent. This election was a rematch from 2020, when Wild received 51.9 percent of the vote and Scheller received 48.1 percent.

Wild was elected to the U.S. House in 2018. Before joining Congress, she served as the solicitor for Allentown, Pennsylvania, from 2015 to 2017 and worked as an attorney.^[1] Wild made legal access to abortion a key component of her campaign following the Supreme Court's ruling in Whole Woman's Health v. Jackson. Wild said that Scheller had cut jobs based in the United States in favor of overseas positions at her company.^[2]

At the time of the 2022 election, Scheller was CEO of Silberline Manufacturing. She served a term on the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners.^[3] Scheller campaigned on her experience as CEO and said that she would work to reduce inflation and create jobs in the district. Scheller said that Wild's support of spending bills proposed by the Biden administration led to inflation issues.^[2]

Pennsylvania's 7th was a district targeted by the campaign arms of both parties. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) listed it as an official target district and Scheller qualified for the National Republican Congressional Committee's (NRCC) Young Guns program. According to Open Secrets, the DCCC spent $3.9 million on behalf of Wild and the NRCC spent $1.7 million on behalf of Scheller.^[4]

The outcome of this race affected the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 118th Congress. All 435 House districts were up for election.

Republicans won a 222-213 majority in the U.S. House in 2022.

Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 49.7% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 49.1%.^[5]

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7

Incumbent Susan Wild defeated Lisa Scheller in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7 on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Susan Wild (D)	51.0	151,364
	Lisa Scheller (R)	49.0	145,527

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 296,891
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7

Incumbent Susan Wild advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Susan Wild	100.0	63,817

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 63,817
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Tuong Tran (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7

Lisa Scheller defeated Kevin Dellicker in the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7 on May 17, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Lisa Scheller	51.3	34,504
	Kevin Dellicker	48.7	32,713

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 67,217
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Ryan Mackenzie (R)

Campaign finance

This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.^[6] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.^[7] Click here to view the reporting schedule for candidates for U.S. Congress in 2022.

U.S. Congress campaign reporting schedule, 2022
Report	Close of books	Filing deadline
Year-end 2021	12/31/2021	1/31/2022
April quarterly	3/31/2022	4/15/2022
July quarterly	6/30/2022	7/15/2022
October quarterly	9/30/2022	10/15/2022
Pre-general	10/19/2022	10/27/2022
Post-general	11/28/2022	12/08/2022
Year-end 2022	12/31/2022	1/31/2023

Name

Party

Receipts*

Disbursements**

Cash on hand

Date

Susan Wild

Democratic Party

$7,002,291

$7,027,026

$53,961

As of December 31, 2022

Lisa Scheller

Republican Party

$6,354,579

$6,432,422

$2,737

As of December 31, 2022

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2022. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee."
** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.^[8]
Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.^[9]^[10]^[11]

Race ratings: Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District election, 2022
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 8, 2022	November 1, 2022	October 25, 2022	October 18, 2022
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Republican	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Pennsylvania in the 2022 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Pennsylvania, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2022
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Pennsylvania	U.S. House	Ballot-qualified party	1,000	$150.00	3/15/2022	Source
Pennsylvania	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	2% of largest entire vote cast for a candidate in the district in the last election	$150.00	8/1/2022	Source

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

District map - A map of the district before and after redistricting.
Effect of redistricting - How districts in the state changed as a result of redistricting following the 2020 census.
Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2022 U.S. House elections in the state.
Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
Demographics - Information about the state's demographics and how they compare to the country as a whole.
State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

District map

	2024 → ← 2020
Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District
	Democratic primary; Republican primary; General election
Election details
	Filing deadline: March 15, 2022
	Primary: May 17, 2022; General: November 8, 2022
How to vote
	Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.; Voting in Pennsylvania
Race ratings
	Cook Partisan Voter Index (2022): R+2; Cook Political Report: Toss-up; Inside Elections: Toss-up; Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
	U.S. Senate battlegrounds; U.S. House battlegrounds; Federal and state primary competitiveness; Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2022
See also
	Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District; U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th ; Pennsylvania elections, 2022; U.S. Congress elections, 2022; U.S. Senate elections, 2022; U.S. House elections, 2022; Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

Below was the map in use at the time of the election, enacted as part of the 2020 redistricting cycle, compared to the map in place before the election.

Pennsylvania District 7
until January 2, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Pennsylvania District 7
starting January 3, 2023

Click a district to compare boundaries.

Effect of redistricting

See also: Redistricting in Pennsylvania after the 2020 census

The table below details the results of the 2020 presidential election in each district at the time of the 2022 election and its political predecessor district.^[12] This data was compiled by Daily Kos Elections.^[13]

2020 presidential results by Congressional district, Pennsylvania
District	2022 district		Political predecessor district
District	Joe Biden	Donald Trump	Joe Biden	Donald Trump
Pennsylvania's 1st	51.8%	47.2%	52.4%	46.6%
Pennsylvania's 2nd	71.0%	28.3%	70.1%	29.1%
Pennsylvania's 3rd	90.2%	9.3%	91.3%	8.1%
Pennsylvania's 4th	58.9%	40.0%	61.5%	37.4%
Pennsylvania's 5th	65.7%	33.4%	65.1%	34.0%
Pennsylvania's 6th	56.8%	42.0%	56.9%	41.9%
Pennsylvania's 7th	49.7%	49.1%	51.8%	47.0%
Pennsylvania's 8th	48.0%	50.9%	47.3%	51.7%
Pennsylvania's 9th	31.0%	67.5%	34.1%	64.5%
Pennsylvania's 10th	47.2%	51.3%	47.8%	50.7%
Pennsylvania's 11th	38.6%	59.9%	38.3%	60.2%
Pennsylvania's 12th	59.4%	39.5%	64.5%	34.4%
Pennsylvania's 13th	26.8%	72.0%	27.2%	71.6%
Pennsylvania's 14th	33.7%	65.2%	35.7%	63.2%
Pennsylvania's 15th	30.8%	67.8%	27.5%	71.2%
Pennsylvania's 16th	39.0%	59.7%	40.0%	58.7%
Pennsylvania's 17th	52.3%	46.5%	50.7%	48.0%

Competitiveness

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2022

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Pennsylvania.

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Pennsylvania in 2022. Information below was calculated on May 9, 2022, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Forty-eight candidates filed to run for Pennsylvania’s 17 U.S. House districts, including 23 Democrats and 25 Republicans. That’s 2.82 candidates per district, slightly less than the 2.83 candidates per district in 2020, and less than the 4.66 in 2018.

This was the first election to take place under new district lines following the 2020 census, which resulted in Pennsylvania losing one U.S. House district. The 48 candidates who ran this year were the lowest number of candidates running for Pennsylvania's U.S. House seats since 2016, when a total of 44 candidates filed.

Two seats — the 12th and the 17th — were open, meaning no incumbents filed to run. That’s two more than in 2020, when there were no open seats. There were seven open seats in 2018, two in both 2016 and 2014, and no open seats in 2012.

Rep. Fred Keller (R), who represented the 12th district, retired, and Rep. Conor Lamb (D), who represented the 17th district, ran for the U.S. Senate. Six candidates — one Republican and five Democrats — ran in the 12th district, the most running for one seat this year. Five candidates — three Republicans and two Democrats — ran in the 17th district.

There were five contested Democratic primaries this year, the lowest number since 2016. There were six contested Republican primaries, one more than in 2020, but two less than in 2018.

There were 13 districts where incumbents did not face primary challengers. One district — the 3rd — was guaranteed to Democrats because no Republicans filed. Two districts — the 13th and the 14th — were guaranteed to Republicans because no Democrats filed.

Presidential elections

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2022 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+2. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 2 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Pennsylvania's 7th the 211th most Republican district nationally.^[14]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Pennsylvania's 7th based on 2022 district lines
Joe Biden	Donald Trump
49.7%	49.1%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Pennsylvania, 2020

Pennsylvania presidential election results (1900-2020)

14 Democratic wins
16 Republican wins
1 other win

Year	1900	1904	1908	1912	1916	1920	1924	1928	1932	1936	1940	1944	1948	1952	1956	1960	1964	1968	1972	1976	1980	1984	1988	1992	1996	2000	2004	2008	2012	2016	2020
Winning Party	R	R	R	P^[15]	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	R	R	R	D	D	D	R	D	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	D

Demographics

The table below details demographic data in Pennsylvania and compares it to the broader United States as of 2019.

Demographic Data for Pennsylvania
	Pennsylvania	United States
Population	12,702,379	308,745,538
Land area (sq mi)	44,742	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White	80.5%	72.5%
Black/African American	11.2%	12.7%
Asian	3.4%	5.5%
Native American	0.2%	0.8%
Pacific Islander	0%	0.2%
Other (single race)	2.2%	4.9%
Multiple	2.5%	3.3%
Hispanic/Latino	7.3%	18%
Education
High school graduation rate	90.5%	88%
College graduation rate	31.4%	32.1%
Income
Median household income	$61,744	$62,843
Persons below poverty level	12.4%	13.4%
Source: population provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "Decennial Census" (2010). Other figures provided by U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2014-2019).
**Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

State party control

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Pennsylvania's congressional delegation as of November 2022.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Pennsylvania, November 2022
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	1	9	10
Republican	1	9	10
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	18	20

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Pennsylvania's top four state executive offices as of November 2022.

State executive officials in Pennsylvania, November 2022
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Tom Wolf
Lieutenant Governor	John Fetterman
Secretary of State	Leigh Chapman
Attorney General	Josh Shapiro

State legislature

The tables below highlight the partisan composition of the Pennsylvania General Assembly as of November 2022.

Pennsylvania State Senate

Party		As of November 2022
	Democratic Party	21
	Republican Party	28
	Independent	1
	Vacancies	0
Total		50

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Party		As of November 2022
	Democratic Party	88
	Republican Party	113
	Vacancies	2
Total		203

Trifecta control

As of November 2022, Pennsylvania was a divided government, with Democrats controlling the governorship and Republican majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. The table below displays the historical trifecta status of the state.

Pennsylvania Party Control: 1992-2022
One year of a Democratic trifecta • Twelve years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22
Governor	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D
Senate	R	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

District history