Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2024

2026 → ← 2022
Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District
Democratic primary Republican primary General election
Election details
Filing deadline: February 13, 2024
Primary: April 23, 2024 General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Pennsylvania
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Toss-up DDHQ and The Hill: Lean Democratic Inside Elections: Tilt Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Lean Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2024
See also
Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th Pennsylvania elections, 2024 U.S. Congress elections, 2024 U.S. Senate elections, 2024 U.S. House elections, 2024 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

Rob Bresnahan Jr. (R) defeated incumbent Matt Cartwright (D) in the general election for Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District on November 5, 2024. Neither candidate faced a primary challenger. Cartwright was one of 15 incumbents who lost their re-election campaigns to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2024. Additionally, this was one of 19 seats that changed partisan control due to the 2024 U.S. House of Representatives elections.

Cartwright was first elected to the U.S. House in 2012, defeating incumbent Tim Holden in the Democratic primary. In 2020 and 2022, Cartwright defeated Jim Bognet (R) — winning 51.8%-48.2% and 51.2%-48.8%, respectively.

WVIA’s Borys Krawczeniuk said before the election, "The 8th Congressional District race is expected to be one of the most expensive and hotly contested in the country." As of October 30, 2024, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Larry J. Sabato’s Crystal Ball rated the race a Toss-up. Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rated the race Tilt Democratic and Decision Desk HQ and The Hill rated it Lean Democratic. Former President Donald Trump (R) won the district in 2016 and 2020. Cartwright was one of eight Democrats who represented districts that voted for Donald Trump in 2020.

PoliticsPA called Cartwright the state's most vulnerable congressional incumbent in 2024. PolitiFact's Louis Jacobson wrote before the election, "Republicans and Democrats agree that [Bresnahan] is a strong recruit and, as a political newcomer, doesn’t have a voting record that can be mined by the Cartwright campaign."

Cartwright raised $8.6 million and spent $8.5 million, and Bresnahan raised $4.5 million and spent $4.4 million. To review all the campaign finance figures in full detail, click here. Previous Cartwright-challenger Jim Bognet raised $3.0 million over the entire 2022 election cycle.

Cartwright earned a bachelor’s degree from Hamilton College and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He worked as an attorney before entering politics.

Bresnahan earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Scranton. He joined his grandfather’s electrical contracting company as chief financial officer and then became chief executive officer after graduation.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R), House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R), and Rep. Burgess Owens (R) each visited Pennsylvania to campaign for Bresnahan. Cartwright said, "Mike Johnson wants to cut Medicare and Social Security by $3 trillion," adding, "He wants to raise the retirement age again. My opponent is thrilled to have him here and that tells you a lot." Bresnahan wrote in Broad + Liberty, "Unfortunately, the issue of cutting these benefits has become a political football brought up every election cycle… I want my position to be clear. I am committed to strengthening and protecting Social Security and Medicare into the future, but cutting benefits or raising the retirement age is a non-starter with me."

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) supported the Cartwright campaign through their Frontline program for vulnerable incumbents. To read more about the DCCC's Frontline program, click here.

Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District was one of 37 congressional districts with a Democratic incumbent or an open seat that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) targeted in 2024. To read about NRCC targeting initiatives, click here. For a complete list of NRCC targeted districts, click here.

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

• Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (April 23 Democratic primary)
• Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2024 (April 23 Republican primary)

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Rob Bresnahan Jr. defeated incumbent Matt Cartwright in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rob Bresnahan Jr. (R)	50.7	195,663
		Matt Cartwright (D)	49.1	189,411
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	654

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 385,728
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on April 23, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright	98.9	58,573
		Other/Write-in votes	1.1	632

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 59,205
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Rob Bresnahan Jr. advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on April 23, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Rob Bresnahan Jr.	99.0	42,365
		Other/Write-in votes	1.0	419

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 42,784
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Pennsylvania

Election information in Pennsylvania: Nov. 5, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

• In-person: Oct. 21, 2024
• By mail: Received by Oct. 21, 2024
• Online: Oct. 21, 2024

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

Yes

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

• In-person: Oct. 29, 2024
• By mail: Received by Oct. 29, 2024
• Online: Oct. 29, 2024

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

• In-person: Nov. 5, 2024
• By mail: Received by Nov. 5, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What were the early voting start and end dates?

Varies to Oct. 29, 2024

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (EST)

Candidate comparison

Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Matt Cartwright

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: Yes

Political Office: 

• U.S. House of Representatives, District 8 (Assumed office: 2019)

• U.S. House of Representatives, District 17 (2013-2019)

Biography:  Cartwright earned a bachelor's degree from Hamilton College and a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. Before his election to the U.S. House, Cartwright worked as an attorney at Montgomery, McCracken, Walker & Rhoads, LLP and Munley, Munley & Cartwright, PC and as an on-air legal analyst with Nexstar Broadcasting Group.

---

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

---

Cartwright’s campaign website stated, “His top priority is easing the burden on working families in our community,” and added that Cartwright “supports cutting taxes for working people, while asking the rich to pay their fair share” and has been "a staunch advocate for raising the minimum wage and supporting collective bargaining, to give northeastern Pennsylvanians a long-overdue raise."

---

Cartwright's campaign website said, “Matt is committed to fighting for women’s health and freedom." Cartwright disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade and said he “will continue to advocate for expanded access to family planning and IVF, so women across all states can make their own reproductive decisions.”

---

Cartwright's campaign website said, “One of the reasons Matt first ran for office was to protect and expand affordable healthcare for all northeastern Pennsylvanians." Cartwright said he helped pass the Inflation Reduction Act and that it “brought down insurance premiums, capped insulin copays at $35 and limited out-of-pocket costs for seniors on Medicare.”

---

Show sources

Sources: Matt Cartwright 2024 campaign website, “Priorities,” accessed August 6, 2024; Linkedin, "Matt Cartwright," accessed August 6, 2024

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 in 2024.

Rob Bresnahan Jr.

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Biography:  Bresnahan earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Scranton. He was CFO then CEO of Kuharchik Construction, his grandfather’s electrical contracting company. He founded RPB Ventures to invest in downtown Pittston.

---

Key Messages

The following key messages were curated by Ballotpedia staff. For more on how we identify key messages, click here.

---

On the border, Bresnahan said, “Our borders are wide open” and “Fentanyl is literally killing our families.”

---

Bresnahan said he would aim to end inflation: "We’re spending too much on things we don’t need and sending billions overseas while people in Northeastern Pennsylvania struggle to put food on their tables.”

---

Bresnahan’s campaign website called him “uniquely qualified to send a jolt of energy through Congress and deliver results for everyone here in Northeastern Pennsylvania.”

---

Show sources

Sources: Rob Bresnahan 2024 campaign website, “Meet Rob Bresnahan,” accessed August 7, 2024; YouTube, “Rob Bresnahan for Congress (PA-08),” December 8, 2023; Rob Bresnahan 2024 campaign website, “Meet Rob Bresnahan,” accessed August 7, 2024; Sunday Dispatch, “Bresnahan invests in Pittston,” January 15, 2022

This information was current as of the candidate's run for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 in 2024.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign ads

This section includes a selection of up to three campaign advertisements per candidate released in this race, as well as links to candidates' YouTube, Vimeo, and/or Facebook video pages. If you are aware of other links that should be included, please email us.

Matt Cartwright

View more ads here:

• Facebook
• Twitter

Rob Bresnahan Jr.

August 7, 2024

July 25, 2024

December 8, 2023

View more ads here:

• YouTube
• Facebook
• Twitter

Election competitiveness

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, when available. No polls were available for this election. To notify us of polls published in this election, please email us.

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.
• 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.

Race ratings: Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2024
Race tracker	Race ratings
	November 5, 2024	October 29, 2024	October 22, 2024	October 15, 2024
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up	Toss-up
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic	Lean Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Tilt Democratic	Tilt Democratic	Tilt Democratic	Tilt Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Lean Democratic	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.

Endorsements

See also: Ballotpedia: Our approach to covering endorsements

Click the links below to see official endorsement lists published on candidate campaign websites for any candidates that make that information available. If you are aware of a website that should be included, please email us.

• Rob Bresnahan Jr.

Election spending

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Matt Cartwright	Democratic Party	$8,650,658	$8,614,503	$88,775	As of December 31, 2024
Rob Bresnahan Jr.	Republican Party	$4,540,166	$4,487,014	$53,152	As of December 31, 2024
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. 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.

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

By candidate	By election
Matt Cartwright Rob Bresnahan Jr.	OpenSecrets Federal Election Commission

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 in place for the election.
• Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
• Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
• State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.

• District map
• Competitiveness
• Presidential elections
• State party control

Below was the map in use at the time of the election. Click the map below to enlarge it.

See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

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

Pennsylvania U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Office	Districts/ offices	Seats	Open seats	Candidates	Possible primaries	Contested Democratic primaries	Contested Republican primaries	% of contested primaries	Incumbents in contested primaries	% of incumbents in contested primaries
2024	17	17	0	45	34	4	2	17.6%	3	17.6%
2022	17	17	2	48	34	5	6	32.4%	2	13.3%
2020	18	18	0	51	36	6	5	30.6%	2	11.1%
2018	18	18	7	84	36	13	8	58.3%	6	54.5%
2016	18	18	2	44	36	4	5	25.0%	4	25.0%
2014	18	18	2	46	36	6	3	25.0%	2	12.5%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Pennsylvania in 2024. Information below was calculated on April 7, 2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Forty-five candidates ran for Pennsylvania’s 17 U.S. House districts, including 25 Democrats and 20 Republicans. That’s 2.65 candidates per district, less than in the previous three election cycles. There were 2.82 candidates per district in 2022, 2.83 candidates per district in 2020, and 4.66 in 2018.

No districts were open in 2024, meaning all incumbents ran for re-election.

Seven candidates ran for the 10th Congressional District, the most candidates that ran for a district in 2024. The candidates included Republican incumbent Scott Perry and six Democrats.

Seven primaries—four Democratic and three Republican—were contested in 2024, the fewest this decade.

Three incumbents—two Democrats and one Republican—were in contested primaries. That’s higher than in 2022 and 2020 when two incumbents faced challengers, respectively.

The 3rd Congressional District was guaranteed to Democrats because no Republicans filed to run.

Partisan Voter Index

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

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+4. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 4 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Pennsylvania's 8th the 197th most Republican district nationally.

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 8th based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden	Donald Trump
48.0%	50.9%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district. The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline	Republican Baseline	Difference
50.5	46.6	D+3.9

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	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

See also: Party control of Pennsylvania state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Pennsylvania's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Pennsylvania
Party	U.S. Senate	U.S. House	Total
Democratic	1	7	8
Republican	1	10	11
Independent	0	0	0
Vacancies	0	0	0
Total	2	17	19

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Pennsylvania's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Pennsylvania, May 2024
Office	Officeholder
Governor	Josh Shapiro
Lieutenant Governor	Austin Davis
Secretary of State	Al Schmidt
Attorney General	Michelle Henry

State legislature

Pennsylvania State Senate

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	22
	Republican Party	28
	Independent	0
	Other	0
	Vacancies	0
Total		50

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Party		As of February 2024
	Democratic Party	101
	Republican Party	100
	Other	0
	Vacancies	2
Total		203

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Pennsylvania Party Control: 1992-2024
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	23	24
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	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	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	D	D

Election context

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Pennsylvania in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Pennsylvania, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
Pennsylvania	U.S. House	Ballot-qualified party	1,000	$150.00	2/13/2024	Source
Pennsylvania	U.S. House	Unaffiliated	2% of votes cast in the district in the last election	$150.00	8/1/2024	Source

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2018.

2022

See also: Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright defeated Jim Bognet in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright (D)	51.2	146,956
		Jim Bognet (R)	48.8	139,930

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 286,886
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright	100.0	68,696

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 68,696
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Brian Kelly (D)
• Jon Lanzaro-Fisher (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Jim Bognet defeated Mike Marsicano in the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Bognet	68.7	47,097
		Mike Marsicano	31.3	21,436

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 68,533
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Teddy Daniels (R)

2020

See also: Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright defeated Jim Bognet in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright (D)	51.8	178,004
		Jim Bognet (R)	48.2	165,783

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 343,787
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright	100.0	75,101

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 75,101
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jim Bognet	28.4	16,281
		Teddy Daniels	23.7	13,560
	Submit photo	Earl Granville	23.2	13,283
		Mike Marsicano	12.9	7,404
		Harry Haas	9.4	5,369
	Submit photo	Mikel Cammisa	2.4	1,367

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 57,264
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2018

Results of 2018 redistricting

On February 19, 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court adopted a new congressional district map after ruling that the original map constituted an illegal partisan gerrymander. District locations and numbers were changed by the new map. Candidates were listed under Pennsylvania’s new districts, which were used in the 2018 congressional elections. Click here for more information about the ruling.

The chart below compares this new district with the old district that was the most geographically similar to it.

Old district	Prior incumbent	Prior 2016 presidential result	New 2016 presidential result
17th District	Matt Cartwright (D)	R+10.1	R+9.5

Not sure which district you're in? Find out here.

Click the box below to see how the new congressional districts compare to the ones in place before the redrawing.

Changes in Pennsylvania's congressional districts
New district	Prior district	Prior 2016 presidential result	New 2016 presidential result	Prior incumbent
1st District	8th District	R+0.2	D+2.0	Brian Fitzpatrick (R)
2nd District	13th District	D+33.6	D+48.0	Brendan Boyle (D)
3rd District	2nd District	D+82.8	D+83.9	Dwight Evans (D)
4th District	13th District	D+33.6	D+19.4	None
5th District	7th District	D+2.3	D+28.2	Pat Meehan (R)
6th District	6th District	D+0.6	D+9.3	Ryan Costello (R)
7th District	15th District	R+7.6	D+1.1	Charlie Dent (R)
8th District	17th District	R+10.1	R+9.5	Matt Cartwright (D)
9th District	17th District	R+10.1	R+34.0	None
10th District	4th District	R+21.5	R+8.9	Scott Perry (R)
11th District	16th District	R+6.8	R+25.8	Lloyd Smucker (R)
12th District	10th District	R+36.0	R+36.5	Tom Marino (R)
13th District	9th District	R+42.5	R+45.5	Bill Shuster (R)
14th District	18th District	R+19.6	R+29.0	Conor Lamb (D)
15th District	5th District	R+28.8	R+43.4	Glenn Thompson (R)
16th District	3rd District	R+26.1	R+19.9	Mike Kelly (R)
17th District	12th District	R+20.8	R+2.5	Keith Rothfus (R)
18th District	14th District	D+35.5	D+26.8	Mike Doyle (D)
Source: Daily Kos

See also: Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright defeated John Chrin in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright (D)	54.6	135,603
		John Chrin (R)	45.4	112,563

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 248,166
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

Incumbent Matt Cartwright advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on May 15, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Matt Cartwright	100.0	36,189

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 36,189
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8

John Chrin defeated Joe Peters and Robert Kuniegel in the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 8 on May 15, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		John Chrin	48.5	15,221
		Joe Peters	34.9	10,951
		Robert Kuniegel	16.7	5,233

---

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 31,405
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic-held U.S. House district that Trump won

See also: U.S. House districts represented by a Democrat in 2024 and won by Donald Trump in 2020

This is one of eight U.S. House districts Democrats were defending that Donald Trump (R) won in 2020. The map below highlights those districts. Hover over or click a district to see information such as the incumbent and the presidential vote counts.

2024 battleground elections

See also: Battlegrounds

This was a battleground election. Other 2024 battleground elections included:

• Mayoral election in San Francisco, California (2024)
• North Carolina gubernatorial election, 2024
• Washington gubernatorial election, 2024

See also

Pennsylvania	2024 primaries	2024 U.S. Congress elections
Pennsylvania congressional delegation Voting in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania elections: 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

Pennsylvania's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Fetterman (D)

David McCormick (R)

Representatives

District 1

Brian Fitzpatrick (R)

District 2

Brendan Boyle (D)

District 3

Dwight Evans (D)

District 4

Madeleine Dean (D)

District 5

Mary Scanlon (D)

District 6

Chrissy Houlahan (D)

District 7

Ryan Mackenzie (R)

District 8

Rob Bresnahan (R)

District 9

Dan Meuser (R)

District 10

Scott Perry (R)

District 11

Lloyd Smucker (R)

District 12

Summer Lee (D)

District 13

John Joyce (R)

District 14

Guy Reschenthaler (R)

District 15

Glenn Thompson (R)

District 16

Mike Kelly (R)

District 17

Chris Deluzio (D)

Republican Party (11)

Democratic Party (8)

Ballotpedia

About

Overview • What people are saying • Support Ballotpedia • Contact • Contribute • Job opportunities

---

Executive: Leslie Graves, Founder and CEO • Gwen Beattie, Chief Operating Officer

Communications: Alison Graves, Director of Communications • Carley Allensworth • Abigail Campbell • Frank Festa • Sarah Groat • Nathaniel Harwood • Dillon Redmond
External Relations: Geoff Pallay, Director of External Relations • Ken Carbullido, Vice President of Election Product and Technology Strategy • Ashley Fleming • Thomas Mardik • Hannah Nelson
Operations: Meghann Olshefski, Director of Operations • Amanda Herbert • Mandy Morris • Caroline Presnell • Kelly Rindfleisch
Tech: Matt Latourelle, Director of Technology Operations • Ryan Burch • Kirsten Corrao • Beth Dellea • Travis Eden • Tate Kamish • Margaret Kearney • Eric Lotto • Joseph Sanchez • Mary Susmitha

Contributors: Scott Rasmussen

---

Editorial Content

Josh Altic, Director of Content • Daniel Anderson, Associate Director of Elections & Data • Cory Eucalitto, Associate Director of Features • Ryan Byrne, Managing Editor of Ballot Measures • Mandy McConnell, Managing Editor of News • Doug Kronaizl, Managing Editor of Local Expansion • Abbey Smith, Managing Editor of Elections • Janie Valentine, Managing Editor of Law • Joel Williams. Managing Editor of Events • Andrew Bahl • Jaclyn Beran • Marielle Bricker • Joseph Brusgard • Emma Burlingame • Kelly Coyle • Jon Dunn • Victoria Edwards • Thomas Ellis • Nicole Fisher • Joseph Greaney • Thomas Grobben • Brianna Hosea • Molly Kehoe • Tyler King • Glorie Martinez • Norm Leahy, Senior Editor • Nathan Maxwell • Jimmy McAllister • Brandon McCauley • Ellie Mikus • Ellen Morrissey • Mackenzie Murphy • Kaley Platek • Samantha Post • Adam Powell • Annelise Reinwald • Ethan Rice • Spencer Richardson • Victoria Rose • Briana Ryan • Myj Saintyl • Maddy Salucka • Emma Soukup • Alexis Thacker • Mina Vogel • Samuel Wonacott • Trenton Woodcox