Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District election, 2026

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Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: Pending
Primary: Pending General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in Pennsylvania
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th • 8th • 9th • 10th • 11th • 12th • 13th • 14th • 15th • 16th • 17th Pennsylvania elections, 2026 U.S. Congress elections, 2026 U.S. Senate elections, 2026 U.S. House elections, 2026 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House raceArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House raceFlorida 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 raceOhio 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 raceTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House raceVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House raceSubmit

All U.S. House districts, including the 12th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, are holding elections in 2026. The general election is November 3, 2026. To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12

Adam Forgie and James Hayes are running in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Adam Forgie (D)
		James Hayes (R)

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	There are no incumbents in this race.
= 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.
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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.

Adam Forgie

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography:  "Three term mayor of Turtle Creek, Pa, 24 year public school US History teacher, Veteran of the Army Reserves, Volunteer Firefighter, Father of two, and former six year teacher union president. Dedicated 30 year public servant who wants to bring that passion to serving Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District. His extensive experience as a mayor, public school teacher, U.S. Army Reservist, volunteer firefighter, and teacher's union president reflects his deep commitment to the community and its people."

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Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

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What is most concerning is the massive fissure that exists in the Democratic party right here in Western Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional district. Our current representative has become a firebrand and divisive legislator who represents only the extreme far-left socialist agenda. As a lifelong left-of-center, moderate Democrat, I am tired of being labeled a liberal, or socialist because of the current progressive movement. Their damaging agenda has stolen our party and chased many voters to the Republican party. We need to bring those votes back to the party and fill the 12th-district seat with a representative who will represent everyone, both Democrats and Republicans.

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Due to my 29 years of public service, I believe I am highly qualified to serve you all as your congressman and voice in D.C. My service as a three-term mayor of Turtle Creek Borough, volunteer firefighter, 24 year public school teacher, soldier in the US Army Reserves post 9-11, a six-year teacher’s union president, lifelong resident of western Pennsylvania are all testament of my devotion to the public. It is evidence of my patriotism, character, integrity, devotion, and tolerance. I am campaigning for my family, my friends, my neighbors, my students, my hometown, my party, my Republican friends, the black n gold, and my country. This effort is, “For all of US!”

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Ensure that federal funding is brought to the Mon Valley, Allegheny County, and parts of Westmoreland County that would improve public transit, job creation, and manufacturing.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Pennsylvania

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

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. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

Click on a candidate's name to visit their Ballotpedia page.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Expand all | Collapse all

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Adam Forgie (D)

What is most concerning is the massive fissure that exists in the Democratic party right here in Western Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional district. Our current representative has become a firebrand and divisive legislator who represents only the extreme far-left socialist agenda. As a lifelong left-of-center, moderate Democrat, I am tired of being labeled a liberal, or socialist because of the current progressive movement. Their damaging agenda has stolen our party and chased many voters to the Republican party. We need to bring those votes back to the party and fill the 12th-district seat with a representative who will represent everyone, both Democrats and Republicans.

Due to my 29 years of public service, I believe I am highly qualified to serve you all as your congressman and voice in D.C. My service as a three-term mayor of Turtle Creek Borough, volunteer firefighter, 24 year public school teacher, soldier in the US Army Reserves post 9-11, a six-year teacher’s union president, lifelong resident of western Pennsylvania are all testament of my devotion to the public. It is evidence of my patriotism, character, integrity, devotion, and tolerance. I am campaigning for my family, my friends, my neighbors, my students, my hometown, my party, my Republican friends, the black n gold, and my country. This effort is, “For all of US!”

Ensure that federal funding is brought to the Mon Valley, Allegheny County, and parts of Westmoreland County that would improve public transit, job creation, and manufacturing.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Adam Forgie (D)

Ensure that federal funding is brought to the Mon Valley, Allegheny County, and parts of Westmoreland County that would improve public transit, job creation, and manufacturing.

Strongly support our military with the necessary funding, technology/research, diplomacy, expansion of benefits, and overdue pay raises.

Raise funding to our city and local police departments while providing accountability and transparency legislation.

Support and improve upon our immigration laws and processes while continuing to deport illegal immigrant criminals, and explore the constitutionality of sanctuary cities.

Support and fund Israel’s and Ukraine’s right to defend their sovereignty and borders.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Adam Forgie (D)

President Lincoln: His political genius is unmatched and unwavering. His commitment to our nation was invaluable during our most divisive times. He endured major trauma is his personal life but stayed focused on the goal of restoring our union that would eventually take his life due to his leadership.

The Constitution says that all bills for raising revenue must originate in the House. What role would this power play in your priorities if elected?

Adam Forgie (D)

Representatives have a responsibility to their constituents who have entrusted them to lead. They must also be willing to explore ideas and compromise that may be against their own personal belief. They must be held accountable when their own personal agenda supersedes the needs of the nation as a whole.

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Adam Forgie	Democratic Party	$11,386	$6,485	$3,731	As of June 30, 2025
James Hayes	Republican Party	$3,410	$416	$3,679	As of June 30, 2025
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. 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.
• 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 12th Congressional District election, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	9/2/2025	8/26/2025	8/19/2025	8/12/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic
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

This section will contain information on ballot access related to this state's elections when it is available.

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.

2024

See also: Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District election, 2024

Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District election, 2024 (April 23 Democratic primary)

Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District election, 2024 (April 23 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12

Incumbent Summer Lee defeated James Hayes in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Summer Lee (D)	56.2	234,802
		James Hayes (R)	43.5	181,426
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	1,280

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 417,508
= 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 12

Incumbent Summer Lee defeated Bhavini Patel in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12 on April 23, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Summer Lee	60.4	64,594
		Bhavini Patel	39.2	41,902
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	415

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 106,911
= 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

• Laurie MacDonald (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12

James Hayes defeated Paul Bryant in the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12 on April 23, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		James Hayes	98.5	34,759
		Paul Bryant (Write-in)	0.0	0
		Other/Write-in votes	1.5	543

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 35,302
= 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

• Laurie MacDonald (R)

2022

See also: Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12

Summer Lee defeated Michael Doyle in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Summer Lee (D)	56.2	184,674
		Michael Doyle (R)	43.8	143,946

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 328,620
= 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

• Donald Nevills (R)
• Stephanie Fox (D)
• Jake Webster (D)
• Bhavini Patel (D)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12

Summer Lee defeated Steve Irwin, Jerry Dickinson, Jeff Woodard, and William Parker in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Summer Lee	41.9	48,002
		Steve Irwin	41.0	47,014
		Jerry Dickinson	10.9	12,440
		Jeff Woodard	4.8	5,454
		William Parker	1.5	1,670

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 114,580
= 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 12

Michael Doyle advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Michael Doyle	100.0	39,531

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 39,531
= 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.

2020

See also: Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12

Incumbent Fred Keller defeated Lee Griffin and Elizabeth Terwilliger in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Fred Keller (R)	70.8	241,035
		Lee Griffin (D)	29.2	99,199
		Elizabeth Terwilliger (L) (Write-in)	0.0	0

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 340,234
= 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 12

Lee Griffin advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Lee Griffin	100.0	41,313

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,313
= 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 12

Incumbent Fred Keller advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 12 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Fred Keller	100.0	87,886

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 87,886
= 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.

District analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this district's elections when those are available.

See also

Pennsylvania	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
Pennsylvania congressional delegation Voting in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania elections: 2026 • 2025 • 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)

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