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United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 2018
- General election: Nov. 6
- Voter registration deadline: Oct. 9
- Early voting: N/A
- Absentee voting deadline: Nov. 2
- Online registration: Yes
- Same-day registration: No
- Voter ID: No
- Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
The 2018 U.S. House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania took place on November 6, 2018. Voters elected 18 candidates to serve in the U.S. House, one from each of the state's 18 congressional districts.
Partisan breakdown
Heading into the November 6 election, the Republican Party held 10 of the 18 congressional seats from Pennsylvania.
| Members of the U.S. House from Pennsylvania -- Partisan Breakdown | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Party | As of November 2018 | After the 2018 Election | |
| Democratic Party | 6 | 9 | |
| Republican Party | 10 | 9 | |
| Vacancies | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 18 | 18 | |
Incumbents
Heading into the 2018 election, the incumbents for the 18 congressional districts were:
| Name | Party | District |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Brady |  Democratic |
1 |
| Dwight Evans | Democratic |
2 |
| Mike Kelly |  Republican |
3 |
| Scott Perry | Republican |
4 |
| Glenn Thompson | Republican |
5 |
| Ryan Costello | Republican |
6 |
| Vacant | 7 | |
| Brian Fitzpatrick | Republican |
8 |
| Bill Shuster | Republican |
9 |
| Tom Marino | Republican |
10 |
| Lou Barletta | Republican |
11 |
| Keith Rothfus | Republican |
12 |
| Brendan Boyle | Democratic |
13 |
| Michael Doyle | Democratic |
14 |
| Vacant | 15 | |
| Lloyd Smucker | Republican |
16 |
| Matt Cartwright | Democratic |
17 |
| Conor Lamb | Democratic |
18 |
2016 Pivot Counties
Pennsylvania features five congressional districts that, based on boundaries adopted after the 2010 census, intersected with one or more Pivot Counties. These 206 Pivot Counties voted for Donald Trump (R) in 2016 after voting for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012.
The 206 Pivot Counties are located in 34 states. Iowa, with 31, had the most such counties. Heading into the 2018 elections, the partisan makeup of the 108 congressional districts intersecting with Pivot Counties was more Republican than the partisan breakdown of the U.S. House. Of the 108 congressional districts that had at least one Pivot County, 63 percent were held by a Republican incumbent, while 55.4 percent of U.S. House seats were won by a Republican in the 2016 elections.[1]
Candidates
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Not sure which district you're in? Find out here.
District 1
General election candidates
- Brian Fitzpatrick (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Scott Wallace (Democratic Party)
Did not make the ballot:
- Steve Scheetz (Libertarian Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
- Brian Fitzpatrick (Incumbent) ✔
- Dean Malik
District 2
General election
General election candidates
- Brendan Boyle (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- David Torres (Republican Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
- Brendan Boyle (Incumbent) ✔
- Michele Lawrence
Republican primary candidates
District 3
General election
General election candidates
- Dwight Evans (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Bryan Leib (Republican Party)
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
- Dwight Evans (Incumbent) ✔
- Kevin Johnson
Republican primary candidates
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
District 4
General election
General election candidates
- Madeleine Dean (Democratic Party) ✔
- Dan David (Republican Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
Republican primary candidates
District 5
General election
General election candidates
- Mary Gay Scanlon (Democratic Party) ✔
- Pearl Kim (Republican Party)
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
- Larry Arata
- Margo Davidson
- Thaddeus Kirkland
- Richard Lazer
- Lindy Li
- Ashley Lunkenheimer
- Mary Gay Scanlon ✔
- Molly Sheehan
- Gregory Vitali
- Theresa Wright
Did not make the ballot:
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Republican primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
District 6
General election
General election candidates
- Chrissy Houlahan (Democratic Party) ✔
- Greg McCauley (Republican Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
District 7
General election
General election candidates
- Susan Wild (Democratic Party) ✔
- Marty Nothstein (Republican Party)
- Tim Silfies (Libertarian Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
District 8
General election
General election candidates
- Matt Cartwright (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- John Chrin (Republican Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
- Matt Cartwright (Incumbent) ✔
Republican primary candidates
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
District 9
General election
General election candidates
- Denny Wolff (Democratic Party)
- Dan Meuser (Republican Party) ✔
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Republican primary candidates
District 10
General election
General election candidates
- Scott Perry (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- George Scott (Democratic Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Did not make the ballot:
Republican primary candidates
- Scott Perry (Incumbent) ✔
District 11
General election
General election candidates
- Lloyd Smucker (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Jessica King (Democratic Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
- Lloyd Smucker (Incumbent) ✔
- Chester Beiler
District 12
General election
General election candidates
- Tom Marino (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Marc Friedenberg (Democratic Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
- Tom Marino (Incumbent) ✔
- Doug McLinko
District 13
General election
General election candidates
- Brent Ottaway (Democratic Party)
- John Joyce (Republican Party) ✔
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
- Stephen Bloom
- John Eichelberger
- Art Halvorson
- Benjamin Hornberger
- John Joyce ✔
- Doug Mastriano
- Travis Schooley
- Bernard Washabaugh II
District 14
General election
General election candidates
- Bibiana Boerio (Democratic Party)
- Guy Reschenthaler (Republican Party) ✔
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Republican primary candidates
District 15
General election
General election candidates
- Glenn Thompson (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Susan Boser (Democratic Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
- Glenn Thompson (Incumbent) ✔
District 16
General election
General election candidates
- Mike Kelly (Incumbent) (Republican Party) ✔
- Ronald DiNicola (Democratic Party)
- Ebert Beeman (Libertarian Party)
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
Republican primary candidates
- Mike Kelly (Incumbent) ✔
= candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey
District 17
General election
General election candidates
- Conor Lamb (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Keith Rothfus (Incumbent) (Republican Party)
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
- Conor Lamb (Incumbent) ✔
Did not make the ballot:
Republican primary candidates
- Keith Rothfus (Incumbent) ✔
District 18
General election
General election candidates
- Michael Doyle (Incumbent) (Democratic Party) ✔
- Write-in candidates
Primary candidates
Democratic primary candidates
- Michael Doyle (Incumbent) ✔
- Janis Brooks
There are no official candidates yet for this election.
Wave election analysis
- See also: Wave elections (1918-2016)
The term wave election is frequently used to describe an election cycle in which one party makes significant electoral gains. How many seats would Republicans have had to lose for the 2018 midterm election to be considered a wave election?
Ballotpedia examined the results of the 50 election cycles that occurred between 1918 and 2016—spanning from President Woodrow Wilson's (D) second midterm in 1918 to Donald Trump's (R) first presidential election in 2016. We define wave elections as the 20 percent of elections in that period resulting in the greatest seat swings against the president's party.
Applying this definition to U.S. House elections, we found that Republicans needed to lose 48 seats for 2018 to qualify as a wave election.
The chart below shows the number of seats the president's party lost in the 11 U.S. House waves from 1918 to 2016. Click here to read the full report.
| U.S. House wave elections | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | President | Party | Election type | House seats change | House majority[2] | |
| 1932 | Hoover | R | Presidential | -97 | D | |
| 1922 | Harding | R | First midterm | -76 | R | |
| 1938 | Roosevelt | D | Second midterm | -70 | D | |
| 2010 | Obama | D | First midterm | -63 | R (flipped) | |
| 1920 | Wilson | D | Presidential | -59 | R | |
| 1946 | Truman | D | First midterm | -54 | R (flipped) | |
| 1994 | Clinton | D | First midterm | -54 | R (flipped) | |
| 1930 | Hoover | R | First midterm | -53 | D (flipped) | |
| 1942 | Roosevelt | D | Third midterm | -50 | D | |
| 1966 | Johnson | D | First midterm[3] | -48 | D | |
| 1974 | Ford | R | Second midterm[4] | -48 | D | |
See also
- United States House of Representatives elections, 2018
- U.S. House battlegrounds, 2018
- U.S. House primaries, 2018
Footnotes
- ↑ The raw data for this study was provided by Dave Leip of Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections.
- ↑ Denotes the party that had more seats in the U.S. House following the election.
- ↑ Lyndon Johnson's (D) first term began in November 1963 after the death of President John F. Kennedy (D), who was first elected in 1960. Before Johnson had his first midterm in 1966, he was re-elected president in 1964.
- ↑ Gerald Ford's (R) first term began in August 1974 following the resignation of President Richard Nixon (R), who was first elected in 1968 and was re-elected in 1972. Because Ford only served for two full months before facing the electorate, this election is classified as Nixon's second midterm.
