By Anthony Hennen | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Though many uncounted votes remained, Democrat Josh Shapiro is expected to become Pennsylvania’s next governor.
By 10:30 pm, Fox News called Shapiro the winner over Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Chambersburg. NBC News followed just before 11 p.m., when 64% of the vote was in and Shapiro had a lead of 55% to 43%.
Shapiro ran a campaign positioning himself as the moderate choice against an “extreme” Mastriano, and avoided tacking down on progressive arguments.
He made overtures toward supporting school choice, spoke of cutting taxes and eliminating bureaucratic red tape, and promised to support the police and increase funding.
Unlike current Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who is term-limited, Shapiro had “reservations” about joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which would add a carbon tax for natural gas and coal production.
Shapiro’s victory keeps Pennsylvania’s governor seat under Democratic control through 2026; the last time a Republican governor served in the state was Tom Corbett, whose term ended in 2015. The General Assembly remains under Republican control.
However, other races are too early to call.
The U.S. Senate race between Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz, as The Center Square previously reported, may not be decided for days.
In the U.S. House, Pennsylvania’s 7th District between incumbent Democrat Susan Wild and Republican Lisa Scheller is also too close to call. That race is a rematch of 2020, as The Center Square previously reported, and one of the most expensive campaigns in the country.
As of 11:20 pm, with 78% of the expected vote reported, Wild held a 51% to 49% lead over Scheller. The 7th District includes Carbon, Lehigh and Northampton counties in the state’s northeast, and also includes parts of Monroe County.