Elections in Pennsylvania elect the five state-level offices, thePennsylvania General Assembly, including thesenate andhouse of representatives, as well as the state's congressional delegation for theUnited States Senate and theUnited States House of Representatives.Presidential elections are held every four years inPennsylvania. Considered aswing state, it is one of the most competitive nationally, with narrow victories that alternate between the parties across all major offices. On the presidential level, the state has voted for the nationwide loser on only 10 occasions (1824, 1884, 1892, 1912, 1916, 1932, 1948, 1968, 2000, and 2004), meaning it has voted for the national winner 83% of the time, as of 2020.
In a 2020 study, Pennsylvania was ranked by theElection Law Journal as the 19th hardest state for citizens to vote in, based on registration and identification requirements, and convenience provisions.[1]
Pennsylvania's congressional delegation is composed of nine Democrats and eight Republicans, since the2022 elections.
The five most recent House elections:
Below is a table of Pennsylvania's majority vote in the last twelve presidential elections, alongside the national electoral college results. On the presidential level, the state has voted for the nationwide loser on only 10 occasions – 1824, 1884, 1892, 1912, 1916, 1932, 1948, 1968, 2000, and 2004 – meaning it has voted for the national winner 83% of the time, as of 2020. Beginning with the1992 election, the state has leaned Democratic, voting that way in seven of the nine elections from that year, though mostly by margins under 10 points.
| Vote in Pennsylvania | National vote | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Candidate | Year | Candidate |
| 1980 | Ronald Reagan | 1980 | Ronald Reagan |
| 1984 | Ronald Reagan | 1984 | Ronald Reagan |
| 1988 | George H. W. Bush | 1988 | George H. W. Bush |
| 1992 | Bill Clinton | 1992 | Bill Clinton |
| 1996 | Bill Clinton | 1996 | Bill Clinton |
| 2000 | Al Gore | 2000 | George W. Bush |
| 2004 | John Kerry | 2004 | George W. Bush |
| 2008 | Barack Obama | 2008 | Barack Obama |
| 2012 | Barack Obama | 2012 | Barack Obama |
| 2016 | Donald Trump | 2016 | Donald Trump |
| 2020 | Joe Biden | 2020 | Joe Biden |
| 2024 | Donald Trump | 2024 | Donald Trump |
The five most recent elections:
The five most recent elections:
Republican SenatorDave McCormick entered office in 2025 after defeatingBob Casey Jr in the2024 election. Democratic senatorJohn Fetterman entered office in January 2023, succeeding RepublicanPat Toomey who retired after two terms.
| Year | Democratic | Republican |
|---|---|---|
| 1950 | 48.3%1,710,355 | 50.7%1,796,119 |
| 1954 | 53.7%1,996,266 | 46.2%1,717,070 |
| 1958 | 50.8%2,024,852 | 48.9%1,948,769 |
| 1962 | 44.3%1,938,627 | 55.3%2,424,918 |
| 1966 | 46.1%1,868,719 | 52.1%2,110,349 |
| 1970 | 55.2%2,043,029 | 41.7%1,542,854 |
| 1974 | 53.7%1,878,252 | 45.1%1,578,917 |
| 1978 | 46.4%1,737,888 | 52.5%1,996,042 |
| 1982 | 48.1%1,772,353 | 50.8%1,872,784 |
| 1986 | 50.4%1,717,484 | 48.4%1,638,268 |
| 1990 | 67.7%2,065,244 | 32.4%987,516 |
| 1994 | 39.9%1,430,099 | 45.4%1,627,976 |
| 1998 | 31.0%938,745 | 57.4%1,736,844 |
| 2002 | 53.4%1,913,235 | 44.4%1,589,408 |
| 2006 | 60.3%2,470,517 | 39.6%1,622,135 |
| 2010 | 45.5%1,814,788 | 54.5%2,172,763 |
| 2014 | 54.9%1,920,355 | 45.1%1,575,511 |
| 2018 | 57.8%2,850,210 | 40.7%2,015,266 |
| 2022 | 56.5%3,031,137 | 41.7%2,238,477 |
The ten most recent elections:
Democrats and Republicans have alternated in the governorship of Pennsylvania every eight years from 1950 to 2010.[3] This has been referred to as "the cycle",[4][5] but it was broken with a Democratic Party win in 2014. Pennsylvania has also voted against the party of the sitting president in 19 of the last 21 gubernatorial contests dating back to 1938; Democrats lost 16 of the previous 18 Pennsylvania gubernatorial races with a Democratic president in the White House, a pattern begun in 1860.[6]
ThePennsylvania General Assembly is abicameral legislature, consisting of thePennsylvania State Senate (the upper house) and thePennsylvania House of Representatives (lower house). Members of the state house serve for 2 year terms, while the term for the state senate is 4 years. There are no limits on the amount of terms that members of the state legislature can serve. Republicans controlled the state House for all but four years from 1995 until 2023, and they have controlled the state Senate uninterrupted since 1993.
The five most recent elections:
The five most recent elections:
State legislation related to the administration of elections introduced in 2011 through this year, 2020
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