The Republican primary in Pennsylvania turned out to be the expected nail-biter.
On Tuesday evening, all eyes were on the party's internal election campaign for the candidacy for the Senate election.
In the end, there were some things reminiscent of the 2020 presidential election: there were problems with counting the postal votes.
Rumors soon circulated that a recount would be necessary.
One of the most expensive election campaigns of this pre-election season went into overtime.
Majid Sattar
Political correspondent for North America based in Washington.
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When 83 percent of the Republican vote was counted, Dave McCormick addressed his supporters.
He will win, he said, but unfortunately tens of thousands of postal votes could only be counted on Wednesday.
Therefore, there will be no decision for the time being.
The former hedge fund manager had competed against Donald Trump-supported TV doctor Mehmet Oz.
In the closing stages of the campaign, a third candidate, African-American Kathy Barnette, joined the leadership duo by beating Trump-backed candidate "Dr.
Oz” overtook on the right.
On the evening of the election, when the result had not yet been determined, it was already apparent that Barnette had probably robbed Trump's favorite of the decisive votes for a clear election victory.
Why the gubernatorial election matters
Donald Trump, who only supports people in the "Primaries" who stand behind his "America First" movement, with his election recommendations has turned the primaries into referendums on his influence in the party.
He didn't shy away from the risk.
But when the push for “Dr.
Oz” didn’t materialize despite the former president’s campaign help, Trump secured himself.
A few days ago he made a recommendation for Doug Mastriano, who wants to become governor.
The colonel a.
D. sits in the Pennsylvania State Senate and represents a kind of religious nationalism in his party.
He was at the Trump rally in Washington on January 6, 2021, but was not among those who stormed the Capitol.
Though Mastriano is a staunch "America-first" Republican who would do almost anything to help Trump stay in office after the 2020 presidential election, the former president has long been reluctant to endorse Mastriano.
Only when it was indicated that his recommendation for “Dr.
Oz" could not give the desired result, Trump stood behind Mastriano - so to speak in order to be able to show at least one trophy in Pennsylvania in the end.
This calculation paid off.
Mastriano won the candidacy for governor.
The gubernatorial election in November is also important for the 2024 presidential election.
Unlike in many states, the governor in Pennsylvania appoints the "Secretary of State".
This is the chief electoral officer of the state, who oversees and organizes the election.
The fact that the Republicans are actually campaigning with Mastriano is an ambivalent matter for the Democrats.
On the one hand, it shows that, from their point of view, November is about defending democracy.
On the other hand, many Democrats think they have better chances against hardcore Trumpists.
Shapiro is running for Democrats in gubernatorial elections
It's been a nerve-racking few days in Pennsylvania for Democrats.
The internal party campaign was actually unspectacular.
There were clear favourites.
Josh Shapiro, the state Attorney General, who wants to replace his fellow party member Tom Wolf as governor in November, was not even challenged within the party.
Wolf is not allowed to run again after two terms.
After the 2020 presidential election, when Trump accused the Democrats, particularly in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, of committing electoral fraud, Shapiro defended himself against the voted-out president and was, so to speak, Wolf's natural crown prince.
Like the outgoing governor, Shapiro is also popular in the moderate conservative camp, particularly in the key Philadelphia suburbs.
So the choice of 48-year-old Shapiro was a formality.
He should be secretly happy about the election of Doug Mastriano as his opponent.
Shapiro is going into the election in November as the favorite -- which cannot be said of many Democrats in the swing states in the congressional election.
The clear favorite among the Democratic candidates for the Senate seat was John Fetterman, who has been Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania since 2019.
On Sunday, however, he announced that he had suffered a stroke two days earlier.
On election day he had to undergo an operation in which he received a pacemaker.
Would the news unsettle Democratic supporters?
Fetterman spent election night in the hospital.
His wife went to the election party.
It was clear early on Tuesday night that the Democrats were opting for him despite the health uncertainties.
The Democrats are hoping for a lot from the 52-year-old bald-headed man with a distinctive underlip beard.
He is an atypical face in his party: neither an East Coast elite nor a new leftist.
More of the authentic type that many of Pennsylvania's courted white workers can identify with.
Fetterman grew up in a Republican home.
As mayor of Braddock, a former steel workers' town near Pittsburgh, he tried to promote structural change and focused on social and cultural projects.
The Democrats hope to win the Senate seat from him.
Some even believe that the successor to Republican Senator Pat Toomey, who supported impeachment against Trump, could ultimately be decisive in the second chamber of Congress.
In November, all eyes will once again be on Pennsylvania.