PENNSYLVANIA 20 Electoral Votes 
link to clickable map
Population 
(Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Pennsylvania Department of State)
Total Resident Population, July 1, 2016 est.
12,784,227
Total Registration, Nov.. 2016
  8,722,977 >

Dem. 4,217,456 (48.35%)   Rep. 3,301,182 (37.84%)   Other Parties 1,204,339 (13.81%)
Pennsylvania has: 67 counties.

Largest counties: Philadelphia, Allegheny, Montgomery, Bucks, Delaware.
Largest cities: Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown, Erie. 

Government
Governor: Tom Wolf (D) elected 2014.
State Legislature: Pennsylvania General Assembly   House: 203 seats   Senate: 50 seats
Local: Counties, Cities, Townships...   NACO
U.S. House: 13R, 4D, 1v - 1. B.Brady (D) | 2. vacant | 3. M.Kelly (R) | 4. S.Perry (R) | 5. G.Thompson (R) | 6. R.Costello (R) | 7. P.Meehan (R) | 8. M. Fitzpatrick (R) | 9. B.Shuster (R) | 10. T.Marino (R) | 11. L.Barletta (R) | 12. K.Rothfus (R) | 13. B.Boyle (D) | 14. M.Doyle (D) | 15. C.Dent (R) | 16. J.Pitts (R) | 17. M.Cartwright (D) | 18. T.Murphy (R).   >
U.S. Senate: Bob Casey Jr. (D) re-elected in 2012, Pat Toomey (R) re-elected in 2016. 
2016
U.S. Senate: In one of the most closely watched races in the country, freshman Sen. Pat Toomey (R) defeated Katie McGinty (D), who chaired the White House Council on Enviromnental Quality from 1995-98 and more recently worked as an executive in the energy sector, by 2,951,702 votes (48.77%) to 2,865,012 (47.34%) and 235,142 (3.89%) for Edward Clifford (L).
U.S. House: 
There were three open seats.
- In PA-2 (parts of Philadelphia), Rep. Chaka Fattah (D) lost the May 26 primary to state Rep. Dwight Evans (D).  Fattah resigned on June 23 after being convicted of 29 criminal counts.  Evans trounced James Jones (R) in the Nov. 8 special election to fill the remainder of the term, and in the general election.
- In PA-8 (Bucks Co. and part of Montgomery Co.), Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick (R) is retiring.  His brother Brian Fitzpatrick (R), a retired FBI agent, defeated State Rep. Steve Santasiero (D) by 207,263 votes (54.43%) to 173,555 (45.57%).
- In PA-16 (southern Chester Co. and most of Lancaster Co. plus a bit of Berks Co.), Rep. Joe Pitts (R) is retiring after ten terms.  State Sen. Lloyd Smucker (R) defeated consultant Christina Hartman (D) and Shawn House (L), a hemp product seller, by 168,669 votes (53.76%) to 134,586 (42.89%) and 10,518 (3.35%).
Three Members did not draw challengers: Mike Kelly (R-3), Brendan Boyle (D-13), and Tim Murphy (R-18).
State Legislature: In the Senate 25 of 50 seats were up and in the House all 203 seats were up.  Republicans increased their majorities in both chambers, going from 31R, 19D to 34R, 16D in the Senate and 119R, 84D to 121R, 82D in the House.
Ballot Measure: Voters approved a proposed constitutional amendment amending the mandatory judicial retirement age by 51.09% to 48.91%.

 State of Pennsylvania
Department of State

Constitution Party of PA
Libertarian Party of PA
PA Democratic Party
Green Party of PA
Republican State Comm. of PA

Inquirer/Daily News, p
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, p
Newspapers
TV, Radio

PoliticsPA.com

Politics1-PA
Ballotpedia-PA


The Keystone State
General Election -- Tuesday, November 8, 2016
Voting Eligible Population*: 9,701,644.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 63.6%.


Registration: Dem. 4,266,317 (50.14%)   Rep. 3,131,144 (36.80%)   Other Parties 1,110,554 (13.05%) ...Total 8,508,015

Voter Registration Deadline: Oct. 11, 2016.




Official Results >


Clinton/Kaine (Dem.)
2,926,441
(47.85)
+Trump/Pence (Rep.)
2,970,733
(48.58)
Castle/Bradley (Const.)
21,572
(0.35)
Stein/Baraka (Grn.)
49,941
(0.82)
Johnson/Weld (Lib.)
146,715
(2.40)
Total........6,115,402


Overview: Democrats signaled Pennsylvania's importance by holding their Convention in Philadelphia.  Pennsylvania is the battleground state that in recent elections has inevitably seemed to end up in the Democratic column; the last Republican to win here was George H.W. Bush over Michael Dukakis in 1988.  However, the Trump campaign believed it could win, worked the Keystone State hard and achieved the upset victory.  Trump carried 56 of 67 counties, winning by a plurality of 44,292 votes (0.73 percentage points).  Democrats' hopes of picking up the U.S. Senate seat held by Pat Toomey also fell a bit short, and they lost a few seats in the General Assembly as well.  In Philadelphia County Clinton won by 475,277 votes -- 584,025 (82.53%) to 108,748 (15.37%).  Meanwhile, the Trump campaign made a strong effort in the collar counties surrounding Philadelphia, including a number of "Coffee with Ivanka" events and the only solo speech of the fall campaign by Melania Trump, in Berwyn on Nov. 3.
1. See: Brandon Finnigan.  "Why Trump Can Win Pennsylvania," National Review, July 25, 2016.

General Election Visits
Clinton  |  Trump
BALLOT, 2 [PDF]

Primary Election -- Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Voter Registration: Democratic 4,062,187 (49.10%),  Republican 3,126,166 (37.78%),  Other Parties 1,085,350 (13.12%)  ...Total 8,273,703.
Democrats
210 Delegates: 127 District, 42 At-Large, 20 PLEO and 21 Unpledged.

details

Republicans
71 Delegates: 3 RNC; 14 At-Large; 54 by CD (3 x 18).

details



General Election Winners in Pennsylvania, 1992-2012
1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012
Clinton
45.15%
Clinton
49.17%
Gore
50.60%
Kerry
50.92%
Obama
54.65%
Obama
52.08%
  and the details...
 
General Election -- Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Voting Eligible Population*: 9,674.379.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 59.4%.


Registration: Dem. 4,266,317 (50.14%)   Rep. 3,131,144 (36.80%)   Other Parties 1,110,554 (13.05%)  ...Total 8,508,015.

Voter Registration Deadline: Oct. 9, 2012. +



Official Results >


Romney/Ryan (Rep.) 2,680,434 (46.68)
Obama/Biden (Dem.)
2,990,274 (52.08)
Stein/Honkala (Grn.)
21,341 (0.37)
Johnson/Gray (Lib.)
49,991
(0.87)
Total........5,742,040



2012 Overview
The Romney campaign made a play in Pennsylvania and improved significantly on the 2008 McCain tally, but the outcome was the same.  Obama-Biden carried the state by 309,840 votes (5.40 percentage points).  Romney carried 54 counties to 13 for Obama, but could not overcome Obama's strong showing in Philadelphia: 588,806 (85.29%) to 96,467 (13.97%), a plurality of 492,339 votes.
General Election Details
Obama  |  Romney
BALLOT [PDF]

General Election -- Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Voting Eligible Population*: 9,363,381.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 64.2%.


Registration: Dem. 4,480,691 (51.16%)   Rep. 3,243,391 (37.03%)   No Affiliation 464,968 (5.31%)   All Other 568,981 (6.50%)  ...Total   8,758,031.

Last day to register before the General Election is Oct. 6, 2008.  >

                           Official Results >


+Obama/Biden (Dem.) 3,276,363
(54.65)
McCain/Palin (Rep.)
2,655,885
(44.30)
Nader/Gonzalez (Ind.)
42,977 (0.72)
Barr/Root (Lib.)
19,912 (0.33)
Total........5,995,137


2008 Overview
Pennsylvania became a must win state for McCain.  The Republican campaign made an intense effort in the state, but Obama-Biden achieved a comfortable margin of 620,478 votes (10.35 percentage points); McCain carried 49 counties to 18 for Obama.  In Philadelphia County Obama won 83.1% of the vote, gaining 595,980 votes to 117,221 for McCain (a plurality of 478,759 votes).
General Election Details
Obama/Allies  |  McCain/Allies  | 
Nader 

General Election -- Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Voting Eligible Population*: 9,221,962.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 62.6%.



Registration: Dem. 3,985,486 (47.64%)   Rep. 3,405,278 (40.70%)   Lib. 34,258 (0.41%)  Grn. 15,788 (0.19%)   Other Parties 925,853 (11.07%)   ....Total 8,366,663.

Last day to register: Oct. 4, 2004.

Official Results


+Kerry/Edwards (Dem.)
2,938,095
(50.92)
Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
2,793,847
(48.42)
Badnarik/Campagna (Lib.) 21,185 (0.37)
Cobb/LaMarche (Grn.) 6,319
(0.11)
Peroutka/Baldwin (Const.)
6,318
(0.11)
Ralph Nader (write-in)
2,656
(0.05)
Scattered (write-in)
1,170
(0.02)
Total........5,769,570
 




2004 Overview
854,451 more votes were cast in the presidential race in 2004 than in 2000.  The Kerry-Edwards ticket carried the state, but Bush trimmed the Democratic plurality to 144,248 votes (2.50 percentage points) and the Republican ticket also carried five more counties than it had in 2000, or 54 counties to 13 for Kerry. 
General Election Details  |  Photos
Kerry/Allies  |  Bush/Cheney '04

General Election -- Tuesday, November 7, 2000
Voting Eligible Population*: 9,086,897.
VEP Highest Office Turnout Rate: 54.1%.




Registration: Dem. 3,736,304 (48.01%)   Rep. 3,250,764 (41.77%)   Const. 7,918 (0.10%)    Lib. 30,248 (0.39%)   Other Parties 756,763  (9.72%)   ...Total 7,781,997

Last day to register: Oct. 10, 2000.
Official Results               


Bush/Cheney (Rep.)
2,281,127
(46.43)
+Gore/Lieberman (Dem.)
2,485,967
(50.60)
Phillips/Frazier (Const.)
   14,428
(0.29)
Browne/Olivier (Lib.)
11,248
(0.23)
Nader/LaDuke (Grn.)
103,392
(2.10)
Buchanan/Foster (Ref.)
   16,023
(0.33)
Write-ins
934
(0.02)
Total........4,913,119


Notes: In Pennsylvania the Republicans and Democrats are major parties, while the Constitution Party and the Libertarian Party qualify as minor parties.  Others are referred to as "political bodies."  Minor party and other presidential candidates wishing to appear on the ballot in the general election needed to obtain signatures from 21,739 registered electors (2% of the highest showing by a candidate in the last statewide election) in the period from Jan. 26-Aug. 1, 2000. 
2000 Overview
Pennsylvania, with 23 electoral votes, was a battleground state from beginning to end, drawing much attention and resources from both campaigns.  Before the race even got underway, both parties considered holding their nominating conventions in Philadelphia.  On Election Night itself, when networks prematurely called Florida for Bush, Pennsylvania was for a time seen as a must-win for Bush.  As it was, Gore-Lieberman carried the state with a plurality of 204,840 votes (4.17 percentage points).  Bush carried 49 counties to 18 for Gore, but Gore won in the five most populous counties, including a plurality of 348,223 votes in Philadelphia County.
General Election Activity

1992 and 1996 General Elections
Archive Pages: 2012 | 2008 | 2004 | 2000 1992
Clinton (Dem.).....2,239,164
(45.15)
Bush (Rep.).........1,791,841
(36.13)
Perot (PfP).............902,667
(18.20)
Others (2)................26,138
(0.52)
Total........4,959,810

1996
Clinton (Dem.).....2,215,819
(49.17)
Dole (Rep.)..........1,801,169
(39.97)
Perot (Ref.)............430,984
(9.56)
Others (3+w/ins).......58,146
(1.29)
Total........4,506,118