Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States – 05/16/2023: Voters cast their votes on paper ballots. Luzerne County's primary election was held with paper write-in ballots after paper shortages caused confusion during the November election. (Photo by: Aimee Dilger/SOPA Images/LightRocket, Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA (NewsNation) — As President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump look to secure their party's nomination for the 2024 presidential election, voters will decide which way to go in Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary. This could be a sign that the market is leaning towards the future.
Pennsylvania, which cast its 19 electoral votes in November, is one of three states (along with Michigan and Wisconsin) that narrowly went to Trump in 2016. .
Biden succeeded in winning back voters in the 2020 election, but this time his narrow victory has focused attention on his home state.
The impact of Israel's war on elections
The incumbent president's handling of the Israeli war is expected to be a major focus in the run-up to the November election.
Pennsylvania has more than 300,000 Jewish voters, the largest Jewish population of any battleground state, and they are expected to have a big say in the battleground state.
Both candidates have spent time in the Keystone State.
“Today, we face another turning point in history. The 2024 election is about two fundamentally different visions of America. Donald Trump’s vision is one of anger, hatred, revenge, and It’s retaliation,” Biden said during a recent stop in Philadelphia.
“We have to have a conversation. We have to explain to the American people what's going on, because they're focused on the border and inflation and the economy, and it's terrible,” Trump said. said in a recent speech. Meeting at Schnecksville.
Biden 'takes tremendous risks' in aiding Israel
Democratic Socialists of America has launched an effort urging Pennsylvania residents to write “uncommitted” on their ballots in protest of Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war.
This is similar to efforts in last month's Democratic primary in Michigan, where 13% of voters chose “uncommit” over Biden.
NewsNation spoke with Ron Joseph, one of the leaders of this effort. He said the group already has five endorsements from organizations in the state and has contacted more than 100,000 voters.
“He's risking a lot going into this November, especially by continuing to support Israel in this way. Many Pennsylvanians want to see an end to the occupation in Gaza and a ceasefire in Palestine. It will show the Biden administration that it must act now to achieve that goal, or it will go into November with an unmotivated electorate that has alienated millions of voters. '' Joseph said.
The group's goal is to persuade more than 40,000 Pennsylvania voters to vote “no-responsible” during Tuesday's primary election.
US Senate Election: Casey vs. McCormick
Tuesday's Pennsylvania primary will also set the stage for a high-stakes U.S. Senate race between Democratic Sen. Bob Casey and Republican challenger David McCormick. The race is expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars and could help decide control of the Senate next year. .
Casey, who is seeking a fourth term, is perhaps Pennsylvania's best-known politician and a Democratic stalwart in the presidential battleground state. He is the son of a former two-term governor and a Democrat who was the longest-serving senator in Pennsylvania history.
Mr. McCormick, a two-time Senate challenger and former hedge fund CEO from Pennsylvania, has poured $14 million of his own money into the 2022 seven-way Republican primary race against celebrity heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz. We lost by a narrow margin. Mr. Oz then lost a key Senate race to Democratic Sen. John Fetterman.
This time, McCormick is solidifying his party around his candidacy, backed by a super PAC that has already reportedly raised more than $20 million, many of them billionaires in the stock market. It's from.
Mr. McCormick's candidacy is shaping up to be the strongest challenge to Mr. Casey in his three re-election bids. Hoping to shore up support among the Republican base, McCormick told a conservative audience in a Harrisburg suburb earlier this month, “You guys will agree with about 80 percent of what I say…but we… “I don't agree with 90% of the opinions,” he said. Time with the crazy progressive leftists who are destroying our country. ”
The battle for control of Washington
Mr. Casey is one of Mr. Biden's strongest allies in Congress.
The two share a hometown of Scranton, and their political stories are intertwined. Although Biden represents neighboring Delaware in the Senate and has roots in Philadelphia sports teams, he has effectively made Pennsylvania his political home as a presidential candidate. Long before that, Biden had been nicknamed “Pennsylvania's Third Senator” by Democrats because he frequently campaigned in the state.
Mr. McCormick and Mr. Trump support each other, but they are an uneasy duo who are the Republican front-runners. Mr. Trump slammed Mr. McCormick in the 2022 primary and succeeded in giving Mr. Oz a primary victory. And McCormick spoke of a private meeting in which he rejected Trump's urging to say the 2020 presidential election was stolen, a claim that has been disproven and never renounced by the former president.
Democrats currently hold a one-seat majority in the Senate, but face a difficult situation in 2024, with incumbents defending in the red states of Montana and Ohio and vacant seats in Michigan and West Virginia. The seat must be contested by a new candidate.
If Casey loses, Republicans could take control of the Senate.
Voters must cast their votes by 8pm local time.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
