Wild was first elected in the 2018 Blue Wave, the first woman to represent the Lehigh Valley in Congress. On her campaign website, Wild says, “I will always fight for a woman’s right to control her own body, make her own health care decisions, and have equal rights and protection in the workplace.” Sheller has never held an elective office. She speaks openly of her heroin addiction as a young adult and her subsequent recovery. She supports abortion only in cases of rape, incest, and the life of the mother.
PA-08 Democratic incumbent Matt Cartwright has served in Congress since 2012. In the midterms, his opponent is millionaire Jim Bognet. Prior to working in the Trump administration, Bognet was a senior vice president at one of Saudi Arabia’s most powerful lobbying firms in Washington, D.C. He has Trump’s endorsement.
In Congress, Cartwright worked to protect and expand Medicare and Medicaid, lower out of pocket premiums, and maintain protections for people with pre-existing conditions. He voted for the Women’s Health Protection and the Ensuring Access to Abortion acts. Bognet supports a total abortion ban.
PA-17 is an open seat because Conor Lamb lost his bid to run for the U.S. Senate in the state’s primary. The district is north and west of Pittsburgh. and is rated Even and a Tossup. A Democrat has represented the district since 2003, but it’s a swing district this year.
Democratic candidate Chris Deluzio is a U.S. Navy Iraq War veteran and voting rights attorney who currently serves as policy director of the University of Pittsburgh Institute for Cyber Law, Policy, and Security. Deluzio will face Jeremy Shaffer in the midterms.
Deluzio supports reproductive freedom as a basic human right. He backs unions and says he will push to invest in clean energy sources like solar, hydropower, and wind.
Shaffer has praised SCOTUS overturning Roe v. Wade and attacks so-called Critical Race Theory as promoting divisiveness. Shaffer said he’d be honored by Trump’s endorsement, though he hasn’t received it. He has given his own campaign more than $1 million.
