Rob Bresnahan, the Trump–backed House candidate for Pennsylvania, is expected to defeat incumbent Democrat Rep. Matt Cartwright, based on current vote numbers as of midday Tuesday. Cartwright had congratulated his opponent and conceded the race late on Election Day.

Cartwright was first sworn into Congress in 2013, where he represented Pennsylvania’s 17th District before the state redistricted in 2018 and Cartwright was elected to represent the 8th District. 

The 8th Congressional District is located in Pennsylvania’s northeastern region and includes cities such as Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, encompassing Wayne, Pike and Lackawanna counties as well as portions of Luzerne and Monroe counties. 

Cartwright’s re-election campaign was closely watched because he represents one of just nine districts across the country where Democrats worked to defend their seats after former President Trump won the districts in the 2020 presidential election. 

PA DEM IN DISTRICT THAT VOTED FOR TRUMP SAYS HE’S A MODERATE, BUT VOTING RECORD TELLS ANOTHER STORY

Cartwright’s district voted to re-elect Trump in 2020, carrying the district by 2.9 points over Biden, while Cartwright defeated his Republican congressional challenger by just over 7,000 votes of the 286,886 cast that year, New York Times data shows. 

Cartwright campaigned on a platform of strengthening the economy, protecting access to abortion, fixing “the broken asylum process” at the border and strengthening Social Security benefits.

Bresnahan is a fifth-generation native of Luzerne County and CEO of Kuharchik Construction who campaigned on securing the border, cutting taxes and trimming government spending, creating “family-sustaining jobs” in the Keystone State and supporting law enforcement. 

PENNSYLVANIA ELECTION RESULTS: REP. MATT CARTWRIGHT WINS RE-ELECTION AGAINST TRUMP-ENDORSED CHALLENGER

Rob Bresnahan, Republican nominee for Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, takes the stage during former President Trump’s campaign rally, Oct. 9, 2024, in Scranton. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Bresnahan earned Trump’s endorsement for the seat in April. 

“A successful Businessman, Rob has worked hard to Create Jobs and Grow the Economy, unlike his opponent, Matt Cartwright, who is completely beholden to Nancy Pelosi and the Radical Left. As your next Congressman, Rob will fight hard to Secure the Border, Cut Wasteful Spending, Strengthen our Military, Support our Veterans, Protect our always under siege Second Amendment, and Hold Joe Biden and his Thugs Accountable for their Unconstitutional Lawfare, Corruption, and ELECTION INTERFERENCE. Rob Bresnahan has my Complete and Total Endorsement!” Trump posted on Truth Social.

ONE OF NATION’S MOST VULNERABLE DEMOCRATS COZIES UP TO BIDEN FOR PENNSYLVANIA RALLY

Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., speaks during a House Appropriations subcommittee hearing on April 9, 2019. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Cartwright has previously come under fire for portraying himself as a “moderate” Democrat, with Fox News Digital reporting this year that his voting record paints another story. Voting records show Cartwright overwhelmingly voted in line with Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., when she served as House speaker and that he continued his membership in the left-wing Congressional Progressive Caucus.

DEM REP CARTWRIGHT DOWNPLAYS VIRGINIA GOVERNOR RACE’S SIGNIFICANCE: WILL BE ‘DIM MEMORY’ BY MIDTERMS

“Every election year Matt Cartwright proclaims ‘I work for you’ to the working-class voters of the 8th District. How could that be true as a member of the radical Progressive Caucus? It’s not. Matt Cartwright represents the radical left, and they own his vote,” Bresnahan told Fox News Digital in March. 

Cartwright’s campaign has defended him as “the most bipartisan Democrat in the House, having introduced more bipartisan bills than any other Democrat since coming to Congress.”

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All political eyes have been on Pennsylvania in recent months as the state emerged once again as a key battleground for the presidential race. Trump narrowly won the state in his successful 2016 election against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while President Biden declared victory in the Keystone State in the 2020 election.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.    

WASHINGTON (AP) — If it wasn’t a red wave in the nation’s most consequential battleground, there was at least a red swell.

Donald Trump reclaimed Pennsylvania by improving his margins across the state, shaving Democratic President Joe Biden’s 2020 win in Philadelphia, expanding his own dominance in rural parts of the state, and — at the time The Associated Press called the race at 2:24 a.m. ET — flipping key suburban counties to the GOP column.

Trump led the state by some 175,000 votes at the time the AP called the race. Even if Vice President Kamala Harris were to carry the outstanding votes — which included ballots from counties she was losing — by 20 points over Trump, she still would not be able to close the gap.

Trump’s victory showed up across the state. In populous suburban Philadelphia’s Bucks County and neighboring Northampton County, Trump was leading — two places seen as bellwethers that Biden won four years ago. Trump did several points better in the populous Philadelphia suburbs of Chester and Delaware. He was winning in Erie in the northwest corner of the state, which Biden took narrowly four years ago.

Even in the Democratic stronghold of Philadelphia, Trump was doing 3 percentage points better than he did four years ago.

CANDIDATES: President: Harris (D) vs. Trump (R) vs. Chase Oliver (Libertarian) vs. Jill Stein (Green).

WINNER: Trump

POLL CLOSING TIME: 8 p.m. ET

ABOUT THE RACE: The biggest contested prize this year, Pennsylvania saw dozens of visits by Harris and Trump — more than any state.

The state was where Trump survived an assassination attempt in Butler over the summer. He has appeared at rallies and events across the state and donned an apron at a McDonald’s in suburban Philadelphia in an effort to connect with voters.

Harris appeared at the site where George Washington crossed the Delaware River during the Revolutionary War to highlight her support from some Republicans disillusioned by Trump. She held a get-out-the-vote rally in Philadelphia — a major source of Democratic support — in the race’s waning days.

Trump carried the state by a single point in 2016, while Biden defeated him by 1 point in 2020.

Pennsylvania struggled with a relatively new early voting option, which permitted voters to request mail ballots that could be cast before Election Day.

Unlike early voting in other states that have polling places, Pennsylvania counties saw lines of people seeking to get early mail ballots in part after Trump and billionaire Elon Musk encouraged Republicans to embrace mail-in voting. In 2020, Trump said baselessly that mail ballots were rife with fraud.

WHY AP CALLED THE RACE: Trump performed better in traditionally Democratic Philadelphia than Biden did four years ago and improved his margins in key populous suburban counties. The race was called when it became clear that even if Harris won the outstanding votes by a wider margin than she had been, she couldn’t close the gap.

___

Learn more about how and why the AP declares winners in U.S. elections at Explaining Election 2024, a series from The Associated Press aimed at helping make sense of the American democracy. The AP receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Paul Rudd made a surprise appearance at universities in Pennsylvania to hand out water to students waiting in hours-long lines to vote.

While reporting live from Philadelphia’s Temple University, MSNBC National Correspondent Jacob Soboroff spotted the “Ant-Man” and “I Love You, Man” star and sprinted over to him.

“Hey, Paul, I’m on live with Nicolle Wallace on MSNBC!” Soboroff said before asking the actor what brought him out to Pennsylvania voting lines.

“I just wanted to give people water,” Rudd said. “They’re waiting in line for a long time, and it’s a wonderful thing that all these young people are out voting.”

When Soboroff told Rudd that some people have waited up to two hours to vote, Rudd said, “That’s impressive.”

“We’ve been doing lots of stuff today here in Pennsylvania,” Rudd said. “We wanted to come out and tell these students they’re doing really great things.”

Soboroff then asked Rudd how he felt about the election, prompting Rudd to laugh and say, wryly, “I feel good about handing out some waters!”

Soboroff left Rudd and continued to interview voters, stopping to talk to a first-time voter, a young Black woman, who said it wasn’t hard to make up her mind. “It’s been ready to go, out the gate,” she said. “I didn’t need to hear people talking in my ear.”

Rudd then appeared behind them. “Want a water from Paul Rudd?” Soboroff asked. “Yes, I do!” she exclaimed, and handed her phone to Soboroff so he could take a photo of the two of them.

Based on photos posted to X, Rudd also showed support for students waiting to vote at Villanova University, which is located less than an hour from Temple. During the 2020 election, Rudd made headlines for handing out cookies to people standing in the rain while waiting to vote in Brooklyn, N.Y.