Three candidates for Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate seat remain on ballot following petition challenges • Pennsylvania Capital-Star

Three candidates remain on the ballot for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, after two were challenged and one withdrew. 

Republican Brandi Tomasetti announced that she is withdrawing from the race ahead of the March 8 court hearing on a challenge to her nomination petitions. She posted a statement on social media that her campaign “discovered a number of issues” with her signatures, but wrote that “one concern is the process itself, and another is outdated voter information.” 

She also claimed in her statement that Pennsylvania’s voter registration system is “outdated and has a history of unreliability.” 

“Please consider writing in my name for U.S. Senate on April 23rd, Brandi Tomasetti. We will never surrender our country. We lost a battle but we will win the war.,” Tomasetti wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. 

Joseph Vodvarka, a Republican seeking his party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, is also facing a challenge to his nomination petitions. It appears that his case remains unresolved as of Friday morning. 

Walter S. Zimolong III and James J. Fitzpatrick are both listed as the attorneys on the objections to Tomasetti’s and Vodvarka’s nomination petitions.

If the effort to remove Vodvarka from the ballot is successful, David McCormick will be the only candidate on the Republican Party primary ballot in April. 

On the other side of the aisle, Democrat Will Parker was removed from the ballot for U.S. Senate following a challenge to his nomination petitions. The deadline for Parker to appeal this decision is March 14.

Unless Parker successfully appeals the decision, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) will be the only Democrat on the primary ballot in April. 

U.S. House challenges

Three candidates who were facing challenges to their petitions will not appear on the primary ballot, while a fourth challenge is still pending.

On Monday, Laurie MacDonald announced that she was withdrawing from the Democratic Party race for the 12th Congressional District as she was facing a challenge to her nomination petitions. Hours after announcing her withdrawal, claiming that Democrats are “deeply afraid of me as they have desperately kicked me off of the ballot,” she announced she would launch a write-in effort as a Republican candidate for the seat. 

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee (D-Allegheny) and Edgewood Councilmember Bhavini Patel will be the Democrats to appear on the primary ballot, while James Hayes will be the only Republican candidate on the primary ballot for the seat in western Pennsylvania.

Republican Dasha Pruett was removed from the ballot for the 5th Congressional District following a challenge to her nomination petitions. The deadline for Pruett to appeal the decision is March 16.

If an appeal is unsuccessful or Pruett decides not to appeal, Republican Alfeia B. DeVaughn-Goodwin and U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Delaware) will be the candidates on the primary ballot. 

Republican Tim Kramer was also removed from the ballot for the 16th Congressional District following a challenge to his nomination petitions last week. U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Butler) will now likely face Democrat Preston Nouri for the seat in northwest Pennsylvania in November.

John Broadhurst, one of six Democrats running to challenge U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-York) in the 10th Congressional District, had a hearing this week on a challenge to his nomination petitions, but that case remains unresolved.