Democrats eyeing Pennsylvania House may gain boost from Biden
obust voter turnout for Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden could help lift his party to capture majority control in the Pennsylvania House for the first time in a decade, according to independent political analysts studying the commonwealth.
Still, party faithful tempered that prospect in conversations leading into Tuesday’s general election, citing entrenched GOP strength in contested districts. Candidates on both sides forecast a tight race for the chamber, where the dominant party typically determines which bills see a vote.
Democrats would need to win nine additional seats to flip majority control from Republicans, who hold 110 House seats to the Democrats’ 93. The GOP lost 11 seats to Democrats in the 2018 midterm election.
“It really does seem like so much depends on the top of the ticket, [Mr. Biden’s] performance and if there’s that coattail effect” on regional races down the ballot, said Dana Brown, executive director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics at Chatham University.
Among likely Pennsylvania voters, the former vice president led President Donald Trump by 3.6 percentage points — 49.5% to 45.9% — in a RealClearPolitics average of eight polls taken from Oct. 17 through Thursday.
https://www.post-gazette.com/news/vote2020/2020/10/31/Pennsylvania-House-Democrats-majority-race-2020-general-election-Cook-Political-Report-Chatham-University/stories/202010310027