The field of candidates for this year’s midterm elections is taking shape. Candidate filing deadlines passed Tuesday for the May primary elections in which Democratic and Republican voters will choose their nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, Congress and the state legislature.

All U.S. House seats, all Pennsylvania House seats and even-numbered Pennsylvania Senate seats are up for election this year. Each of those chambers is narrowly divided going into the November elections — Democrats control the state House while Republicans control the state Senate and U.S. House. 

Note: * denotes the incumbent. Candidates’ nomination petitions can be challenged in court until March 17. If candidates withdraw or are removed from the ballot, their names will be removed.

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro faces no competition from his party in his bid for a second term. He’ll face state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who similarly has no Republican primary opponent, in November’s general election. 

Allegheny County’s own Austin Davis is Shapiro’s running mate as lieutenant governor again, and his fellow Allegheny County resident Jason Richey received Garrity’s endorsement for the Republican ticket. Richey is opposed by John Ventre, of Westmoreland County.

Allegheny County’s two representatives in Congress are both Democrats running for third terms. 

Summer Lee must overcome a challenge from perennial candidate and activist Will Parker to get her party’s nod in the Pittsburgh-centric 12th District. Deluzio will set his sights on November, when he’ll run in the suburban-and-rural 17th District against the winner of the Republican primary: Jesse James Vodvarka or Beaver County Sheriff Tony Guy.

Of Allegheny County’s 23 General Assembly seats on the ballot this year, just five feature a contested primary on either the Democratic or Republican side. All but one has an incumbent candidate. Only the 45th House District, in the western suburbs, is open, with Democratic Rep. Anita Kulik retiring. There are two Democrats vying to replace her, and one Republican running to flip the seat.

The 45th and other suburban districts will be heavily scrutinized this fall as Democrats currently control the House by just one vote.

Independent and minor party candidates can reach the November ballot by filing petitions by Aug. 3.

Editor’s note: Candidates Ehab Akkary, Todd Koger, Cameron Grosh and Fred Coleman were initially included in the list of candidates for state House, but have been removed after successful court challanges or candidate withdrawals. Descriptions of the field of candidates have been updated to reflect their removal.

Charlie Wolfson is the local government reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He can be reached at charlie@publicsource.org.

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Who’s running for office in Allegheny County in 2026?

by Charlie Wolfson, Pittsburgh's Public Source
March 11, 2026

<h1>Who’s running for office in Allegheny County in 2026?</h1> <p class="byline">by Charlie Wolfson, Pittsburgh's Public Source <br />March 11, 2026</p> <p>The field of candidates for this year’s midterm elections is taking shape. Candidate filing deadlines passed Tuesday for the May primary elections in which Democratic and Republican voters will choose their nominees for governor, lieutenant governor, Congress and the state legislature.</p> <p>All U.S. House seats, all Pennsylvania House seats and even-numbered Pennsylvania Senate seats are up for election this year. Each of those chambers is narrowly divided going into the November elections — Democrats control the state House while Republicans control the state Senate and U.S. House.&nbsp;</p> <p><em>Note: * denotes the incumbent. Candidates’ nomination petitions can be challenged in court until March 17. If candidates withdraw or are removed from the ballot, their names will be removed.</em></p> <p>Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro faces no competition from&nbsp;his party&nbsp;in his bid for a second term. He’ll face state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who similarly has no Republican primary opponent, in November’s general election.&nbsp;</p> <p>Allegheny County’s own Austin Davis is Shapiro’s running mate as lieutenant governor again, and his fellow Allegheny County resident Jason Richey received Garrity’s endorsement for the Republican ticket. Richey is opposed by John Ventre, of Westmoreland County.</p> <p>Allegheny County’s two representatives in Congress are both Democrats running for third terms.&nbsp;</p> <p>Summer Lee must overcome a challenge from perennial candidate and activist Will Parker to get her party’s nod in the Pittsburgh-centric 12th District. Deluzio will set his sights on November, when he’ll run in the suburban-and-rural 17th District against the winner of the Republican primary: Jesse James Vodvarka or Beaver County Sheriff Tony Guy.</p> <figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img src="https://www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/20260105-mayor-corey-o_connor-inauguration-22a_720.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-1330497" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio and Summer Lee, pictured at center. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/Public Source)</figcaption></figure> <p>Of Allegheny County’s 23 General Assembly seats on the ballot this year, just five feature a contested primary on either the Democratic or Republican side. All but one has an incumbent candidate. Only the 45th House District, in the western suburbs, is open, with Democratic Rep. Anita Kulik retiring. There are two Democrats vying to replace her, and one Republican running to flip the seat.</p> <p>The 45th and other suburban districts will be heavily scrutinized this fall as Democrats currently control the House by just one vote.</p> <p>Independent and minor party candidates can reach the November ballot by filing petitions by Aug. 3.</p> <p><em>Editor's note: Candidates Ehab Akkary, Todd Koger, Cameron Grosh</em> and <em>Fred Coleman were initially included in the list of candidates for state House, but have been removed after successful court challanges or candidate withdrawals. Descriptions of the field of candidates have been updated to reflect their removal.</em></p> <p><em>Charlie Wolfson is the local government reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He can be reached at charlie@publicsource.org.</em></p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/election-2026-midterm-primary-candidates/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org&quot;&gt;Pittsburgh&#039;s Public Source&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-ps_circle_favicon_blue.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=1330495&amp;amp;ga4=G-CCLXQK5C14&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.publicsource.org/election-2026-midterm-primary-candidates/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/publicsource.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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