Donald Trump

Pat Toomey Narrowly Defeats Katie McGinty in Pennsylvania Senate Race, Donald Trump Takes State

The Latest on the general election in Pennsylvania (all times local):

2:40 p.m.

Pennsylvanians have voted to raise the mandatory retirement age for judges.

The constitutional amendment approved Tuesday will let judges remain on the bench until the end of the year in which they turn 75. That's five years longer than currently allowed.

Passage of the ballot measure means Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Saylor won't have to retire next month, and Democratic Justice Max Baer won't have to step down at the end of next year.

The measure went before voters this spring, but lawmakers invalidated the results shortly before primary voters narrowly turned it down.

The wording was later changed so that the ballot wouldn't explicitly say the change would extend the age.

___

1:38 a.m.

Republican Donald Trump has scored an important victory in the presidential battleground of Pennsylvania, capturing a state critical to Democrats' White House hopes.

Trump beat Democrat Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's election. No Democrat has gotten to the White House without winning Pennsylvania since Harry Truman in 1948.

Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes are tied for fifth-most in the country, and a key building block to the 270 necessary to win the Electoral College. Clinton and Trump made more than 30 visits to Pennsylvania over the last five months of the campaign, more than any other state except Florida.

Democrats hold a 4-to-3 registration advantage over Republicans, and Trump's victory breaks the Democrats' winning streak in Pennsylvania's presidential elections at six.

___

1:18 a.m.

Pat Toomey has won re-election to the U.S. Senate, beating Democrat Katie McGinty in a down-to-the-wire Pennsylvania race that puts Republicans in position to maintain Senate control.

The first-term Toomey had been one of the most vulnerable Republican senators running for re-election after compiling one of Congress' most conservative voting records.

He succeeded in winning Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania in a race that, at more than $160 million, was the U.S. Senate's most expensive ever. The 54-year-old Toomey leaned heavily on his willingness to buck the Republican Party, including on the hot-button issue of gun control and distancing himself from Trump.

He also repeatedly attacked McGinty as untrustworthy and a close ally of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

___

1:15 a.m.

Republicans are widening their firm grip on the state Legislature, flipping three Senate seats and four in the House.

Democratic state Sen. Rob Teplitz lost his Harrisburg-area seat on Tuesday to developer John DiSanto, and Republicans also beat Democratic Sen. Sean Wiley of Erie and won a seat held by retiring Sen. John Wozniak.

Republicans also added to their substantial majority in the state House, beating Democratic incumbents Rep. Tim Mahoney and Rep. Jaret Gibbons and picking up districts vacated by the retirements of Rep. Pete Daley and Rep. Ted Harhai. All four districts are in western Pennsylvania.

Democrats picked up a Republican seat in the Pocono Mountains. A few races have not been called.

___

12:30 a.m.

With over 90 percent of votes counted, Pennsylvanians were supporting by a razor-thin margin an increase in the mandatory retirement age for judges.

The constitutional amendment put before voters Tuesday would allow judges to work until the age of 75, instead of 70.

Passage of the ballot measure would mean Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Saylor won't have to retire next month, and Democratic Justice Max Baer won't have to step down at the end of next year.

The measure went before voters this spring, but lawmakers invalidated the results shortly before primary voters narrowly turned it down.

The wording was later changed so that the ballot wouldn't explicitly say the change would extend the age.

___

12:25 a.m.

State Auditor General Eugene DePasquale (Dee-puh-SKWAHL-ee) is being returned to the job to serve four more years as Pennsylvania's fiscal watchdog.

The Democratic incumbent bested three challengers Tuesday to head an office with more than 400 employees and a budget of more than $50 million.

The agency keeps tabs on state spending and recommends changes to how government agencies operate.

Auditor general has been a political launching pad in recent years. The last three people elected to hold the position all later ran for higher office.

___

12:25 a.m.

Pennsylvania's next attorney general will be county Commissioner Josh Shapiro, who'll take over an office wracked by turmoil over the arrest and conviction of a predecessor.

Voters on Tuesday chose the Democrat from the Philadelphia suburb of Montgomery County over Republican state Sen. John Rafferty. [[400526821, C]]

He'll be the agency's fourth leader since August, when Democrat Kathleen Kane stepped down after being convicted of leaking secret grand jury material and lying about it.

Kane has been sentenced to 10 to 23 months in prison.

The attorney general is Pennsylvania's top-ranking law enforcement official. The agency has more than 800 employees.

___

12:20 a.m.

Democrat Joe Torsella will be taking over an office marred by scandal after winning the race for Pennsylvania treasurer.

Torsella, of Montgomery County, beat Republican businessman Otto Voit of Berks County in Tuesday's election.

The 53-year-old Torsella was most recently a presidential appointee to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations.

The treasurer oversees the 360-employee agency that processes $90 billion in payments every year and is custodian of over $100 billion of public money. The office also has been drawn into the state's budget fights and struggles with deficits in recent years.

Two of the last three elected treasurers are embroiled in scandal. One, Rob McCord, pleaded guilty last year to federal attempted extortion charges. Barbara Hafer is facing federal charges in a case that revolves around treasury investment contracts.

___

12:10 a.m.

Over four hours after polls closed in Pennsylvania, the races for president and U.S. Senate are too close to call.

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are neck-and-neck in battleground Pennsylvania in an unexpectedly tight race for the presidency, each seeking the important electoral prize.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, but people already in line were allowed to cast their ballots.

The fiercely contested presidential race has been reflected in close contests up and down the Pennsylvania ballot.

In the night's other marquee matchup, GOP U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey battled Democratic challenger Katie McGinty, with the outcome of history's most expensive Senate race potentially deciding control of the chamber.

___

12:05 a.m.

Republican Brian Fitzpatrick will succeed his brother in Congress, winning election to the U.S. House to keep a closely divided suburban Philadelphia seat in the GOP's column.

Fitzpatrick beat Democratic state Rep. Steve Santarsiero (san-tuh-SEE'-roh) in Tuesday's election in a hotly contested race during which Fitzpatrick had said he wouldn't vote for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

The 42-year-old Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor, is the brother of retiring incumbent Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick. He moved from California to run.

The win by Fitzpatrick all but kills Democrats' hope of narrowing the GOP's 13-5 advantage in Pennsylvania's U.S. House delegation. Over the last four decades, the seat has changed parties five times.

The Eight District includes part of Bucks County and a sliver of Montgomery County.

___

12 a.m.

Republicans are picking up at least five seats held by Democrats in the General Assembly, two in the Senate and three in the House. Democrats are flipping a Republican seat in the House.

Prosecutor Wayne Langerholc outpolled Cambria County Controller Ed Cernic to win a Johnstown area district vacated by the retirement of Democratic Sen. John Wozniak.

Republicans also won a Westmoreland County state House district that opened up with the retirement of Rep. Ted Harhai. Republican Matt Dowling beat incumbent Democratic state Rep. Tim Mahoney.

A Republican beat Sen. Sean Wiley in Erie and the GOP picked up a southwestern Pennsylvania House district vacated by the retirement of longtime state Rep. Pete Daley of Washington County. Republican Bud Cook will be his successor.

Across the state in the Pocono Mountains, Democrat Maureen Madden, a university instructor, is unseating incumbent David Parker, a Monroe County Republican.

___

11:50 p.m.

With votes still being counted, Democrat Josh Shapiro is claiming victory as Pennsylvania's next attorney general.

He would take over an office racked by turmoil over the arrest and conviction of Kathleen Kane, who held the office until August.

The county commissioner from the Philadelphia suburbs battled Republican state Sen. John Rafferty.

The next attorney general will be the agency's fourth leader since Democrat Kane stepped down after being convicted of leaking secret grand jury material and lying about it.

Kane has been sentenced to 10 to 23 months in prison.

The attorney general is Pennsylvania's top-ranking law enforcement official. The agency has more than 800 employees.

___

11:40 p.m.

Two House seats and a Senate district are changing parties for the Pennsylvania legislative session that will get underway in January.

Republicans picked up a southwestern Pennsylvania House district vacated by the retirement of longtime state Rep. Pete Daley of Washington County. Republican Bud Cook will be his successor.

Across the state in the Pocono Mountains, Democrat Maureen Madden, a university instructor, is unseating incumbent David Parker, a Monroe County Republican.

Democratic state Sen. Sean Wiley is out of a job, having lost his Erie seat to builder Dan Laughlin.

Other General Assembly races are still being tallied.

___

10:50 p.m.

Nearly three hours after polls closed in Pennsylvania, the races for president and U.S. Senate are too close to call.

Polls closed at 8 p.m. Tuesday, but people already in line were allowed to cast their ballots.

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump are hoping to capture the battleground state critical to their White House hopes

In the night's other marquee matchup, GOP U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey battled Democratic challenger Katie McGinty, with the outcome of history's most expensive Senate race potentially deciding control of the chamber.

Clinton has a built-in voter registration advantage over Trump. Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania has backed the Democrat in six straight presidential elections.

___

8:50 p.m.

Longtime Democratic state Rep. Dwight Evans has won the election to the U.S. House to fill the Philadelphia-area seat of convicted former Congressman Chaka Fattah (SHAH'-kah fa-TAH').

Evans also won a special election to fill Fattah's unexpired term.

Evans beat Republican James Jones in Tuesday's election and special election in the heavily Democratic district.

The 62-year-old Philadelphian has served 36 years in the Pennsylvania House, including a stint as the powerful Appropriations Committee Chairman. Evans beat Fattah in the April 26 primary.

Fattah had held the seat for nearly 22 years. He resigned June 23 after he was convicted on federal charges of using federal grants and nonprofit funds to repay an illegal $1 million loan to his 2007 failed mayoral campaign and to help family and friends.

Several aides and advisers were also convicted. Fattah is appealing and awaiting sentencing.

___

8:15 p.m.

Polls are closed in Pennsylvania but voters who are still in line are allowed to cast their ballots.

The Department of State is gathering information on whether there are long lines at some polling places after Tuesday's 8 p.m. closing time.

The agency says it is hearing scattered reports of people waiting in line, but nothing widespread.

The state Democratic Party put out an alert to voters that if they were in line by 8 p.m. to stay there until they vote.

After enduring months of campaign ads, fliers and rallies, Pennsylvanians are helping decide the winner in a long, hard-fought presidential campaign and control of the U.S. Senate next year.

Democrat Hillary Clinton has a built-in voter registration advantage over Republican Donald Trump in Tuesday's presidential election. Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania has backed the Democrat in six straight presidential elections.

7 p.m.

Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey says he has voted for GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, revealing his choice after saying for months that he hadn't been persuaded.

Toomey said after voting Tuesday night near his Allentown-area home that it was a tough call for him.

Toomey's Democratic challenger, Katie McGinty, had tried to make Toomey's indecision in the presidential stakes a high-profile campaign issue, characterizing Toomey as unable to stand up to Trump. Toomey had been highly critical of Trump, and hadn't campaigned with him or talked about him during stump speeches.

Toomey is a fierce critic of Hillary Clinton's, and had refused to vote for her. But he had not ruled out voting for Trump, saying he was undecided and that Trump as president would sign productive legislation, like repealing President Barack Obama's 2010 health care law and imposing more sanctions on Iran.

___

6:30 p.m.

Voters in Pennsylvania say the economy is their biggest concern as they cast their ballots.

About half the voters surveyed in an exit poll conducted for The Associated Press and the television networks ranked it as their top concern.

Terrorism was a distant second, slightly ahead of foreign policy and immigration.

Polls are open until 8 p.m. in Pennsylvania, which is considered a swing state in the presidential election between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump.

The preliminary exit poll of 1,947 Pennsylvania voters was conducted for AP and the television networks by Edison Research in a random sample of 50 precincts statewide. Results were subject to sampling error of plus or minus 4 percentage points; it is higher for subgroups.

___

5:45 p.m.

Pennsylvania Republican Party chairman Rob Gleason says he doesn't see anything "nefarious" in scattered complaints Tuesday about apparent vote switching on older machines.

Several Pennsylvania counties are reporting a handful of complaints about vote switching on the touchscreen machines. They say the machines are quickly being re-calibrated to fix the problem.

Butler County elections director Shari Brewer says older machines can get out of alignment during transfer. She says poll workers can cancel the vote when the wrong button lights up and move the voter to another booth.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortes says the GOP reported problems with about 25 out of nearly 24,000 machines statewide. He says in all cases votes ended up being recorded correctly.

___

3:40 p.m.

Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams says he's found no evidence of vote fraud or intimidation as his office responds to a few dozen complaints from voters.

Williams says no major problems have emerged among the 68 complaints his office investigated during the first half of Election Day.

Williams says the volume of complaints is on par with the last three presidential elections.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has raised concerns during the campaign about potential voter fraud in Philadelphia.

Meanwhile, officials in Allegheny and Schuylkill (SKEW'-kill) counties say reports that machines are switching votes have been investigated and proven unfounded.

__

2:30 p.m.

Pennsylvania election officials are reminding voters that anyone voting for the first time in their polling place must show some sort of identification.

Election watchdog groups have reported some complaints about voters being forced to show identification. But state officials say voters new to a precinct must show either photo or non-photo identification, such as a driver's license, student ID, utility bill or a bank statement.

Officials in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other cities continue to report high turnout and enthusiasm in Tuesday's presidential election.

Pennsylvania Secretary of State Pedro Cortez says he thinks the turnout could top 80 percent.

___

11 a.m.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Katie McGinty greeted cheering supporters before casting her ballot alongside her husband and three daughters on Tuesday morning at Our Lady of the Assumption Church in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

McGinty has spent the general election seeking to tie Republican incumbent Sen. Pat Toomey to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. She struck the same note on election day, suggesting that Toomey's plan to vote late in the day was another attempt to dodge questions about whether he planned to vote for Trump.

"Come on, Senator Toomey, let us know: Are you standing with Donald Trump or not?" McGinty said to reporters. "It's long, long past due for (him) to have stood up for what's right... and denounced Donald Trump. It's really, actually, too late."

McGinty and Toomey have been locked in a close battle for months. She received a boost from Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in the campaign's final weeks and said she felt good going into Election Day.

"Today's the day we turn it around so that working people get a fair shot again," McGinty said.

___

8:30 a.m.

Pennsylvania's secretary of state says he wouldn't be surprised if voter turnout topped 80 percent.

Secretary Pedro Cortes has served from 2003 to 2010 under former Gov. Ed Rendell and since last year under Gov. Tom Wolf, both Democrats.

Cortes says the highest voter turnout since 1980 was in 1992 when 83 percent of Pennsylvania voters cast ballots in an election headlined by Democrat Bill Clinton and Republican President George Bush.

Tuesday's general election pitting Republican Donald Trump against Democrat Hillary Clinton will be the 19th overseen by Cortes, counting primary elections and non-presidential elections.

Cortes also downplays concerns over voter fraud saying, "I will never claim that elections in Pennsylvania or anywhere else are perfect, but they're legitimate."

Cortes expects about 7 million of Pennsylvania's 8.7 million registered voters to participate.

___

1 a.m.

After enduring months of campaign ads, fliers and rallies, Pennsylvanians will help decide the winner in a long, hard-fought presidential campaign and control of the U.S. Senate next year.

Democrat Hillary Clinton has a built-in voter registration advantage over Republican Donald Trump in Tuesday's presidential election. Democratic-leaning Pennsylvania has backed the Democrat in six straight presidential elections.

Just below on the ballot is the hotly contested U.S. Senate race between Democrat Katie McGinty and Republican incumbent Pat Toomey. Toomey is among the nation's most vulnerable Senate incumbents as the GOP struggles to hang on to its Senate majority.

Voters also will decide whether to allow more than 1,000 appellate, county and district judges to remain in their jobs until the age of 75.

The current mandatory retirement age is 70.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us