Latest results from the 2025 Pennsylvania primary election
by
Spotlight PA Staff|
Jared Wickerham / For Spotlight PA
Pennsylvania primary election results to watch include Pittsburgh mayor, Philadelphia district attorney, and more. Results will begin to show after 8 p.m. on May 20.
On May 20, Pennsylvania Democrats and Republicans will pick which judicial and municipal candidates they want to advance to the Nov. 4 general election.
For voters interested in seeing rolling tallies, Spotlight PA is making available for free a tool that displays Associated Press results. While there are hundreds of races on Tuesday’s ballot, the Associated Press will only track results in a handful of contests.
Those results will be displayed under each office noted below. Please check back as results will be updated regularly.
Commonwealth Court
There is one vacancy on Commonwealth Court, one of Pennsylvania’s two intermediate appellate courts.
Commonwealth Court presides over civil actions brought by and against the Pennsylvania state government and hears appeals primarily in cases involving state departments and local governments. Superior Court handles criminal, family, and civil cases that are appealed by county Courts of Common Pleas.
The person who wins the open seat on Commonwealth Court could help shape Pennsylvania’s laws on everything from elections to firearms, while the candidate who wins a seat on Superior Court could help decide the outcomes of high-profile criminal cases.
The Democratic party has one candidate running, and the Republican party has two. Find out more about them.
Superior Court
There is one vacancy on Superior Court, one of Pennsylvania’s two intermediate appellate courts.
The 15-member Superior Court handles criminal and civil cases that don’t involve the government.
As in the Commonwealth Court elections, Democratic primary voters will have just one candidate they can vote for. Republicans will choose between two candidates. Find out more about them.
Pittsburgh mayor
Democratic incumbent Mayor Ed Gainey faces a well-funded opponent in Allegheny County Controller Corey O’Connor.
The Republican primary is also contested, with former police officer Tony Moreno facing small business owner Thomas West.
Incumbent Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, faces Patrick F. Dugan. Get more information about the candidates from The Inquirer and Billy Penn.
There is no Republican candidate on the primary ballot.
Philadelphia controller
Incumbent Philadelphia Controller Christy Brady, a Democrat, is running unopposed on the primary ballot.
Ari Patrinos, a teacher and former stockbroker, is running unopposed for the Republican nomination.
Get more information about the candidates from Billy Penn.
Q: When will we know the final results of the primary election?
A: Votes will be counted throughout the evening on May 20 after polls close at 8 p.m. and released in batches for several hours. By state law, Pennsylvania counties cannot process mail ballots before Election Day, and many have different procedures for counting votes and in what order.
Q: How can I find the latest election results in Pennsylvania?
A: For statewide races, you can check the Department of State’s election results website here. Local results may be posted by individual counties on their websites.
Q: Can I track my mail ballot in Pennsylvania?
A: Yes, the Pennsylvania Department of State allows you to track your ballot on its website. Go to pavoterservices.pa.gov/Pages/BallotTracking.aspx, where you will see a prompt to enter your name, date of birth, and county of residence. You can also contact your county election office to confirm the status of your ballot.
Q: What happens if there is a recount?
In Pennsylvania, a recount is automatically triggered when the margin is .5% or less. Election officials must then carry out the recount.
Three or more voters in a voting precinct can also request a recount. Candidates cannot request a recount.
A recount must be completed within three weeks of the election.
A: The Pennsylvania Department of State and county election offices make results available to the media.
Q: What is the process for certifying election results in Pennsylvania?
A: According to reporting by Votebeat, the process begins when the polls close and “counties begin uploading in-person results to their websites and that of the Department of State.”
A few days later, counties will begin their official canvass of the election.
“The canvass is just going through and double-, triple-checking that you have all of the ballots accounted for,” said Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Iowa who specializes in elections law, in 2022. Election officials are “making sure that everything is included and that every lawfully cast ballot is included in that final tally.”
“County elections offices will process provisional ballots during this time, checking to make sure the voters who cast them had not already submitted a mail-in ballot or whether the provisional ballots were somehow otherwise ineligible,” Votebeat reported. “Counties will also ‘reconcile’ their votes, meaning they will check to ensure that the number of voters recorded as having cast ballots in a given precinct matches the number of ballots counted from that precinct.”
“County elections offices also perform post-election audits during this period. Counties are required to do a recount of a random sample of 2% of ballots cast or 2,000 ballots, whichever is fewer. Many counties also began conducting risk-limiting audits after the 2020 election, in which a random sample of ballots are hand-counted to ensure the totals match the results from the tabulation machine.”
By the Tuesday after Election Day, counties must submit results — as up-to-date as possible, but still unofficial — to the Department of State. These figures could change slightly as military and overseas ballots are counted and included in the tallies, per Votebeat.
“Local boards of election, comprised of the county’s commissioners, must sign a copy of the results twice for an election to be certified. Typically, candidates raise any challenges to the canvassing process in the five-day window between the first and second signings.”
