Well, Clinton-backed Kathleen Kane won the nomination for Attorney General, beating progressive-backed Pat Murphy.
BUT: Pennsylvania Blue Dogs Rep. Jason Altmire and Rep. Tim “The Fracker” Holden were both soundly defeated!
Two conservative Democrats lost their seats in Pennsylvania tonight thanks to the state’s new congressional map.
Rep. Mark Critz beat Rep. Jason Altmire in a highly competitive member-vs-member Democratic primary for the 12th district, while Rep. Tim Holden (D) was defeated in a primary by lawyer Matt Cartwright in Pennsylvania’s new 17th district.
Altmire represented about two thirds of the new 12th district, and early polls suggested he had the edge in the race.
But organized labor invested heavily in taking down Altmire, in part for his vote against the health-care law, and former President Bill Clinton endorsed Critz. (Critz is no liberal either; he also opposed health-care reform, although he wasn’t in office at the time.)
While Altmire won the majority of voters in his territory, turnout in Cambria County was huge and almost entirely in Critz’s favor.
“Congratulations to my colleague Congressman Mark Critz on his hard-fought and well-deserved victory in the primary,” Altmire said in a statement. “He has my full support as his campaign moves on to the fall.”
A Blue Dog Democrat and another health-reform opponent, Holden represented a central Pennsylvania swing district for the past ten years. But Republican-controlled redistricting gave him a safe Democratic district where he was little known to the vast majority of voters.
That created an opening for Cartwright, a Scranton lawyer who stars in a popular legal segment on the evening news.
The Campaign for Primary Accountability, a new super PAC aimed at taking down incumbents in both parties, spent over $200,000 on the race. But the League of Conservation Voters actually spent more to defeat Holden, who often supported Republican energy policy.
