Live Updates: Sara Innamorato and Matt Dugan claim victory in major Allegheny County races

Following Sara Innamorato's being elected as the Democratic nominee for Allegheny County executive, Pennsylvania's Governor and Lieutenant Governor posted words of congratulations on social media. 

Governor Shapiro said "The future of Western Pennsylvania is bright, and I'm looking forward to working alongside you to get things done and lift up the good people of Allegheny County."

Lieutenant Governor Davis shared a similar message, saying "Sara and I worked closely to lead the Allegheny County Delegation when I was in the State House. I saw first hand her thoughtfulness, hard work, and dedication. She will do great things for Allegheny County!"

After being elected as the Democratic nominee for Allegheny County executive, Innamorato took to social media, sharing a photo with District Attorney nominee Matt Dugan.

Republican Carolyn Carluccio has won the GOP nomination for a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, which is playing a prominent role in settling disputes over voting rights, abortion rights and gun rights in the presidential battleground.

Carluccio, Montgomery County's president judge and the party-endorsed candidate, won the two-way race. She defeated Patricia McCullough, a Commonwealth Court judge who lost a primary for a high court seat in 2021, after party allies reported spending nearly $1 million to help her beat McCullough.

On the campaign trail, McCullough repeatedly boasted of being the "only judge in 2020 in the presidential election in the entire country" to order a halt to her state's election certification.

McCullough was ruling in a Republican-backed post-election legal challenge that sought to tilt victory to Donald Trump in the presidential battleground state. The state's high court quickly overturned McCullough's order.

Carluccio will face Democrat Dan McCaffery for the seat in the November general election.

Democrats currently hold a 4-2 majority on the court, which has an open seat following the death last fall of Chief Justice Max Baer, a Democrat.

The court has handled a number of hot-button issues over the past few years.

It is currently examining a challenge to a state law that restricts the use of public funds to help women get an abortion as well as Philadelphia's challenge to a state law that bars it and other municipalities from restricting the sale and possession of guns.

In recent years, the justices rejected a request to invalidate the state's death penalty law and upheld the constitutionality of the state's expansive mail-in voting law. The court also turned away challenges to the 2020 election result from Republicans who wanted to keep former President Donald Trump in power, and ruled on a variety of lawsuits over gray areas in the mail-in voting law.

In one 2020 election case, justices ordered counties to count mail-in ballots that arrived up to three days after polls closed, citing delays in mail service caused by disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ruling spurred an outcry among Republicans, who challenged the decision in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nation's highest court ultimately declined to take the case. The ballots — nearly 10,000 of them — were never counted in any federal race, including for president, because the election was certified while their fate remained in legal limbo. State elections officials said the votes weren't enough to change the results of a federal election.

In lower court races, Republican Megan Martin won a two-way primary for an open seat on the Commonwealth Court while Democrats Jill Beck and Timika Lane captured the nomination in a three-way race for two open seats on the Superior Court, which hears appeals of civil and criminal cases from county courts.

Democrats will maintain their narrow Pennsylvania House majority after winning a special election in the Philadelphia suburbs.

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Matt Dugan declared victory Tuesday evening for the Democratic nomination for Allegheny County district attorney. Long-time incumbent Stephen Zappala conceded the race. 

You can read more here.

John Weinstein has conceded the race for the Democratic nomination for Allegheny County executive to Sara Innamorato. Weinstein congratulated Innamorato, who claimed victory, and said he was proud of his positive campaign. 

Read more here.

Dan McCaffery has won the Democratic primary in Pennsylvania for a vacant seat on the state Supreme Court, which is playing a prominent role in settling disputes over voting rights, abortion rights and gun rights in the presidential battleground.

McCaffery defeated Deborah Kunselman in the two-way race. Both currently sit on the state Superior Court, a statewide appellate body that handles appeals from county courts in criminal and civil cases.

McCaffery will face the winner of the Republican primary for the seat in the November general election.

Democrats currently hold a 4-2 majority on the court, which has an open seat following the death last fall of Chief Justice Max Baer, a Democrat.

The court has handled a number of hot-button issues over the past few years.

It is currently examining a challenge to a state law that restricts the use of public funds to help women get an abortion as well as Philadelphia's challenge to a state law that bars it and other municipalities from restricting the sale and possession of guns.

In recent years, the justices rejected a request to invalidate the state's death penalty law and upheld the constitutionality of the state's expansive mail-in voting law. The court also turned away challenges to the 2020 election result from Republicans who wanted to keep former President Donald Trump in power, and ruled on a variety of lawsuits over gray areas in the mail-in voting law.

In one 2020 election case, justices ordered counties to count mail-in ballots that arrived up to three days after polls closed, citing delays in mail service caused by disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ruling spurred an outcry among Republicans, who challenged the decision in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nation's highest court ultimately declined to take the case. The ballots — nearly 10,000 of them — were never counted in any federal race, including for president, because the election was certified while their fate remained in legal limbo. State elections officials said the votes weren't enough to change the results of a federal election.

The in-person ballot results are beginning to come in now and will continue to be updated on an ongoing basis until all materials have been returned.

Elections results should also reflect approximately 600 additional mail-in and absentee ballot results from returned to the County Office Building and delivered to the warehouse earlier today. Another approximately 750 ballots are being processed that were in the last mail run at 7:30 PM or returned to the COB today, so the mail-in and absentee numbers will increase again.

--Update from Allegheny County's Director of Communications

Polls are now closed. Anyone in line at 8 PM to vote will be allowed to vote before the polling place is closed. Once polls are closed to voters, poll workers will complete all paperwork, close the machines, and put together materials that will be returned to elections. The judges of election will then take those materials to one of eight regional reporting centers. Unofficial results will then be read into the election night database for reporting. We expect in-person results to begin coming in around 9 PM.

At the warehouse, a little over 81,000 ballots have been scanned and will report out shortly after 8 PM. Those results will be available on this website: https://results.enr.clarityelections.com/PA/Allegheny/117758/web.317647/.

We do expect to add additional mail-in and absentee ballots to the count this evening with any late mail delivered to the post office, and the delivery of any ballots that were returned in-person to the County Office Building today.

--Update from Allegheny County's Director of Communications

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats' narrow majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives is on the line Tuesday with two special elections that will determine which party controls the chamber.

One of those contests is expected to swing Republicans' way, but the other in Delaware County, in the Philadelphia suburbs, will be more competitive. It's the second time this year that Democrats have sweated the outcome of House special elections, and they hope to be just as lucky as before.

The stakes are high: A Democratic victory in Delaware County would give first-term Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro at least one chamber to aid his agenda going into the final month of budget negotiations. The results could also affect a proposed constitutional amendment on abortion rights that legislative Republicans are one House vote away from putting before voters as a referendum.

In that race, Democrat Heather Boyd, a former congressional and state legislative aide, is competing against Republican Katie Ford, a military veteran, school volunteer and behavioral therapist. The seat opened up in March after the resignation of Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel, who was accused by a labor lobbyist of sexual harassment.

Zabel flipped what had been a reliably Republican district when he was elected in 2018, thanks in part to a voting pattern shift in recent years toward Democrats in Delaware County and the other Philadelphia ring counties of Bucks, Chester and Montgomery. The district gave its vote by comfortable margins last year to Zabel as well as Shapiro and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman.

Boyd reported raising more than $1.3 million, including more than $1 million in in-kind advertising from the House Democrats' campaign arm and the Democratic Party. Ford reported raising about $146,000, more than half of which came from the House Republicans' campaign arm. Shapiro cut an ad for Boyd that focused on the abortion issue and this week President Joe Biden endorsed her, which is unusual in a state legislative contest.

In the second House special election Tuesday in central Pennsylvania, candidates will be competing to succeed Republican Lynda Schlegel Culver, who resigned after winning a special election in January to fill a state Senate vacancy. The district consists of Montour County and parts of Northumberland County.

Democrats took control of the chamber in November for the first time in 12 years and then had to sweep three special elections earlier this year to hold on to their edge. With the two vacancies, the House's breakdown currently sits at 101 Democrats and 100 Republicans.

Control of Pennsylvania's House remains a key prize ahead of the 2024 presidential election, which could hinge on the Keystone State. Although the state will remain under divided partisan control, with a Democratic governor and a Republican-majority Senate, a GOP-led House could give Republicans more leverage in battles over voting procedures and even decide who the electors are in the presidential contest.

Underscoring those stakes, Biden on Monday called Boyd "an experienced public servant who will protect a woman's right to make her own health care decisions, stand up for common sense gun safety laws and expand access to voting rights."

In the Delaware County race, Boyd has emphasized protection of abortion rights, drawing a contrast with Ford, who is personally against abortion but says she does not want to change existing state law. Ford has also said she will vote against her fellow Republicans if they continue to advance the constitutional amendment that says the Pennsylvania Constitution does not guarantee any rights relating to abortion or public funding of abortions.

Ford has criticized Boyd, who has been a leading Democratic Party official in Delaware County, for not responding more forcefully when she learned about the allegations against Zabel. Boyd said she respected the lobbyist's request for confidentiality about her claim that Zabel caressed her leg while they discussed legislation outside the Capitol in 2018 and did not stop when she moved away from him.

"Common sense says that if someone comes to you and says that they're being sexually harassed, you do something about it," Ford said during a televised debate. "You don't just let it go." Boyd responded that she did not endorse or support Zabel after hearing of the lobbyist's account, and says she tried unsuccessfully to find someone to run against Zabel.

Polls across the state close in one hour. 

Anyone in line by 8 p.m. is still allowed to cast their vote. 

Anecdotally, voter turnout has been low, a spokesperson for Allegheny County said.  

The "vast majority" of the staff assigned to the warehouse was cut at 12:30 p.m. because their work is done. The county said a smaller staff of about a dozen people reviewed the mail and ballots returned Monday and Tuesday morning and about 3,700 more ballots have been scanned. 

Any ballots received on Saturday or before that couldn't be counted because they were naked, had no signature, no date or the wrong date were all returned to the voter with information on how to cure the ballot. 

The county said ballots that fell into those categories that were received Monday and Tuesday are being entered into the system as rejected. Voters with an email address tied to their account will receive a notification that they can go to their polling place and vote with a provisional ballot if they want, the county said.

The polls close at 8 p.m. 

Workers in Allegheny County have started scanning ballots at the warehouse.

In an update shortly before noon, a spokesperson for Allegheny County said staff began extracting ballots around 9:15 a.m. and started scanning shortly after 10 a.m.

"The first mail run resulting in approximately 3,000 ballots and almost 650 were returned to the County Office Building yesterday and transported to the warehouse this morning. Staff is currently checking the returns into SURE," the county said.   

The county said there's been a few reports about construction or other road closures around two polling places in Pittsburgh and Bridgeville and officials have communicated with the municipalities about the issues. 

Two other locations -- Munhall 00-01 and East Pittsburgh 01-00 -- opened late. The county said one was because the building owner didn't open in time and the other was because the judge of elections was late.

Allegheny County executive candidate Michael Lamb cast his ballot. 

Lamb, the current Pittsburgh city controller, is challenging five other Democrats for the county executive. 

Incumbent Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala continued a family tradition and voted together on Tuesday.   

Allegheny County Democrats will have the chance keep Zappala, a long-term veteran, in office or nominate a new district attorney. Zappala is challenged by Matt Dugan, a public defender. 

John Weinstein, another Democrat vying for the role of Allegheny County executive, has cast his ballot in Kennedy Township.

Weinstein is currently serving as the Allegheny County treasurer, challenging five other Democrats for the title of county executive.

The first update of the day from Allegheny County at 8:30 a.m. said two polling places opened late this morning because the facilities were not opened by the building owners on time.

However, both Pittsburgh 19-11 (Ream Recreation Center) and Sharpsburg 00-01 (Madonna of Jerusalem Church) are open now and voting is underway, county officials said.

At polling place Pittsburgh 16-06, "the Judge of Elections did not arrive, so Sheriffs were dispatched to pick up poll materials. A new poll book was opened and voting was underway while they were waiting for that delivery."

Allegheny County officials also report an altercation at Pittsburgh 32-07 between poll workers and a constable. Pittsburgh police responded to the scene and addressed the issue, the said. 

Meanwhile, at the Elections warehouse, staff began opening declaration envelopes and extracting secrecy envelopes around 7:40 AM.

--Update from Allegheny County's Director of Communications

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State Representative Sara Innamorato (D) has cast her vote in this 2023 election.

Innamorato is looking to win the Democratic nomination for Allegheny County executive, challenging five other Democrats who are looking to replace longtime County Executive Rich Fitzgerald.

Polls have officially opened in Pennsylvania.

 Anyone in line by 8 p.m. will be allowed to cast their vote.   

Allegheny County Democrats will nominate one of the six candidates for county executive. The winner will face Republican Joe Rockey this fall. 

In the last of a multi-part series, KDKA-TV political editor Jon Delano asks each of the candidates why voters should choose them over their competitors.  

Six Democrats want to replace Rich Fitzgerald as County executive, including former Pittsburgh school board president Theresa Sciulli Colaizzi, former county councilman Dave Fawcett, state representative Sara Innamorato, Pittsburgh city controller Michael Lamb, mobile app developer Will Parker and county treasurer John Weinstein.

Allegheny County Democrats will have the chance to nominate a new district attorney or keep in place a long-term veteran of the office.   

The race between two Democratic women for one at-large seat on Allegheny County Council has drawn some sharp words.

Party nominees for four statewide judicial posts, including one on the Supreme Court, will be settled in Tuesday's primary election in Pennsylvania.

Democrats currently hold a 4-2 majority on the state's highest court, which is playing a prominent role in settling disputes over voting rights, abortion rights and gun rights in the presidential battleground state.

Running on the Democratic ticket are Dan McCaffery of Philadelphia and Deborah Kunselman of Beaver County. Both of them currently sit on the state Superior Court, a statewide appellate body that handles appeals from county courts in criminal and civil cases.

Competing on the Republican ticket are Carolyn Carluccio, a Montgomery County judge; and Patricia McCullough, a judge on the Commonwealth Court, a statewide appellate court that handles cases involving government agencies or challenges to state laws.

McCullough, of Allegheny County, also ran for state Supreme Court in 2021 and lost in the primary.

The high court seat is open following the death last year of Max Baer, who was chief justice.

The court has handled a number of hot-button issues over the past few years. It is currently examining a challenge to a state law that restricts the use of public funds to help women get an abortion, as well as Philadelphia's challenge to a state law that bars it and other municipalities from restricting the sale and possession of guns.

In recent years, justices rejected a request to invalidate the state's death penalty law and upheld the constitutionality of the state's expansive mail-in voting law.

The court also turned away challenges to the 2020 presidential election from Republicans who wanted to keep Donald Trump in power, and ruled on a variety of lawsuits filed over gray areas in the mail-in voting law.

In one 2020 election case, the court ordered counties to count mail-in ballots that arrived up to three days after polls closed, citing delays in mail service caused by disruptions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ruling spurred an outcry among Republicans, who challenged the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nation's highest court ultimately declined to take the case. Still, the ballots - nearly 10,000 of them - were never tabulated or added to vote counts because the election was certified while their fate remained in legal limbo. State elections officials said the votes weren't enough to change the results of a federal election.

Five candidates are running for two open seats on the Superior Court, from which one judge retired and where another will reach the mandatory retirement age of 75 later this year.

On the Democratic ticket are Jill Beck, Pat Dugan and Timika Lane. Dugan is president judge of the Philadelphia Municipal Court, Lane is a Philadelphia Common Pleas Court judge and Beck, of Pittsburgh, is a lawyer in private practice who has clerked on the state Superior and Supreme courts.

Both Beck and Lane ran for an open seat on the Superior Court in 2021 but lost, Beck in the primary and Lane in the general election.

On Republican ballots will be Harry Smail, a Westmoreland County judge, and Marie Battista, a Clarion County lawyer.

Battista is a former county prosecutor who ran unsuccessfully for Clarion County district attorney in 2019.

For Commonwealth Court, one seat is open after Republican judge Kevin Brobson was elected to the state Supreme Court in 2021.

On Democratic ballots is Matt Wolf, a Philadelphia Municipal Court judge, and Bryan Neft, a trial lawyer from Pittsburgh.

On Republican ballots are Megan Martin, who spent more than a decade as parliamentarian of the state Senate, and Joshua Prince, a Berks County lawyer best known for taking on gun rights cases.