Lt. Governor – Democratic Nomination
It’s still a nail biter – and there will likely be ballot challenges in some ares – but early results show that State Rep. Scott Conklin has come out of no where as a late entry to the race to possibly topple the state party endorsed candidate out of Philadelphia, Jonathan Saidel. In his last election to the state House, Rep. Conklin had an A rating from NRA and earned their endorsement. With 99.2% of precincts reporting at about 9am, Conklin leads by 4,654 votes. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the lead grows as the final votes come in.

Senate District 14 – Democratic Nomination
NRA endorsed State Rep. John Yudichak had a commanding victory over anti-gun mayor Tom Leighton. This seat is likely to remain in Democratic hands, as it has been for decades, so the Democratic primary was essentially the election to watch. Leighton is a member of Michael Bloomberg’s anti-gun coalition calling for an end to gun shows in Pennsylvania. We congratulate Senator-elect Yudichak for his decisive victory.

Governor – Republican Nomination
Either of the candidates in the Republican primary would have been great for gun owners. They both had strong records of defending the Second Amendment, and we’re very proud to see Attorney General Tom Corbett carrying the banner into November. Of course, we also regret that the State Rep. Sam Rohrer will be departing the State House since he opted not to run for his local seat during the primary. Hopefully his replacement in the seat will be as worthy of the support of gun owners as Rep. Rohrer has been over the years.

Senate District 22 – Democratic Nomination
This is a mixed bag election for gun owners. On one hand, the NRA backed candidate – State Rep. Jim Wansacz – did not make the final cut for November. On the other hand, the extreme anti-gun Mayor of Scranton did not survive either. A dark horse candidate won the race, and we hope to find out more about his position on guns rights in the future. This is his first elected office, and he was backed by the retiring pro-gun Senator for this open seat. For anti-gun Chris Doherty, this is his second setback in a few months after his campaign for governor floundered. Calling in the big guns, the anti-gun leader brought in Bill Clinton to record phone calls for him, though it did no good.

Overall, we’re sending a great message to Harrisburg: Your anti-gun candidates will not survive the electoral games this year. It doesn’t matter if you have the backing of Michael Bloomberg and his ally Bill Clinton, NRA members will make sure your race goes down in defeat.

Now comes the harder part where we step in for the final months to turn out the vote in November. We need your help to make sure Harrisburg and Washington are filled with pro-rights supporters.

Federal Offices

PA-15
Representative Charlie Dent has been an ally of gun owners for years, but he’s got a top-tier challenger backed by the Washington, DC Democrats and President Barack Obama. His challenger, John Callahan, is currently funded by NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg in a coordinated effort to undermine preemption of gun laws in Pennsylvania and undo the key Supreme Court decision that ensures our laws are consistent throughout the state. He works closely with a lobbyist for the Brady Campaign to promote more gun control at the local level.

If we don’t re-elect Rep. Dent, we’ll see an A rated seat flip to F overnight.

PA-12
An initial look at early names dropped for the seat appeared very bright for gun owners, but question marks linger. Since that early peek, more names have been mentioned as likely competitors and some have already removed themselves from the race. Unfortunately, a good number of the names floated have no record on our Second Amendment rights. Until candidates are finalized by party leaders, we may not know whether gun owners have a friend in the race.

This previously A rated seat may be headed into unknown territory unless gun owners call their respective political party leaders and let them know that any nominee for the special election to replace Rep. John Murtha should share his dedication to our rights.

State Offices

Senate District 14
With the retirement of Senator Ray Musto, a previously A rated seat is now up for grabs. There are two known Democratic candidates who are running for the seat, one who has a record in support of our rights and another who is working with anti-gun forces. State Rep. John Yudichak is an A rated and previously endorsed lawmaker with an eye on the seat. His primary challenger is Tom Leighton who, like one previously mentioned candidate, is also working with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg to undermine preemption of gun laws and undo a major Supreme Court decision on the matter. Leighton also works closely with the Brady Campaign lobbyist in this effort.

Senate District 22
The retirement of Senator Bob Mellow is particularly noteworthy for gun owners across the state. As the highest ranking Democrat in the State Senate, his support for the Second Amendment made him a powerful ally within the Senate and his party. With an A- rating, a flip of his seat to an anti-gun candidate would be tremendous loss. Among candidate names floated so far, this seat could upgrade to an A or downgrade to an extremely anti-gun candidate.

State Rep. Jim Wansacz currently holds an A rating and has declared his candidacy for the seat. However, since Chris Doherty has abandoned his gubernatorial run and in an effort to take the Senate seat, this will be a hot primary race for gun owners. Doherty has called for an end to preemption of gun laws in the state, meaning your concealed carry license may no longer be valid from town to town and various types of guns may be banned in different cities. He also wants to limit the number of firearms gun owners may purchase, and presumably, create a registry to track such sales in accordance with the policy he is pushing.

11 House Seats
Due to retirements, efforts to reach higher office, and early resignations, there are 11 seats open that have been previously rated A or higher. Those who run for these seats are usually political newcomers or in offices that have little to do with Second Amendment and hunting issues. As usual, NRA-ILA will send out questionnaires to the candidates to get them on the record. However, the final list of candidates won’t be available until after petitions have been returned to appropriate election officials.

How to Help

There are three key ways to support pro-gun candidates right now.

1. The easiest way is to donate money, especially if they have a primary battle for their party’s nomination. Those elections are now three months out, so there is not much time to spare in order to raise money and get word out quickly.
2. The cheapest way to help a candidate is to volunteer your time.  Beginning today, candidates need to collect signatures in order to get on the ballot, and those deadlines are approaching.  Lending a few hours of your time is highly valuable to a campaign, and it costs you nothing.
3. The minimum effort gun owners need to put out right now is letting their friends and family members know who to support.  Make sure everyone is registered to vote, and make sure they know who you are voting for in the next election.  If you won’t open your wallet or donate your time, gun owners must absolutely open their mouths to promote candidates to everyone they know in the district.

These races show that we’re at risk here in Pennsylvania.  If we end up filling pro-gun seats with anti-gun candidates, the next big attack on gun rights will happen right here in the Keystone State.  It’s up to us to make sure that these candidates who loathe our Second Amendment rights are sent to the curb, and these seats remain in pro-Second Amendment hands.  Don’t put your hunting and gun rights on the line this year.