Editing Pennsylvania (section)

==Politics==
{{main|Politics of Pennsylvania}}
{{see also|Elections in Pennsylvania}}
{| class="wikitable sortable floatright" style="text-align: right;" width="32%"
|+ Voter registration totals as of April 28, 2025<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/dos/resources/voting-and-elections-resources/voting-and-election-statistics.html|title=Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Voter Registration Statistics — Official April 28, 2025|publisher=Pennsylvania Department of State}}</ref>
|-
! colspan="2" | Party
! Registered voters
! Percentage
|-
| {{party color cell|Democratic Party (United States)}}
| {{center|[[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]]}}
| style="text-align:center;" | 3,805,111
| style="text-align:center;" | 43.01%
|-
| {{party color cell|Republican Party (United States)}}
| {{center|[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]}}
| style="text-align:center;" | 3,628,588
| style="text-align:center;" | 41.02%
|-
| {{party color cell|Independent Party (United States)}}
| {{center|Unaffiliated}}
| style="text-align:center;" | 1,091,326
| style="text-align:center;" | 12.34%
|-
| {{party color cell|Libertarian Party (United States)}}
| {{center|Other/minor parties}}
| style="text-align:center;" | 321,437
| style="text-align:center;" | 3.63%
|-
! colspan="2" | Total
! style="text-align:center;" | 8,846,462
! style="text-align:center;" | 100.00%
|-
|}

[[File:Pennsylvania Presidential Election Results 2024.svg|thumb|[[2024 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|2024 U.S. presidential election results]] by county in Pennsylvania{{leftlegend|#4389E3|Democratic}}{{leftlegend|#AA0000|Republican}}]]
Since the latter half of the 20th century, Pennsylvania has been perceived as a powerful [[swing state]], and winning Pennsylvania has since been deemed as essential to [[President of the United States|U.S. presidential candidates]]. Only thrice between [[1932 United States presidential election|1932]] and [[1988 United States presidential election|1988]] (1932, 1948, and [[1968 United States presidential election|1968]], with [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]], [[Harry S. Truman]], and [[Richard Nixon]], respectively) has a presidential candidate been able to win the White House while losing Pennsylvania.

Between 1992 and 2016, Pennsylvania trended [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] in presidential elections; [[Bill Clinton]] won the state twice by large margins and [[Al Gore]] won it by a slightly closer margin in 2000. In the 2004 presidential election, [[John F. Kerry]] beat President [[George W. Bush]] in Pennsylvania, 2,938,095 (51%) to 2,793,847 (48%). In the 2008 presidential election, Democrat [[Barack Obama]] defeated [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] [[John McCain]] in Pennsylvania, 3,276,363 (54%) to 2,655,885 (44%).

In the [[2016 United States presidential election]], however, Republican [[Donald Trump]] broke the Democratic streak in the state, winning by 2,970,733 (48%) votes to 2,926,441 (47%) votes.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/donald-trump-becomes-st-republican-to-win-pennsylvania-since/article_9173e044-a647-11e6-885f-a35dd164ac8c.html|title=Donald Trump becomes 1st Republican to win Pennsylvania since 1988|agency=Associated Press|newspaper=LancasterOnline|access-date=November 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112051813/http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/donald-trump-becomes-st-republican-to-win-pennsylvania-since/article_9173e044-a647-11e6-885f-a35dd164ac8c.html|archive-date=November 12, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> The state returned to the Democratic column in [[2020 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|2020]] by voting for [[Joe Biden]] over Trump, 3,458,229 (50%) to 3,377,674 (49%). In [[2024 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania|2024]], Pennsylvania swung back to Trump, with the former president winning 3,543,308 (50%) to Vice President [[Kamala Harris]]’s 3,423,042 (49%). The state holds 19 [[United States Electoral College|electoral]] votes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=List of State Electoral Votes For The 2024 Election |url=https://state.1keydata.com/state-electoral-votes.php |access-date=February 6, 2023 |website=state.1keydata.com}}</ref>

Despite voting for the Democratic ticket for president in every election between 1992 and 2012, Pennsylvania has a history of electing Republican U.S. senators. From 2009 to 2011, the state was represented by two Democratic senators for the first time since 1947 after Republican Senator [[Arlen Specter]] switched party affiliation. In 2010, Republicans recaptured a U.S. Senate seat and a majority of the state's congressional seats, control of both chambers of the state legislature, and the governorship. Democrats won back the governorship, however, four years later in the [[Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 2014|2014 election]]. It was the first time since a governor became eligible for reelection that an incumbent governor had been defeated in a reelection bid.

Historically, Democratic strength was concentrated in Philadelphia in the southeast, the Pittsburgh, and [[Johnstown, Pennsylvania|Johnstown]] areas in the southwest, and [[Scranton, Pennsylvania|Scranton]] and [[Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania|Wilkes-Barre]] in the northeast. Republican strength was concentrated in the Philadelphia suburbs and the more rural areas in the state's central, northeastern, and western portions, some of which have long been considered among the nation's most conservative areas. Since 1992, however, the Philadelphia suburbs have swung Democratic; the brand of Republicanism there was traditionally moderate. In the 21st century, however, Pittsburgh suburbs, which historically had been Democratic strongholds, have swung more Republican.

Democratic political consultant [[James Carville]] once pejoratively described Pennsylvania as "Philadelphia in the east, Pittsburgh in the west, and Alabama in the middle", suggesting that political power in the state was based in its two largest cities, which have been reliably Democratic, offset by the state's large rural power base, which has proven equally reliably Republican. Political analysts and editorials refer to central Pennsylvania as the "T" in statewide elections. The state's three valleys ([[Delaware Valley|Delaware]], [[Lehigh Valley|Lehigh]], and [[Wyoming Valley|Wyoming]] Valleys) and [[Greater Pittsburgh]] generally vote Democratic, while the majority of the counties in the central part of the state vote Republican. As a result, maps showing the results of statewide elections invariably form a shape that resembles a "T".

Pennsylvania retains the [[death penalty]], although there is currently a gubernatorial hold on executions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=State by State |url=https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-and-federal-info/state-by-state |access-date=April 12, 2023 |website=Death Penalty Information Center |language=en-US}}</ref>

===Federal representation===
{{Main|Pennsylvania's congressional districts}}
{{see also|United States congressional delegations from Pennsylvania}}
Pennsylvania's two [[United States Senate|U.S. senators]] are Republican [[Dave McCormick]] and Democrat [[John Fetterman]].

Pennsylvania has [[Pennsylvania's congressional districts|17 seats]] in the [[United States House of Representatives|U.S. House of Representatives]] as of 2023.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/PA |title=Pennsylvania's Members of Congress & Congressional District Map |access-date=February 11, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325150517/http://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/PA |archive-date=March 25, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref>