This race could affect Pennsylvanians more than the presidential election. Can Democrats win-
Nicole Ruscitto, the Democratic challenger to Republican incumbent Delvin Robinson, is on a mission to flip the state senate seat in Pennsylvania. During a rainy Tuesday afternoon in Bethel Park, a suburb about 30 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh, Ruscitto took to the streets, knocking on doors and reminding residents about the upcoming election.
“Hi, I’m Nicole. I’m running for state senate in your district,” she shared with voters outside their quaint red brick homes, a community that seems to be divided between supporters of Donald Trump and Kamala Harris. “I want to go to Harrisburg to help improve the lives of our families.”
In a pivotal swing state that both Trump and Harris are targeting for the presidential election, Ruscitto is campaigning for an office that may not grab national headlines as much as the White House or Congressional races, but has significant implications for everyday life in Pennsylvania.
For three decades, the Democratic Party has faced challenges gaining power in the state’s general assembly. On November 5, Ruscitto, a schoolteacher and former town councilmember, along with three other candidates, hopes to change that dynamic. If Democrats control the senate and the house of representatives—currently, they have just a one-seat majority in the latter—they would have the opportunity to advance a range of legislation that has been stalled by Republicans. This includes measures to increase the minimum wage and expand abortion rights.
“If we can secure that trifecta, Governor Shapiro would be able to implement meaningful changes for the people of Pennsylvania, and I am fully committed to making that happen,” Ruscitto stated in an interview at her campaign office.
While many Americans are focused on the presidential race, there are 5,808 legislative seats across 44 states up for grabs this November, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The decisions voters make could have unprecedented consequences. In recent years, state governments have taken the lead on policy issues, filling the void left by partisan gridlock in Washington.
The contrasts between laws in red and blue states are stark. In Democratic-led states, governors have taken steps to safeguard abortion access, implement measures against climate change, tackle gun violence, and simplify voting processes. In contrast, Republican-led states have made moves to restrict abortion access, limit gender-affirming care for transgender youth, block gun control measures locally, and increase the influence of religion in public schools.
There are states where both the legislature and the governor’s mansion are controlled by one party, while others—like Wisconsin, Kansas, and North Carolina—have mixed leadership. Pennsylvania stands out as the only state in the country where each house of the general assembly is held by a different party.
As part of Democrats’ “blue wall” along the Great Lakes, Pennsylvania has typically supported party candidates in recent presidential elections, although polls show a dead heat between Trump and Harris this year. Democrats have seen some victories at the state level, such as the elections of Governor Shapiro and U.S. Senator John Fetterman in 2022, but they have not controlled the general assembly since 1994.
John J. Kennedy, a political science professor at West Chester University, attributes this ongoing struggle to Republicans strategically drawing district maps and to the geographical concentration of Democratic voters in urban areas. “Democrats face a natural disadvantage in Pennsylvania because they tend to waste more votes,” he explained. “Their voters are clustered, making it harder to secure a majority of seats.”
The political landscape began to shift two years ago when Democrats narrowly gained control of the house during the midterm elections, driven by widespread outrage over the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. However, with Republicans still holding the state senate, many legislative initiatives—like a proposed bill to protect abortion rights—have stalled.
Vincent Hughes, a Democratic senator and campaign chair of the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Campaign Committee, believes that more voters are recognizing the significance of legislative races. He pointed to Trump’s efforts to persuade Republicans in swing states to support his attempts to overturn the 2020 election results as a turning point in awareness.
“There’s been a clearer understanding of the importance of state legislators nationally in the past few years, leading to greater engagement in down-ballot races at the state level,” Hughes noted during an interview.
Democratic hopes for a majority rest on capturing competitive districts around Erie, Harrisburg, and two suburban areas of Pittsburgh, including the one where Ruscitto is challenging Robinson. A Marine Corps veteran and businessman, Robinson won his seat by defeating a Democratic incumbent four years ago and subsequently supported efforts to contest the state’s election results.
Ruscitto is banking on her focus on cost-of-living issues alongside her personal background as an educator, coupled with critiques of Robinson’s support for a measure that could restrict abortion access, as strategies to gain an advantage.
“It’s absurd that we have the lowest minimum wage, and it just sits in our state senate without being passed,” she asserted.
Residents of the district have noted that Robinson has increased his outreach efforts as election day draws near. Joyce Reinoso, a retired teacher who advocates for labor and public education rights, acknowledged the challenges Ruscitto faces due to Robinson’s incumbency. “It’s always tougher to unseat an incumbent primarily because of name recognition,” she remarked.
Internal polling from Ruscitto’s campaign shows her narrowly leading Robinson by just two percentage points, which is within the margin of error. The University of Virginia’s Center for Politics has rated Pennsylvania’s House as a toss-up, although they believe the GOP has the upper hand in maintaining control of the senate.
In Bethel Park, which gained national attention earlier this year when a local man attempted to attack the former president, the atmosphere reflects divisions among voters. Trump yard signs and Harris supporters’ flags are visible side by side, while both candidates’ ads dominate media. However, yard signs for Ruscitto and Robinson are relatively few, and strong opinions appear to be limited.
At Ma and Pop’s Country Kitchen, retired bookkeeper Sandy Messiner made her voting intentions clear. “If Trump gets in, my investments will go up. We need a businessman to run this country,” said the 70-year-old, expressing commitment to vote for all the Republicans on the ballot.
At the counter, Pam Cirucci, an 83-year-old retired nurse who had previously supported Republicans, indicated she wouldn’t be backing Trump this time around, citing his disrespect for women. She was less focused on party control of the legislature, believing there were “more important issues at stake.”
