Pennsylvania: who should earn your vote for Congress in 2026

Opinion · The paper’s scorecard

Pennsylvania: every race for Congress on the 3 November 2026 ballot, and how the candidates measure up against our standards.

Sitting and former members are scored on the same key votes, read from the official House and Senate roll calls; each vote links to the record. Candidates who have never served in Congress have no votes to score, and outside the battlegrounds we have not researched them, so they are marked as not scored. Where only one candidate could be measured, the mark rates that record on its own; it is not a verdict on the opponent. How the marks work · All states

District 1 D+1

✓ Meets our standards: Brian Fitzpatrick

Meets our standards

Brian Fitzpatrick

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 27 key votes · total +4

✓Smaller government
✓Small business over giants
✓Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
✗No surveillance state
✓Home first, open trade
✓Checks on power
✗Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (14)

Voted for the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source
Voted for the 2022 antitrust package funding merger enforcement with fees on the largest deals. Source

Against us (13)

Voted against the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source
Voted for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which civil-liberties groups opposed as a limit on campus speech. Source

Bob Harvie

Democrat

No congressional voting record; not scored

District 2 D+19

No mark

Jessica Arriaga

Republican

No congressional voting record; not scored

Brendan Boyle

Democrat · incumbent

Scored on 25 key votes · total -1

✗Smaller government
~Small business over giants
✓Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
~Free speech
✗No surveillance state
✓Home first, open trade
~Checks on power
✗Right to bear arms
✗Hard on violent crime

With us (9)

Voted for the 2022 antitrust package funding merger enforcement with fees on the largest deals. Source
Voted for the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the CLARITY Act, a light-touch rulebook for digital assets. Source

Against us (16)

Voted against the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted against the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted against a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

District 3 D+40

No mark

Dwight Evans (D): incumbent retiring.

Dennis Mahoney

Independent

No congressional voting record; not scored

Chris Rabb

Democrat

No congressional voting record; not scored

District 4 D+8

No mark

Madeleine Dean

Democrat · incumbent

Scored on 27 key votes · total -3

✗Smaller government
~Small business over giants
✓Live and let live
✗Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
~No surveillance state
✓Home first, open trade
~Checks on power
✗Right to bear arms
✗Hard on violent crime

With us (9)

Voted for the 2022 antitrust package funding merger enforcement with fees on the largest deals. Source
Voted for the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, barring agencies from buying Americans' data without a warrant. Source

Against us (18)

Voted against the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted against the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted against a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Aurora Stuski

Republican

No congressional voting record; not scored

District 5 D+15

No mark

Nicholas Manganaro

Republican

No congressional voting record; not scored

Mary Gay Scanlon

Democrat · incumbent

Scored on 26 key votes · total +0

✗Smaller government
~Small business over giants
✓Live and let live
✗Light touch on tech
~Free speech
✓No surveillance state
✓Home first, open trade
✓Checks on power
✗Right to bear arms
✗Hard on violent crime

With us (12)

Voted for the 2022 antitrust package funding merger enforcement with fees on the largest deals. Source
Voted for the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted against the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which civil-liberties groups opposed as a limit on campus speech. Source

Against us (14)

Voted against the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted against the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted against a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

District 6 D+6

No mark

Chrissy Houlahan

Democrat · incumbent

Scored on 27 key votes · total -3

✗Smaller government
✗Small business over giants
✓Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
✗No surveillance state
✓Home first, open trade
~Checks on power
✗Right to bear arms
✗Hard on violent crime

With us (8)

Voted for the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the CLARITY Act, a light-touch rulebook for digital assets. Source
Voted against a further clean extension of FISA surveillance authorities in 2026. Source

Against us (19)

Voted against the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted against the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted against a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Marty Young

Republican

No congressional voting record; not scored

District 7 R+1

No mark

Bob Brooks

Democrat

No votes in Congress: scored on platform and record, promises at half weight · total +1.5

✗Smaller government
✓Small business over giants
✓Live and let live
~Light touch on tech
?Free speech
?No surveillance state
✓Home first, open trade
✓Checks on power
~Right to bear arms
?Hard on violent crime

With us (4)

Platform calls for 'antitrust action' against companies 'using their market power to raise prices', a crackdown on 'price-gouging utility monopolies', banning private-equity firms from buying up houses, and banning corporate PAC money. Source
Pledges to defend marriage equality and anti-discrimination laws: 'It's not the business of the government to dictate who people love and how they live.' Source
Platform says 'End the illegal war in Iran', calling it 'unauthorized' and faulting his opponent for voting five times to continue it; he also says 'stop endless wars' while backing aid to Ukraine and NATO allies. Source

Against us (1)

Platform calls for Medicare for All, universal pre-K, paid family leave, a billionaire minimum tax and removing the Social Security payroll-tax cap (Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act). Source

Ryan Mackenzie

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 11 key votes · total +1

✓Smaller government
✓Small business over giants
?Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
?Free speech
✗No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
✗Checks on power
?Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (6)

Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source
Voted for the Small Business Regulatory Reduction Act. Source

Against us (5)

Voted for a further clean extension of FISA surveillance authorities in 2026. Source
Voted against ending the emergency behind the tariffs on Canada. Source
Voted against the September 2026 resolution directing U.S. forces out of hostilities with Iran. Source

District 8 R+4

Closer to our standards: Paige Cognetti

Rob Bresnahan

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 11 key votes · total +1

✓Smaller government
✓Small business over giants
?Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
?Free speech
✗No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
✗Checks on power
?Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (6)

Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source
Voted for the Small Business Regulatory Reduction Act. Source

Against us (5)

Voted for a further clean extension of FISA surveillance authorities in 2026. Source
Voted against ending the emergency behind the tariffs on Canada. Source
Voted against the September 2026 resolution directing U.S. forces out of hostilities with Iran. Source

Closer to our standards

Paige Cognetti

Democrat

No votes in Congress: scored on platform and record, promises at half weight · total +2.5

✓Smaller government
✓Small business over giants
?Live and let live
~Light touch on tech
?Free speech
?No surveillance state
✓Home first, open trade
✓Checks on power
✗Right to bear arms
~Hard on violent crime

With us (6)

Under her administration Scranton left Pennsylvania's Act 47 distressed-city programme (January 2022) after 30 years, won an investment-grade bond rating and has not needed a tax anticipation note since 2022; the Times-Tribune notes the exit capped decades of work by several administrations. Source
Proposes 'a comprehensive, mandatory, independent audit of every federal agency' and says she would cut waste 'with a scalpel, not a chainsaw'; also backs a No Budget, No Pay bill. Source
Pledges to 'break up the huge monopolies that hurt our small businesses', end 'Big Box monopolies', give 'no tax breaks for wealthy corporations' building data centers, and 'cut red tape, make permitting make sense' so more businesses can start. Source

Against us (3)

Her priorities include 'capping credit card fees', paid family leave and reforming insurers' ability to deny claims, all new federal mandates on private firms. Source
At a June 2020 town hall, as quoted by WVIA, she said: 'I would love to get to a world where, a country where we don't have, where police don't have firearms, and where we don't have firearms (and) that citizens aren't carrying them either … I lived in Japan for a couple years. There are no guns there, and it's lovely.' Source
NRA-PVF grades Cognetti 'F' for the 3 November 2026 general election (its lowest grade, defined as 'a consistent anti-gun candidate'); incumbent Rob Bresnahan is graded A and endorsed. The page does not list the positions behind the grade. Source

District 9 R+19

✓ Meets our standards: Dan Meuser

Meets our standards

Dan Meuser

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 26 key votes · total +3

✓Smaller government
~Small business over giants
✗Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
✓No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
✓Checks on power
✓Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (17)

Voted for the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Against us (9)

Voted against the 2022 antitrust package funding merger enforcement with fees on the largest deals. Source
Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source

Rachel Wallace

Democrat

No congressional voting record; not scored

District 10 R+3

No mark

Scott Perry

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 25 key votes · total +1

✓Smaller government
✗Small business over giants
✗Live and let live
?Light touch on tech
~Free speech
✓No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
~Checks on power
✓Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (16)

Voted for the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Against us (9)

Voted against the 2022 antitrust package funding merger enforcement with fees on the largest deals. Source
Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which civil-liberties groups opposed as a limit on campus speech. Source

Janelle Stelson

Democrat

No votes in Congress: scored on platform and record, promises at half weight · total +1.5

✓Smaller government
✓Small business over giants
?Live and let live
~Light touch on tech
?Free speech
?No surveillance state
✓Home first, open trade
✓Checks on power
✗Right to bear arms
~Hard on violent crime

With us (5)

Platform says 'we must address the national deficit', 'I will prioritize cutting wasteful government spending', lists 'Rein in the National Debt and Return to Fiscal Sanity' among housing planks, and attacks the 2025 budget law for adding '$3.4 trillion dollars in new debt.' Source
Her 2024 platform said: 'I do not support a massive, single-payer system like Medicare for All'; the sentence no longer appears in her 2026 platform. Source
Says 'four companies control over half of all chicken processing' and she would 'support legislative efforts to break up consolidation in the marketplace'; backs a farm-equipment right-to-repair law and would 'cut through red tape so our small businesses can thrive.' Source

Against us (2)

Giffords PAC endorsed Stelson (2024, renewed November 2025); its profile says 'she'll be a champion for expanding background checks to all gun sales, implementing lifesaving red flag laws that allow law enforcement officers and families to petition a court to disarm individuals', safe-storage incentives, and 'getting dangerous untraceable ghost guns off of the streets'. Source
NRA-PVF grades Stelson 'F' for the 3 November 2026 general election (its lowest grade, defined as 'a consistent anti-gun candidate'); incumbent Scott Perry is graded A and endorsed. The page does not list the positions behind the grade. Source

District 11 R+11

✓ Meets our standards: Lloyd Smucker

Nancy Mannion

Democrat

No congressional voting record; not scored

Meets our standards

Lloyd Smucker

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 26 key votes · total +2

✓Smaller government
✓Small business over giants
✗Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
✗No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
✓Checks on power
✓Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (15)

Voted for the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Against us (11)

Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source
Voted for the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which civil-liberties groups opposed as a limit on campus speech. Source

District 12 D+10

No mark

James Hayes

Republican

No congressional voting record; not scored

Summer Lee

Democrat · incumbent

Scored on 21 key votes · total -3

✗Smaller government
✗Small business over giants
?Live and let live
✗Light touch on tech
✓Free speech
✓No surveillance state
✓Home first, open trade
✗Checks on power
✗Right to bear arms
✗Hard on violent crime

With us (10)

Voted against the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source
Voted against the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which civil-liberties groups opposed as a limit on campus speech. Source
Voted for the amendment requiring a warrant to search Americans' communications under FISA Section 702 (it failed 212-212). Source

Against us (11)

Voted against the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted against the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted against a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

District 13 R+23

Leans our way: John Joyce

Beth Farnham

Democrat

No congressional voting record; not scored

Leans our way

John Joyce

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 27 key votes · total +1

✓Smaller government
~Small business over giants
✗Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
~No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
~Checks on power
✓Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (16)

Voted for the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Against us (11)

Voted against the 2022 antitrust package funding merger enforcement with fees on the largest deals. Source
Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source

District 14 R+17

No mark

Alan Bradstock

Democrat

No congressional voting record; not scored

Guy Reschenthaler

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 27 key votes · total +0

✓Smaller government
~Small business over giants
✗Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
✗No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
~Checks on power
✓Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (15)

Voted for the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Against us (12)

Voted against the 2022 antitrust package funding merger enforcement with fees on the largest deals. Source
Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source

District 15 R+19

Leans our way: Glenn Thompson

Ray Bilger

Democrat

No congressional voting record; not scored

Leans our way

Glenn Thompson

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 26 key votes · total +1

✓Smaller government
~Small business over giants
✗Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
✗No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
✓Checks on power
✓Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (16)

Voted for the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Against us (10)

Voted against the 2022 antitrust package funding merger enforcement with fees on the largest deals. Source
Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source

District 16 R+11

No mark

Mike Kelly

Republican · incumbent

Scored on 25 key votes · total -1

✓Smaller government
✗Small business over giants
✗Live and let live
✓Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
✗No surveillance state
✗Home first, open trade
~Checks on power
✓Right to bear arms
✓Hard on violent crime

With us (12)

Voted for the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted for a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source
Voted for the CLARITY Act, a light-touch rulebook for digital assets. Source

Against us (13)

Voted against the 2022 antitrust package funding merger enforcement with fees on the largest deals. Source
Voted against the Respect for Marriage Act. Source
Voted for the 2024 law forcing TikTok's sale or ban. Source

Justin Wagner

Democrat

No congressional voting record; not scored

District 17 D+3

No mark

Chris Deluzio

Democrat · incumbent

Scored on 21 key votes · total -5

✗Smaller government
✗Small business over giants
?Live and let live
✗Light touch on tech
✗Free speech
✓No surveillance state
✓Home first, open trade
✗Checks on power
✗Right to bear arms
✗Hard on violent crime

With us (8)

Voted for the amendment requiring a warrant to search Americans' communications under FISA Section 702 (it failed 212-212). Source
Voted against reauthorizing FISA Section 702 without a warrant requirement. Source
Voted for the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, barring agencies from buying Americans' data without a warrant. Source

Against us (13)

Voted against the Limit, Save, Grow Act tying the 2023 debt-limit increase to spending cuts. Source
Voted against the 2025 package cancelling about $9 billion in approved spending. Source
Voted against a balanced-budget amendment to the Constitution. Source

Tony Guy

Republican

No congressional voting record; not scored

Photo credits. Official congressional portraits are works of the U.S. government and in the public domain. Others:

Paige Cognetti: US Department of Labor, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (file, licence)
Janelle Stelson: James Newton / jnewt-maps on Bluesky, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (file, licence)