The 2014 elections for the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ev ...

were held on November 4, 2014, with all even-numbered districts being contested.

Primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

s were held on May 20, 2014.

Background

The term of office for those elected in 2014 began when the Senate convened in January 2015. Pennsylvania State Senators are elected to four-year terms, with 25 of the 50 seats contested every two years. Republicans have controlled the chamber since the 1994 election (20 years) but Democrats competed to retake the majority. A net Democratic gain of two seats, combined with a win for their ticket of

Tom Wolf Thomas Westerman Wolf (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and businessman serving as the 47th governor of Pennsylvania since 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he defeated Republican incumbent Tom Corbett in the 2014 guber ...

and

Michael J. Stack III Michael Joseph Stack III (born June 5, 1963) is an American attorney and former politician who served as the 33rd lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania from 2015 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a member of the Pe ...

in the 2014 gubernatorial election would have seen Stack become

Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania The lieutenant governor is a constitutional officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The lieutenant governor is elected for a four-year term in the same year as the governor. Each party picks a candidate for lieutenant governor independently o ...

and thus cast the tie-breaking vote to give Democrats the majority. Democrats hoped the unpopularity of Governor

Tom Corbett Thomas Wingett Corbett Jr. (born June 17, 1949) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 46th governor of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Attorney General of Pennsylvania from 1995 ...

would help in their efforts. Instead, the Republicans gained three seats from the Democrats to expand their majority. Democratic Senator

LeAnna Washington LeAnna M. Washington (born July 28, 1945) is an American politician from Pennsylvania who served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 4th district from 2005 to 2014. She served as a member of the Pennsylvania House o ...

of the 4th District was the only incumbent to be defeated in the primary elections. She lost to attorney Art Haywood, shortly after she was charged with diversion of services and

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

for illegally using her legislative staff for campaign purposes. She received 13,708 votes (33.82%) to Haywood's 16,113 (39.75%). Brian Gralnick, the director of the Center for Social Responsibility at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, took 10,711 votes (26.43%).

Results overview

Polling

;District 10 ;District 40

Special election

A special election was held on March 18, 2014, to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of

Mike Waugh Michael L. Waugh (December 17, 1955 – October 8, 2014) was an American politician who served a Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 28th District from 1998 until 2014. Prior to this, Waugh was a member of the Pennsylvania ...

in January 2014.

General election

Source:

Pennsylvania Department of State The Pennsylvania Department of State is a cabinet-level state agency in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The department is headed by the secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Responsibilities *Campaign finance reporting *Charities *Cor ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2014 Pennsylvania Senate election 2014 Pennsylvania elections Pennsylvania Senate elections

Pennsylvania Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ev ...