Democrat Matt Cartwright Wins Pennsylvania Congressional Race Against Republican Jim Bognet

Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) has won his election in the race for Pennsylvania’s Eighth Congressional District against Republican challenger Jim Bognet.

The race was called on Wednesday afternoon, after polls in Luzerne County — part of Pennsylvania’s Eighth Congressional District — closed later than expected on Tuesday night due to problems with voters’ ballots that caused delays and last-minute errand runs by poll workers.

BREAKING: Democrat Rep. Matt Cartwright wins re-election in Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district https://t.co/nXg1IzLJ2W pic.twitter.com/KZsQdUM8Tv

— Bloomberg (@business) November 9, 2022

Earlier in the day, a judge ruled that polling places in Luzerne County should stay open until 10:00 p.m. after several locations reported problems, including paper shortages.

During his campaign, Cartwright bizarrely painted himself as the pro-border security candidate — despite Cartwright’s pro-illegal immigration voting record.

In 2018, Cartwright said he supports comprehensive immigration reform and a path to citizenship for up to 13 million illegal immigrants, stating, “We have something like 11, 12, 13 million people living in the shadows in this country. My idea is let’s make taxpayers of those people.”

“My idea is comprehensive immigration reform, a tough but fair path to citizenship, and let’s get past this horrible bickering over immigration,” he added.

In 2017, Cartwright also voted against the “Criminal Alien Gang Member Removal Act,” a bill that authorizes the deportation of any immigrant suspected of gang membership. In 2015, he voted against the “Enforce the Law for Sanctuary Cities Act,” a bill that prohibits funding to state or local governments that restrict law enforcement from requesting an individual’s citizenship or immigration status.

Other Democrat victories in Pennsylvania included John Fetterman, who won his U.S. Senate race over Republican opponent Dr. Mehmet Oz.

Fetterman, who was oftentimes seen on the campaign trail clad in basketball shorts and a hoodie, suffered a stroke in May, after which point he has dealt with auditory processing issues, and his struggles with speaking have been apparent in public appearances. He has had to rely on a closed captioning system to communicate.

Pennsylvania voters also reelected a Democrat state representative who died last month.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.