Stampede to file before deadline for Pennsylvania primary

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Candidates are down to the final hours before Tuesday's deadline to file paperwork to get on Pennsylvania's primary ballots, as large fields shape up for the open governor’s office and U.S. Senate seat.

This year's election is the first time in decades that Pennsylvania has its governor's office and a U.S. Senate seat on the same ballot with no incumbent running.

That has sparked heavy interest from would-be candidates in contests that are viewed as wide open. Almost 20 candidates have filed for those two offices alone.

Save for Democrat Josh Shapiro's near-certain nomination for governor, the national and state parties have not waded into the contests, and neither has former President Donald Trump.

Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term and second-term. Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, is not running again.

The 5 p.m. close-of-business deadline to file enough voter signatures to make Pennsylvania’s May 17 primary ballot also applies to races for lieutenant governor and Congress.

A look at who has filed, according to information from state election officials:

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U.S. SENATE

Both parties will have contested primaries.

Four have filed so far for the Democratic Party's nomination.

They are: emergency room physician Kevin Baumlin; Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, second-term state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta of Philadelphia; and third-term U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb of suburban Pittsburgh.

On the Republican side are seven candidates.

They are: conservative activist Kathy Barnette, who has aligned herself with leading figures in the Trump-led push to overturn 2020's presidential election; real estate investor Jeff Bartos, who was the party's nominee for lieutenant...