PHILADELPHIA, May 17 (Reuters) – Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman won the state’s Democratic primary in a critical U.S. Senate race on Tuesday, Edison Research projected, despite being hospitalized. since Friday after suffering a stroke.

Fetterman, a progressive Democrat whose victory over US centrist Conor Lamb came just hours after Fetterman’s campaign said he had a pacemaker implanted to treat irregular heart rhythms that cause stroke, said doctors expect a full recovery.

The Republican Senate primary in Pennsylvania remained too close to be called, with TV wellness celebrity Mehmet Oz – endorsed by former President Donald Trump – vying for the party’s nomination against the former fund manager speculators David McCormick and conservative political commentator Kathy Barnette.

“If you’ll allow me to be brutally honest for a second, 2022 is going to be a tough year for Democrats,” Fetterman said in an email to supporters.

The tattooed, goatee Democrat, who prefers shorts and hoodies to suits, added that “a typical Democrat, running a typical campaign, is going to have a hard time. To win the PA, we’re going to have to do things differently. .”

Meanwhile, U.S. Representative Ted Budd, also backed by Trump, won the Republican Senate nomination for North Carolina on Tuesday, while Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn appeared in danger of losing his seat after a series of scandals. .

The Pennsylvania and North Carolina Senate races will play a vital role in November’s midterm elections in which President Joe Biden’s fellow Democrats are battling to retain their slim majorities in the House of Representatives and Senate. Both seats are currently held by incumbent Republican senators.

Budd, who beat former Gov. Pat McCrory, will face former Democratic state Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, who easily won her party’s nomination in the race to succeed Sen. Richard Burr .

Cawthorn, a staunch Trump ally, was struggling to fend off a challenge in a House primary from state Sen. Chuck Edwards. With nearly 60% of the expected votes, Edwards had 35% to Cawthorn’s 31%, according to Edison Research.

Cawthorn, 26, the youngest member of the House, has angered his party leaders with a series of embarrassing episodes, including claiming conservative leaders invited him to a cocaine-fueled orgy, twice trying to bring a gun on a plane and having a video surface that showed him naked and spinning against someone. Read more

Republicans are well positioned to regain control of the House, which could allow them to thwart Biden’s legislative agenda. Biden’s public approval rating is at 42%, with 50% of Americans disapproving of his performance, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll conducted on Tuesday.

Democrats have a better chance of keeping control of the Senate, currently split 50-50 between the parties, with Vice President Kamala Harris holding the deciding vote. Read more

In Pennsylvania, the rise of Barnette — along with that of state senator and gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, a far-right candidate who has echoed Trump’s conspiracy theories — has some Republicans in the US worried. establishment that the duo may prove too extreme for voters in the general election.

Final results may not be known tonight. Pennsylvania officials said voters requested 908,000 mail-in or mail-in ballots. State law prevents these from being processed until Election Day.

TRUMP AS KINGMAKER

Trump has endorsed more than 150 candidates as he tries to cement his status as his party’s kingmaker, though his picks haven’t always prevailed. His support helped author JD Vance win the Ohio Senate primary, but his favorite candidate lost in Nebraska’s gubernatorial race last week. Read more

Barnette, who is seeking to become the first black American senator from Pennsylvania, has called her rivals insufficiently conservative. She was pictured marching towards the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, alongside members of the extremist group Proud Boys shortly before a crowd of Trump supporters stormed the building in an unsuccessful attempt to quash her 2020 election defeat.

Barnette’s campaign told NBC that she did not participate in or condone the destruction of property and had no connection to the Proud Boys.

Last week, Trump endorsed Mastriano, who is leading polls in the Republican primary for governor of Pennsylvania and was also present outside the Capitol on the day of the riot. Mastriano played a significant role in the Trump campaign’s failure to overturn the state presidential results based on false allegations of voter fraud.

Mastriano said he would pursue a statewide abortion ban, after a leaked draft opinion showed the Supreme Court was set to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision legalizing abortion nationwide.

State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination, pledged to protect abortion rights. Shapiro said on Tuesday he was isolating at home after testing positive for COVID-19.

In Idaho, meanwhile, incumbent Republican Governor Brad Little takes on Trump-backed primary challenger Janice McGeachin, the state’s lieutenant governor.

Primary elections are also held in Kentucky and Oregon.

Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Philadelphia, Joseph Ax in New York and Andy Sullivan in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone, Will Dunham and Rosalba O’Brien

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