MacDonald exits Democratic primary against U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, seeks GOP write-in

The Pittsburgh area’s most contentious congressional race narrowed Monday as Laurie MacDonald dropped out of the Democratic primary in the face of a challenge to her nominating petition signatures.

Her departure leaves a two-person race in the April 23 contest between incumbent U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, and Edgewood Councilwoman Bhavini Patel.

MacDonald, CEO of advocacy group Center for Victims and a resident of Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood, claimed she was forced off the ballot through “corrupt manipulation of our judicial system.”

She did not elaborate.

MacDonald did, however, announce plans to start a write-in campaign on the Republican ballot and said she looks to represent moderate voters in the district.

“After facing the extreme corruption from the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania, I’ve decided to withdraw from the race for the 12th Congressional District as a Democrat and reignite my candidacy as a write-in option within the Republican Party,” MacDonald said in a statement to TribLive. “We must present voters with alternatives to the corrupt politicians like Summer Lee and Bhavini Patel.”

MacDonald withdrew from the primary as her petition signatures were being challenged by a group of voters in the district. Commonwealth Court Judge Michael Wojcik on Monday heard the challenge to their validity.

Wojcik ruled MacDonald’s petitions did not have the 1,000 valid signatures required by Congressional candidates in Pennsylvania to qualify for the ballot.

MacDonald had filed more than 2,300 signatures.

According to a review by TribLive, MacDonald’s petitions contain several irregularities.

Some signers drew lines through the signature space instead of penning their names. In other cases, check marks were placed where address information should have been.

Some pages were photo­copies of other pages, with folded-over areas covering parts of signatures. Other pages had no signatures at all.

The contest to represent the 12th District already has hosted a turbulent candidate forum and generated mudslinging around a canceled event at Pitt. Political experts expect the race to get nastier through attack ads funded by outside groups.

The district includes Pittsburgh, parts of southern and eastern Allegheny County, the Mon Valley and Westmore­land County communities such as Murrysville, North Huntingdon, Penn Township, Sewickley, Jeannette and parts of Hempfield.

Adam Bonin, a lawyer and Pennsylvania election expert from Philadelphia, said a two-person race would provide a boost to Patel.

MacDonald had been using fairly conservative rhetoric for a Democratic primary, a sign she likely was angling for the district’s moderate voters.

And since Lee is one of the more progressive lawmakers in Congress and has been consolidating more support from establishment liberals, Patel likely wants to court as many conservative Democrats as she can in her quest to oust Lee.

A write-in effort by MacDonald will be a tough task this year, as Republican James Hayes is already on the GOP ballot. While a write-in campaign can be accomplished easily when the ballot is empty, it’s more difficult when facing another candidate.

Last year, Democratic incumbent Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. secured the GOP nomination with about 9,700 write-in votes after he was rejected by the local Democratic party, which endorsed his challenger.

While that might seem like a sizable number of write-in votes, it’s often far less than the votes typically cast for a candidate on the ballot.

In 2022, for example, then-Congressional candidate Mike Doyle received more than 39,000 votes in an unopposed GOP primary. He lost to Lee in the general election.

Hayes called MacDonald’s write-in effort “futile,” noting that she is not a registered Republican.

He invited MacDonald to support his campaign to “bring political sanity and representation that reflects the values and needs of Pittsburgh voters.”

More petition challenges

At least three other Pittsburgh-area candidates are no longer on ballots following petition challenges.

Nickole Nesby, a Democrat who was running to replace retiring state Sen. Jim Brewster in the 45th District, withdrew her petitions last week. Nearly 400 of her 585 signatures were being challenged. She stipulated last week that she did not have the required 500 valid signatures.

That leaves state Rep. Nick Pisciottano, D-West Mifflin, and Makenzie White, a social worker from Brentwood vying for the Democratic nomination for Brewster’s seat. Two Republicans are also running.

William Anderson, a Democratic candidate in the state House’s 24th District, was booted from the ballot on March 1 after Wojcik, the Commonwealth Court judge, ruled that he did not have the 300 valid signatures required to run.

State Rep. LaTasha Mayes, D-Morningside, is now the only candidate in the district, which covers several Pittsburgh neighborhoods including the Hill District, Garfield, Bloomfield, Morningside, Highland Park, East Liberty, and Homewood.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey will also have the Democratic primary to himself after a successful challenge to Pittsburgh activist William Parker’s nominating petition pushed him off the ballot.

Casey’s Republican opponent in November has yet to be decided.

Former hedge fund CEO David McCormick, the front-runner, is competing with Brandi Tomasetti and Jesse Vodvarka, both of whom still face petition challenges.