Shapiro takes lead in attorney general race, but row office contests still up for grabs

Democratic incumbent Josh Shapiro took the lead over Republican challenger Heather Heidelbaugh in the race for Pennsylvania attorney general Thursday morning, reversing the lead held by Heidelbaugh the day before.

Republican candidates continue to lead in the races for auditor general and state treasurer.

But with mail-in votes, which tend to lean Democratic, still being counted through Friday, there are still no clear winners in the three statewide row office races.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of State at 1 p.m. Thursday, Shapiro so far has 49.57% of the vote. Heidelbaugh has 47.65%.

In this highly watched race, that comes to 3,132,096 votes for Shapiro and 3,010,828 for Heidelbaugh.

It’s a reversal from Wednesday, when Heidelbaugh had 50.6% of the vote and Shapiro had 46.62%.

“Stay calm. Take a deep breath. Your Twitter and Facebook feeds don’t actually know what’s going to happen,” Shapiro wrote on his campaign’s Facebook page. “Give the public servants in your community time to accurately count the votes.”

Heidelbaugh issued a similar statement.

“We are encouraged by the early results of Tuesday’s vote, but it is essential that every legal vote be counted, and that the process be beyond question,” she wrote.

But she added “that means that Josh Shapiro cannot be seen as having his thumb on the scale, acting in the dual roles of legal arbiter of the vote and a candidate deeply invested in its outcome.”

She accuses Shapiro of declaring on social medial that President Donald Trump would lose Pennsylvania and called for Shapiro to appoint an impartial deputy to oversee any legal questions and disputes that may come into play as a result of the election.

Neither candidate could immediately be reached for comment.

Pennsylvania Auditor General race

In the auditor general race, it is an open seat with current office holder Eugene DePasquale out by term limits and running for Congress.

In that race, Republican Timothy DeFoor, who is Dauphin County’s controller, had 50.77% of the vote Thursday at 1 p.m., and Democratic rival Nina Ahmad had 45.02% for the post of the state’s fiscal watchdog.

That comes to 3,182,875 votes for DeFoor and 2,822,547 for Ahmad.

Pennsylvania State Treasurer race

And Democratic Treasurer Joe Torsella is lagging behind Republican challenger Stacy Garrity for that office.

As of 1 p.m. Thursday, Torsella had 46.61% of the vote, or 2,925,869 votes, and Garrity had 50.01% of the vote, or 3,139,192 votes.

The races are far from over, though, with mail-in ballots in many areas that remain to be counted, and can still be counted if they’re postmarked by Tuesday and received by Friday.