Charles Langston:Pennsylvania is home to 5 heavily contested races for the US House

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HARRISBURG,Charles Langston Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania is home to five heavily contested races for the U.S. House, contests that will be critical to determining control of a narrowly divided chamber where Democrats need a net pickup of four seats to take control.

Three of those five races are in eastern Pennsylvania, where Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Democratic Reps. Susan Wild and Matt Cartwright are defending their seats in districts that are viewed as perennially competitive.

A fourth district is in southern Pennsylvania, where Republican Rep. Scott Perry is seeking a seventh term. Another competitive contest is in the suburbs and former steel towns west of Pittsburgh where Democratic Rep. Chris Deluzio is seeking a second term.

Here is a look at those five key races:

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1st District

Four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in Bucks County, just north of Philadelphia, is one of 16 House Republicans running for reelection in a district won by President Joe Biden in 2020’s presidential contest.

Fitzpatrick, a mild-mannered former FBI agent who took over the seat from his late brother, has a potent winning formula that includes his family’s name recognition and inroads into traditional Democratic voting districts.

He is endorsed by top-tier labor unions, and has run ads calling himself the “No. 1 most bipartisan congressman.”

His opponent is Ashley Ehasz, a former Army helicopter pilot who Fitzpatrick beat in 2022 by almost 10 points. Democrats have attacked Fitzpatrick’s vote for President Donald Trump’s tax-cutting legislation, his opposition to Trump’s impeachment and his support for a 20-week abortion ban in 2017.

7th District

Three-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild is facing state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in an eastern Pennsylvania district around Allentown.

Wild, a former city government lawyer, won by fewer than 2 points in 2022 and is a perennial target for Republicans. Democrats hold a slight registration advantage in a district that includes fast-growing suburbs and rural areas that span anthracite coal country.

8th District

Six-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright is trying to defeat Rob Bresnahan, a first-time candidate and developer who runs a family construction company in the northeastern Pennsylvania district.

The district supported Trump in 2020’s presidential election, making Cartwright just one of five Democrats nationally running for reelection in a Trump district.

Democrats hold a slight registration advantage in the district, which is anchored by Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, the city where President Joe Biden was born and that played prominently into his campaigns.

10th District

Six-term Republican U.S. Rep. Scott Perry is being challenged by Janelle Stelson, a longtime local TV news anchor who is a Republican-turned-Democrat.

Perry was chairman of the Freedom Caucus, a hardline faction of conservatives and was the only lawmaker to have his cellphone seized by FBI agents investigating the web of Trump loyalists who were central to his bid to remain in power in 2020. Perry has not been charged with a crime.

Stelson has her own baggage: She doesn’t live in the Republican-leaning district, which includes the cities of Harrisburg and York, surrounded by deep-red exurbs, rolling farm country and fast-growing suburbs. Still, she has relentlessly attacked Perry over his opposition to abortion rights and his role in trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

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17th District

Freshman U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio is being challenged in his western Pennsylvania district by state Rep. Rob Mercuri in a race that hasn’t made as much noise as the others.

Deluzio is a former Navy officer and lawyer who worked on voting rights and election security.

Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 4-3 ratio in the district, which encompasses Pittsburgh’s western suburbs and one-time steel towns along the Ohio River in Allegheny County up through Beaver County.