On Nov. 8, Pennsylvania, along with the rest of the country, held its midterm elections. In Pennsylvania, citizens were able to vote for the positions of the United States senate, senator, seats in the House of Representatives and representatives of their respective districts. With the result of the state, even though the state came out mostly republican, the votes turned toward the Democratic Party for most of the election. The two biggest wins for the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania were John Fetterman being elected as the representative of the senate, and Josh Shapiro being elected as Pennsylvania governor. Both terms will be held for the next four years, starting in Jan. of 2023.

 Closer to home, democrat Christopher Deluzio won the position of the representative of the 17th district of Pennsylvania. This position was held previously by Connor Lamb, who left it to go against John Fetterman in the Senate race, but he lost in the primaries. Now that Deluzio has taken over his seat, Lamb is no longer holding any political office seat, at least for the next four years. While in the running for the representative of the 14th district, republican Jim Marshall had kept his seat from newcomer democrat Bruce Carper Jr. Marshall. Marshall has kept this representative seat for over 16 years, showing that he  has been liked among citizens for many terms. 

This year, voting for the midterm election was huge in Pennsylvania. The midterms that were held in 2018 were thought to be huge, but this midterm passed that one majorly, going up by almost a 4% voter rate. Between the Conway and Freedom Boroughs and New Sewickley Township,, over 3,800 went out to vote for these midterms. This is predicted to be because many major issues were talked about for this election such as abortion rights, gas prices, inflation and LGBTQ+ rights. Which makes it no surprise that Fetterman and Shapiro had won, because they fight for all of these issues. A lot of younger voters were out at the polls this year too, most of them being first time voters. 

“It [voting] was really cool because I saw my parents do it throughout my childhood and now I was finally able to do it,” senior Leyasa Young said.

Even though every election means something to everyone, midterm elections are always important to communities. They affect everyone’s smaller districts and states, which means issues are more focused on what matters to them, not just the common thread. Issues that happen everyday around the country happen in Beaver County too, so voters wanted to make sure that their voices were heard, and they showed that at the polls this year.