In no-suspense presidential primaries, Allegheny County map shows weaknesses for both Trump and Biden

Someone watches as the first dump of mail-in ballot results come in at the election night party for U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, on Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at the Renaissance Pittsburgh Hotel in Downtown. (Photo by Stephanie Strasburg/PublicSource)

Trump lagged in affluent suburbs while Biden lost ground in urban and lower-turnout areas.

by Charlie Wolfson, PublicSource

Voters that showed up for low-turnout primaries Tuesday determined the course of several state legislative races and propelled U.S. Rep. Summer Lee toward a second term in Congress. They also may have sent a message to President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, who had each already secured enough delegates to be nominated for president in the Nov. 5 General Election.

A person is putting a ballot into a box and another box with the word 2024 on it.

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That message: We’re not all on board.

Only about 1 in 4 voters participated Tuesday. Thousands of them sided against their party’s presumptive nominee, backing dropped-out candidates or using the write-in line to signal displeasure with the inevitable.

In Allegheny County, Trump ceded 19% of the vote (more than 12,000 votes) to Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador who remained on the ballot in Pennsylvania despite suspending her campaign in March. Haley received more than 150,000 votes statewide.

Meanwhile Biden shared the ballot with U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who suspended his campaign last month, and the president also faced a concerted effort by activists to get voters to write ‘uncommitted’ on their presidential ballot in protest of the administration’s stance on the war in Gaza.

Due to reporting procedures, it’s not yet clear how many write-in votes were cast statewide. But in Allegheny County, there were more than 13,000, or 8% of the vote. Phillips picked up another 7%.

For both candidates, the numbers are eye-catching: Both ceded more votes statewide than the statewide margin in 2020 (Biden won by about 80,000). But local party leaders on both sides are skeptical that voters who dissented last night will cross party lines in the fall.

Haley racked up the most votes in areas that are seen as crucial in the coming contest between Biden and Trump: middle class and affluent suburbs. Places like Fox Chapel, Upper St. Clair, Mt. Lebanon and Edgewood all had comparatively high rates of Trump dissent in Tuesday’s voting.

Biden fared worse in urban and southeastern communities

Biden captured 86% of the vote in Allegheny County, with dissenting votes roughly spit between U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips and write-in votes.

Much of the anti-Biden vote was contained in the 12th Congressional District, where Democratic Rep. Summer Lee won renomination Tuesday in a contentious Democratic primary. Her opponent, Bhavini Patel, spent much of her campaign’s time and money promising full support for President Biden and criticizing Lee for failing to back the president.

In the end, Lee said she voted for Biden Tuesday and the president complimented her during a Pittsburgh visit last week. Biden’s campaign manager for Pennsylvania, Nikki Lu, attended Lee’s election night party Tuesday.