Incumbent Chris Deluzio (D) and Rob Mercuri (R) are running in the general election for Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District on November 5, 2024.
Deluzio was first elected in 2022 when he defeated Jeremy Shaffer (R) 53.4% to 45.6%.
For the 2024 election, the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) is supporting Mercuri and targeting the district as part of a national list of “seats currently held by vulnerable House Democrats that represent prime pick-up opportunities for Republicans.” The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) is supporting Deluzio and included the district in its Frontlines program that focuses on vulnerable Democratic districts. The NRCC targeted the district in 2022 as well, while the DCCC did not.
As of June 21, 2024, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and Inside Elections with Nathan Gonzales rated the election Lean Democratic. Democrats have represented the district since 2003.
Deluzio served as an officer for the U.S. Navy in Iraq and worked as a voting rights attorney before being elected in 2022. Deluzio says his background gives him experience in veterans affairs and voting rights. Deluzio is also campaigning on his experience in union organizing, calling unions “one of the most important tools we have to push back against corporate power.” Deluzio has served on the House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs and House Armed Services Committee. Deluzio says he spent much of his first term “fighting for rail safety in the aftermath of the East Palestine train derailment” and has campaigned on his advocacy.
Mercuri is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives who assumed office in 2020. He served in the U.S. Army in Iraq, worked in accounting and banking, and currently operates a small business with his wife. Citing his experience in the military, Mercuri says that “nothing is more important than fully funding our military and caring for those who defend our country and their families.” Mercuri says he disapproves of the Biden administration’s economic policies and that regulations, high taxes, and federal spending raise the cost of living. Mercuri says he believes the current status of immigration is a problem and that “the only way to stop it is to seal the border once and for all while we develop a comprehensive immigration solution.”
In June 2024, Mercuri said that comments Deluzio made in 2020 that were critical of supporters of former President Donald Trump (R) meant Deluzio was “unwilling to represent everyone in his district.” During an interview in 2020, Deluzio said that his work on voting issues at the University of Pittsburgh involved “making sure this maniac in the White House and his, you know, horde of budding blood-and-soil fascists, don’t suppress the vote.” Mercuri said Deluzio should resign because of the comments. Deluzio said, “Patriots of every political stripe have a home on our team” and that Mercuri’s “continued embrace of election deniers and insurrectionists who tried to help Donald Trump overthrow our democracy is dangerous.”
The outcome of this race will affect the partisan balance of the U.S. House in 2025.
All 435 seats are up for election. Republicans have a 218 to 213 majority with four vacancies. As of June 2024, 45 members of the U.S. House had announced they were not running for re-election. To read more about the U.S. House elections taking place this year, click here.
Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have received 52.3% of the vote in this district and Donald Trump (R) would have received 46.5%.
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