Third-party candidates could make a difference in a close race between Oz and Fetterman – CBS Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) Despite all the money spent by the two major party candidates attacking each other in the U.S. Senate race, Pennsylvania voters do have other choices on the ballot.

As KDKA-TV political editor Jon Delano reports, this year there are three third-party candidates running for Senate.

When U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R) ran for reelection six years ago, he defeated Democrat Katie McGinty by just 86,000 votes out of 6 million votes cast. The Libertarian Party candidate got 235,000. Put another way: McGinty lost by 1.5 percent, but the Libertarian got 3.9 percent, more than double the winning margin.

"The interesting thing about elections this close is anything can be a spoiler," says Prof. Kris Kanthak at the University of Pittsburgh.

It's not clear third-party candidates take votes away from the major party candidates, but more voters in this region in the last competitive Senate race voted third-party than, say, in the Philadelphia region.

In the last Toomey race, the Libertarian got 4.4 percent of the vote in Allegheny County, 6.1 percent in Beaver County, and 7.8 percent in Indiana County, well above the state average and the margin of victory.

"We know that independent candidates have made a difference in Pennsylvania," says political analyst Larry Ceisler.

In a close election between Democrats and Republicans, third-party choices can be critical. Besides Democrat Fetterman and Republican Oz, voters have other choices: Libertarian Erik Gerhardt of Montgomery County, Keystone Party candidate Daniel Wassmer of Pike County, and Green Party candidate Richard Weiss of Allegheny County.

Ceisler thinks while the Green Party could hurt Fetterman, the Libertarian is more likely to hurt Oz.

"The Libertarian brand is probably more known and more lethal to Republicans," says Ceisler.

But most third-party candidates reject the notion that they are spoilers, saying they bring voters to the polls who would never vote for either Oz or Fetterman.

Delano: "Do you see yourself as a spoiler in this election?"

Wassmer:"No. Not at all. That's one of the biggest misconceptions of third parties completely."

"I would never be voting for any GOP candidate. I have the same problem with the Democratic candidates."

Wassmer, a former Republican, says he will never vote Republican again, while Weiss says his appeal is to voters unhappy with both major parties' environmental views.

"We believe we are not taking votes away from the other parties. We're bringing new people to the polls," says Weiss. "They both are going to continue expanding fracking and drilling for oil and really what we have is a climate emergency."

Gerhardt has a different take.

"We're going to take votes away from both of them," Gerhardt said. "A lot of people aren't happy with the Democratic candidate and how left they're going, and the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate isn't the strongest."

While voters have five choices on the ballot, control of the U.S. Senate really depends on whether Fetterman or Oz wins, not the others.

The election is four weeks from today.

Jon Delano is a familiar face on KDKA, having been the station's political analyst since 1994. In September 2001, Jon joined KDKA full time as the Money & Politics Editor and this region's only political analyst who covers national and local issues that affect hometown residents.

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Third-party candidates could make a difference in a close race between Oz and Fetterman - CBS Pittsburgh