Susan Wild: ‘It’s obviously been a long time coming’

Ms. Wild won a competitive primary, beating candidates to her left and right in the Seventh District. She had the support of Emily’s List, a national organization that backs female Democratic candidates who support abortion rights, as well as party officials, many of whom viewed her as the best shot at flipping the seat formerly held by Representative Charlie Dent, a Republican.

In an interview on Wednesday, she celebrated the enthusiasm that helped propel so many women in the state to victory. “It’s obviously been a long time coming,” she said. “I was at the polls most of the day, and I did note a steady stream of female voters — there were plenty of male voters, too — but just a steady stream,” she said. “I think it really was important across the state and certainly in this district.”

[Half of the women running in House primaries have won so far.]

And here’s how the Republicans will try to win the seat: Ms. Wild will face Marty Nothstein, an Olympic cycling champion who calls himself a “principled conservative.” Republicans plan to pour money into television advertising to try to keep the area in their party’s hands, and Mr. Nothstein is likely to make direct appeals to the many blue-collar and socially conservative voters in the region.

“That’s going to be much more of a competitive seat,” Mr. Madonna said. “I think it’s going to occupy a major amount of attention.”

Susan Boser: ‘It’s a heck of a jump’

Ms. Boser won the primary in the 15th District, in the western part of the state. She said she was teaching a night class on Tuesday as votes were being counted, and then woke up early on Wednesday to finish grading papers.

A professor of sociology at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Boser spent years studying public policy, but she said her dismay over the election of President Trump drove her to get more involved in politics.