WASHINGTON, D.C. - We're less than a month away from the Pennsylvania primary elections and the race for the open Pennsylvania congressional Senate seat is heating up.  

“This is a really tough environment for democrats this year in Pennsylvania,” said Political Analyst Jeff Bloodworth. “Gas prices, inflation, COVID fatigue. Republicans are extremely motivated.” 

Bloodworth said the last time democrats really showed up to the polls for midterm elections was in 2018 when former President Donald Trump was in office. He said back then, the Dems were really motivated to change the political landscape. Now that they are in power, Bloodworth said it's not likely the Dems will have that same turnout this time around.  

“You look at the job approval rating,” said Bloodworth. “If the president is 45 percent or below man that's tough to if you're a person of the same party to win a statewide contest.” 

Currently, there are seven republicans and four democrats trying to earn their party's nomination for this Senate race. This seat has been held by republican Senator Pat Toomey since 2011 but he has decided to not run again. Back in 2016, he barely won his seat back. Beating democrat Katie McGinty by just one and a half percentage points.  

Pennsylvania's primary election is set for May 17th.