Pa. Dems To Have Open Primary For Governor This Spring

By Tony Romeo

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Pennsylvania Democrats will have an open primary for governor in May, after a meeting of the state party Saturday in Hershey.

None of the six candidates nominated got a supermajority of Democratic committee member votes, so there will be no official party endorsement.

Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz says she would have preferred that the committee had opted not to take an endorsement vote at all:

"Only because, in fact, there is often different opinions about the primary. The role of the party is to elect a Democrat in the fall… and we want to be united and together on that and help me get to be governor."

But while no candidate got the two-thirds necessary for endorsement, state Treasurer Rob McCord got nearly half of the committee's votes:

"We seem to have the most significant support by far," he said. "We're also very pleased by the geographic distribution of the vote. It's clear that we've got a great statewide candidacy."

In fact, Schwartz finished second in the voting only by virtue of massive support from the Philadelphia delegation.