PA is what I call a fickle red state. We have a republican legislature, and used to have a republican governor. (Corbett should have had a second term, but he lost to Wolf and it had little to do with political ideology.) The majority of US house members from PA are also republican. The two US senate seats are split. Real conservative candidates will get out the vote in PA and win. Half-baked, limp-wristed RINOs will not get out the vote.
What cause Rick Santorum’s defeat in his senatorial bid in PA? I do not remember the numbers, but his lost by a big margin. I always thought of him as a solid social conservative.