Arlen Specter loses primary

PHILADELPHIA — U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter was defeated tonight in a Democratic primary in his bid for a sixth term after taking the risky step of switching from the GOP.

Voters picked U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak as the party’s nominee and rejected the 80-year-old Specter in his first Democratic campaign.

With 65 percent of precincts reporting, Sestak received 339,402 votes, nearly 53 percent. Specter received 304,179 votes, about 47 percent.

The vote also was a defeat for President Barack Obama, who supported Specter when he abandoned the Republican Party last year. In speaking to supporters after the race was called, Specter thanked Obama for his support.

The moderate Specter had cast his switch as a decision of principle after inflaming the GOP by voting for Obama’s economic stimulus bill. But many Democratic voters questioned his motives.

Sestak faces Republican Pat Toomey in the fall election.

Specter has been a fixture in American politics for three decades and served in the Senate since 1981, and his switch to the Democrats was a theme that dominated the race.

Obama and other top Democrats embraced Specter, who used his willingness to cross party lines on key votes to bolster his clout in Congress.

Sestak, a retired Navy vice admiral who has represented a suburban Philadelphia district since 2007, accused Specter of switching parties to save his job. He said Specter couldn’t be trusted to support Democratic Party values.

In the days before the primary, Specter and Sestak also argued over who had the best chance of beating Toomey in the fall.

Specter leaned heavily on Obama’s endorsement, repeatedly citing a television ad that used footage from a September rally in Philadelphia at which Obama spoke and get-out-the-vote efforts by the key unions backing him.

Sestak tried to harness voter anger over political gridlock and the recession, with Pennsylvania’s unemployment rate at 9 percent, its highest in more than a quarter-century.