Allegheny County’s elections board voted unanimously Tuesday morning to certify results from the three Feb. 7 special elections for state House, sealing a Democratic majority in the chamber for the first time in more than a decade.
The Democratic candidates — Joe McAndrew of the 32nd District, Abigail Salisbury of the 34th District and Matt Gergely of the 35th District — all won their races by double-digit points against Republican opponents.
Nicole Reigelman, a spokesperson for the House Democrats, said the three winners intended to be sworn in Tuesday afternoon.
The special elections were a reaffirmation of last November’s election results, when Pennsylvanians voted to give Democrats a 102-to-101 majority, and are likely to end a current standoff about the state House’s operating rules. Pennsylvania will have a divided government for the next two years — Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, is in the governor’s mansion, and Republicans control the state Senate.
All three districts are located in heavily Democratic parts of Allegheny County. The 32nd District, largely in Penn Hills, had been represented by the late Anthony DeLuca; the 34th District, centered on Braddock and other towns just east of Pittsburgh, was formerly represented by now-U.S. Rep. Summer Lee; and the 35th District, based in McKeesport and the Mon Valley, was last held by now-Lt. Gov. Austin Davis.
The elections board is composed of County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and the two at-large County Council members, Sam DeMarco III and Bethany Hallam.
Jon, a copy editor and reporter at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, is currently on strike and working as a co-editor of the Pittsburgh Union Progress. Reach him at jmoss@unionprogress.com.
