President Obama and US Senator Bob Casey won re-election in Pennsylvania Tuesday night, and Democrats swept the state row offices. Polls in recent weeks had suggested Pennsylvania was winnable for Gov. Mitt Romney and Tom Smith, and as the polls narrowed, millions of PAC dollars flowed into the state. Nevertheless, a huge Democratic vote out of Philadelphia and Democratic wards in Southeast Pennsylvania carried the President and Sen. Casey to re-election in the state. Attorney Kathleen Kane led all candidates statewide with more than 3 million votes cast.
At the same time, Republicans actually gained a seat in the state’s Congressional races. The State House and Senate remain under GOP control.
A somewhat surprising victory by attorney Keith Rothfus in the state’s 12th district over Congressman Mark Critz expanded the GOP control of the state’s delegation tonight. With the win, the state GOP controls 13 of 18 seats, with only one Democrat, Mike Doyle (D, Allegheny) elected west of Schuylkill County. State Rep. Scott Perry, a York County Republican, becomes the state’s other freshman Congressman, receiving more than 60% of the vote in the new Fourth District in South Central PA. All other incumbents won reelection to Congress.
General Assembly
In Committees impacting energy directly, House Agriculture Committee Chairman John Maher (Rep) was re-elected without opposition. Minority Chair Joe Petrarca also won re-election. On the Senate side, Agriculture Committee Majority Chairman Elder Vogel, Jr. (Rep) and Minority Chair Judy Schwank (Dem) both won their races.
In the House Environmental Resources & Energy Committee, both committee chairmen are leaving – Majority Chairman Scott Hutchinson (Rep) will take a Senate seat and Minority Chair Camille “Bud” George (Dem) has retired. It is yet unknown which ranking House members will fill these vacated chair positions. And in the Senate, Environmental Resources & Energy Committee –Majority Chair Mary Jo White has retired. Minority Chair John Yudichak (Dem) is not up for re-election this cycle.
State House of Representatives
The Republican party maintained control of the state House of Representatives tonight, capturing at least 109 seats with Democrats holding at least 92. Of the 203 state House races, 96 candidates ran unopposed. With only three seats too close to call, only two incumbents appear to have lost their re-election bids. Nevertheless, more than 20 new members will be seated in January.
State Senate
The GOP will control the Senate again in the 2013-2014 session but their majority shrunk to 27-23 on Tuesday. The Senate Democrats captured three formerly Republican seats, a fact which may force more “dealing” on legislation in the coming session.
In the House, Republicans picked up the 74th District seat vacated by outgoing Environmental Resources and Energy Chairman Bud George. Democrats held all their seats, and defeated Rep. Tom Quigley in Montgomery County’s 146th district and Rep. David Kralle in Philadelphia.
Republican Rep. Justin Simmons has a 562 vote lead at this time in Lehigh County over his opponent Kevin Deely. And Rep. Nick Micozzie in Delaware County is ahead by 109 votes at this time over his opponent, Democrat Sheamus Bonner. Rep. Rick Saccone is in an extremely tight race with former State Rep. David Levdansky, who Saccone beat in 2010. At this time, Department of State records show Levdansky trailing by only 36 votes. Any or all of these races may end up in recounts after absentee ballots are counted and results certified next week.
In the Senate, Democrat Sean Wiley was elected in Erie County to replace Republican Jane Earll, who retired this spring. In Allegheny County, State Rep. Matt Smith defeated D. Raja, an Allegheny County businessman. And in the most closely contested race, for the 15th district in Dauphin and York Counties, Rob Teplitz, the Chief Counsel and Policy Director for Auditor General Jack Wagner defeated John McNally with 51.6% of the vote. This is the first time the 15th district seat has been held by a Democrat since 1936.
To view a full list of election results, visit the Department of State Website.
Statewide Offices
Kathleen Kane led all statewide candidates, defeating Cumberland County DA Dave Freed for state Attorney General. She becomes the first Democrat elected as Attorney General since the position became an elected office in 1980 and the first woman elected to the post. Kane received almost 800,000 votes more than Freed, who had been Corbett’s personal pick for the position. Kane had made investigation of Corbett’s handling of the Sandusky case a focus of her campaign.
In the state Treasurer’s race, incumbent Rob McCord won re-election, and is running 460,000 votes ahead of Republican Diana Irey Vaughan. And for state Auditor General, voters again showed their desire to split tickets, but State Representative Eugene DePasquale still defeated State Rep. John Maher by approximately 175,000 votes, despite the fact that Maher ran well ahead of other Republicans statewide.