Here's what to know about Pennsylvania's special elections
Voters in Pennsylvania are heading to the polls Tuesday to fill one vacant state House seat that will likely hand Democrats back their majority, as well as a vacant state Senate seat.
The elections are taking place in House District 35, to replace former state Rep. Matt Gergely (D) following his death in January, and in Senate District 36, to replace former state Sen. Ryan Aument (R), who stepped down from his seat in December to become the state director for Pennsylvania Sen. Dave McCormick (R).
The state House race is the more consequential one.
Pennsylvania Democrats maintained their narrow 102-101 seat majority in the state House following the November elections, but Gergely’s death made it a 101-101 split. The district is located in Allegheny County in the western part of the state, to the southeast of Pittsburgh.
Democrat Dan Goughnour, who is a member of a local school board and a police officer, is favored to win the race over Republican Chuck Davis, the president of the White Oak Borough Council and a volunteer firefighter.
Gergely won a special election for the seat in 2023 with 75 percent of the vote and ran unopposed for reelection last year, The Associated Press reported. Former Vice President Kamala Harris won the district with about 58 percent of the vote in November.
For the state Senate seat, Republican Josh Parsons, a Lancaster County commissioner, is the favorite over Democratic East Petersburg Mayor James Malone. The district leans conservative, with President Trump taking 57 percent of the vote and McCormick winning 56 percent in November, the AP reported.
Aument was unopposed during his last election in 2022.
The GOP currently enjoys a 27-22 majority in the state Senate, with the one vacancy. Democrats have needed to defend their narrow state House majority in a few special elections since winning a majority for the first time in a decade in 2022.
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