Voters will break 101-101 deadlock with special election for Pa. House vacancy

Voters in a western Pennsylvania district went to the polls Tuesday in a contest that will determine whether Democrats will hold onto a bare one-vote majority and keep control of the state House of Representatives.

The chamber has been tied at 101 to 101 since incumbent Rep. Matt Gergely, an Allegheny Democrat, died in January.

A Democratic win in the nation’s premier presidential battleground state would keep Speaker Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia as the chamber’s presiding officer. But if Republicans pull off a win in the Democratic-leaning district, they will be able to replace McClinton and install their own members as committee chairs.

The contest will provide a glimpse of voter sentiment in the state that Republican President Donald Trump won narrowly in November. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris easily won the state House district last year and a GOP flip would be a major upset.

The special election pits Democrat Dan Goughnour against Republican Chuck Davis. Goughnour is a police officer who supervises detectives and serves on the school board in McKeesport. Davis is a fire chief who also serves as president of the White Oak Borough Council.

Democrats have held the House majority since 2023, after they flipped a net of 12 seats, the minimum needed to reclaim control after more than a decade. Since then, Democrats have maintained their majority by winning a series of special elections.

The Senate remains comfortably in Republican control and the chief executive is Gov. Josh Shapiro, a rising star among Democrats seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate. The partisan divide and power sharing in Harrisburg — a dynamic that has prevailed for much of the past two decades — has prevented major changes in state law.

There’s also a special election Tuesday for a vacancy in the state Senate created when Sen. Ryan Aument, a Lancaster Republican, quit to take a job working for U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick. Republican Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons is running against Democrat James Andrew Malone, the mayor of East Petersburg. No matter which candidate wins, the Republican majority in the state Senate will not change.