Pennsylvania Primary Battles See Some Legislative Incumbents Fall While Gaming-Targeted Senators Hold On

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HARRISBURG — A slew of challenges to established incumbents and party-backed candidates yielded mixed results in Tuesday’s legislative primary elections.

Half of the seats in the Pennsylvania Senate and the entire state House are on the ballot this year, and both chambers are considered to be flippable. Democrats hold the state House by a one-vote margin, while Republicans have a four-seat edge in the state Senate.

Many of the candidates who won their primaries Tuesday will have clear paths to a seat in Harrisburg, thanks to uncompetitive or uncontested general elections. Others will gear up to run in the handful of races that will decide who controls the state House and Senate.

Primaries against sitting state lawmakers

Three Republican state senators — Lisa Baker, Camera Bartolotta, and Chris Gebhard — faced challenges fueled by money connected to the skill games industry.

All three survived.

Baker, who represents the 20th District in northeast Pennsylvania, faced counselor and U.S. Army veteran Tyler Meyers. Bartolotta, who represents the 46th District in Washington County, was challenged by masonry firm owner Albert Buchtan.

Gebhard, who represents the 48th District in south-central Pennsylvania, defeated professional cowboy and horse breeder Clovis Crane. The candidates’ campaigns spent more than $1 million combined on that race.

The Associated Press called the races for the incumbents Tuesday, with unofficial results showing comfortable margins.

Skill games companies and supporters opposed the three incumbents, who are seen as likely to support higher tax rates on the industry. Sports betting interests — which successfully squashed an effort to raise taxes on their industry last year — spent money to defend them.

All told, gaming and gambling interests spent more than $8 million in the lead-up to the primary, much of it on these three races.

The state House also saw competitive challenges against incumbents, with different results.

In the 166th state House District, which covers parts of Delaware and Montgomery Counties, Rep. Greg Vitali, the longest continually serving member of the state House, had a formidable challenge from Judy Trombetta, a Haverford Township commissioner and former legislative staffer.

The Associated Press called the race for Trombetta just before midnight. Unofficial results show her with 62% of the vote.

In the 22nd state House District race in Allentown and its suburbs, City Councilor Ce-Ce Gerlach declared victory over party-endorsed incumbent Ana Tiburcio.

The AP had not called the race as of early Wednesday, but unofficial results show Gerlach leading with most votes counted.

Gerlach is seen as a progressive outsider, while Tiburcio is a relatively new incumbent — she won a February special election. The 22nd is a majority-Latino district where most voters make under $75,000 a year, and it is heavily Democratic.

Primaries in districts with competitive general elections

Lehigh County Controller Mark Pinsley is one of the candidates who just cleared a competitive primary and must now prepare for a heavily scrutinized general election.

He declared victory over social studies teacher and school board member Bradley Merkl-Gump in the 16th state Senate District, which sprawls across Lehigh County and into neighboring Bucks County. He’ll face incumbent Republican Jarrett Coleman in November.

The AP had not called the race as of early Wednesday morning. However, Merkl-Gump conceded late Tuesday.

The 16th District race was one of several state Senate primaries that saw heavy spending by skill games and sports betting interests, which have a big stake in these elections as lawmakers debate how to tax and regulate their industries.

Mailers funded by a PAC called Protecting Our Democracy attacked Merkl-Gump and encouraged voters to pick Pinsley, calling Merkl-Gump “the hand-picked candidate of the corporate, Israel-first Democratic party boss and insiders.”

The PAC, which is new, is chaired by a vocal supporter of skill games. Democrats have argued the mailer was engineered by Republicans to aid Pinsley, and that the PAC’s real goal is to get a weaker Democrat to face Coleman, the GOP incumbent, in November. Coleman has publicly supported industry-favored tax rates for skill games and has received campaign money from the Operators for Skill PAC and industry executives.

In the 148th state House District in Montgomery County, just outside of Philadelphia, four candidates competed to replace retiring Democratic Rep. Mary Jo Daley.

As of Wednesday morning, the AP had not called that race. The two frontrunners — environmental attorney and community organizer Jason Landau Goodman and former English teacher and legislative staffer Megan Griffin-Shelley — were separated by roughly 100 votes, unofficial results showed.

No Republican will be on the ballot in November.

In a red part of Lancaster County, a seat currently held by former state House Speaker Bryan Cutler, who is retiring, went to landscaping company owner Dave Nissley over former State Police trooper Kelly Osborne.