Jake Wheatley Jr. doesn’t view the April 26 primary election so much as a race between himself and his opponent, Jessica Wolfe. To him, it’s a question of whether the Democratic voters in the 19th Legislative District feel he has done a good job representing them in Harrisburg.

“These elections are all the same for me,” Mr. Wheatley said. “It’s me talking about the things I’ve done for the community, and the community has to make the decision on whether to send us back.”

A Marine Corps veteran, Mr. Wheatley, 44, moved to the Hill District from North Carolina in 1997. He has represented the district — which also includes the North Side, South Side, Allentown, Hazelwood, Downtown, the Bluff, Knoxville, Beltzhoover, Manchester, Arlington, Arlington Heights and Oakland — in the state House of Representatives since 2002.

But it is his representation of all those neighborhoods that Ms. Wolfe has targeted for criticism, saying Mr. Wheatley focuses on the Hill District.

“He has been an absentee in a lot of the neighborhoods,” said Ms. Wolfe, 35, a social worker from Allentown. “The Hill District has received a lot of his attention. … But he needs to [provide] balanced representation.

“Understand, I wish all the best for the Hill District. As the Hill District representative, I will work hard to see that they get what they need also. But the North Side, Hazelwood and the south part of the district, where I am, they haven’t received nearly the attention and the development. If you’re going to represent the district, you need to represent the full district.”

It is an argument that Mr. Wheatley, who has been endorsed by the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, flatly rejects.

“When I first got elected,” he said, “the No. 1 thing I wanted to accomplish was to create a process where we cross bridges. We are the City of Bridges, but the neighborhoods didn’t necessarily mingle, and the representatives didn’t cross those bridges.

“Sometimes we’ve been successful, sometimes we still have some work to do, but we’ve at least attempted to make sure every neighborhood we represent feels we are open for business.

“There are neighborhoods, if you ask them, they probably think I should do more. That’s the nature of the business. We cannot always please everyone all the time. But we’ve seen $100 million of investment. When I say we, it’s not just Jake Wheatley. It’s people we’ve partnered with. That’s the role. I’m not a developer. I’m a connector for state resources, to try to help our communities and improve the quality of life for the residents. Well, we’ve tried.

“That accusation is easy to make, but when you look at the record, there’s no organization in any neighborhood that can say, ‘We called Jake Wheatley’s office and Jake Wheatley was unwilling to support or participate in an effort to improve the lives in our neighborhood.’ ”

His successes, he said, include new investments in the communities and fighting for contracts that go to businesses owned by minorities, women and veterans. He has also worked on behalf of early childhood education.

Ms. Wolfe, whose husband, Ken, used to work for Mr. Wheatley, said more could be done. She also said women are not properly represented in the Legislature.

“I feel it’s important to run for this seat because everything that I’ve ever done as a social worker is directly influenced by funding, policy or regulation by the Legislature,” said Ms. Wolfe, who is making her first run for public office. “The Department of Public Welfare, Aging, Medicaid and services that are important to our community. These agencies control services I provide and how I provide them. It’s the seat of the things that matter most to me. And I just don’t feel we’re getting adequate representation.”

Some criticism has been aimed at Ms. Wolfe for purchasing website domain names that Mr. Wheatley allowed to expire, using them to direct online visitors to her own campaign or others critical of Mr. Wheatley. One calls up a newspaper article detailing a 2012 domestic dispute that ended in the arrest of Mr. Wheatley and his fiancee. (The charges were later dropped.)

Another Web address links viewers to a blog that is critical of Mr. Wheatley.

“I feel that anything that is truthful is fair game,” Ms. Wolfe said. “I will use all means necessary to bring attention to or to hold accountable anyone in power, my representative included. He’s not just my opponent; he’s also my representative. I don’t feel bad or remiss about using any means that I’ve used so far. I don’t feel that I’ve used anything untrue. …

“I don’t know that the accusations are untrue,” said Ms. Wolfe, who acknowledged that she has not “personally checked” the accuracy of the blog. “But I would never link to anything that I knew was untrue. I would not try to mislead anybody. I would never do that.”

Mr. Wheatley dismissed the effort.

“I don’t focus on the silliness of what other people do,” he said. “That’s what has us trapped in this no-good situation where we can’t get things done in government. What voters really care about is what are we doing to make sure they have jobs, quality schools, safe streets, and that the apparatus of government is being responsive to their needs. All this other stuff, I think it’s political gamesmanship. But I can’t control what other people do, I can just control what I do, and I just ask voters to judge my record.”

Dan Majors: dmajors@post-gazette.com and 412-263-1456.

First Published: April 18, 2016, 4:00 a.m.