In several communities across the Mon Valley on Tuesday, thousands of voters will descend on the polls, or submit mail-in ballots, to select a state representative for a race that decides who controls the House of Representatives in Harrisburg.
The special election for the state House’s 35th district is Tuesday. Residents throughout the area, which includes Homestead, Munhall and snakes down the Monongahela River to Duquesne, McKeesport, Port Vue and further south to Lincoln and Clairton, have been without a representative in Harrisburg since January, when Matt Gergely died while in office.
Now, three candidates are running to fill the seat: Democrat Dan Goughnour of McKeesport, Republican Charles D. Davis of White Oak, and Libertarian Adam Kitta, also of White Oak.
The winner will help fill out Harrisburg’s lower legislative chamber. Polls open in the district at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Tuesday.
Here is what voters should know about the race for the 35th district.
The winner will determine which party controls the state House of Representatives
Political observers in Harrisburg and statewide are watching the race because Democrats and Republicans are currently deadlocked at 101 representatives in the state House.
So whoever wins Tuesday will control the lower legislative chamber. Republicans control the state Senate while Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, is the state’s governor.
And if Mr. Kitta, the Libertarian, can win the election, he understands the influence he’ll have on members from both sides of the aisle, calling it the “tiebreaking seat” in the state’s capital.
Gergely, the former representative, was a Democrat, won the seat in a special election in February 2023, one of multiple special elections that had solidified the party’s narrow advantage in the House.
Democrats hold a major voter registration advantage in the district
According to county and state voter registration data, Democrats have an over 15,000 registered voter advantage over Republicans in the 35th district.
That said, because of the tiebreaking nature of the race, both parties have invested time and manpower in trying to win the seat.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin, who hails from Minnesota, visited the 35th district in February, and toured it with Mr. Goughnour. The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has called the election a “spotlight race.”
But local Republicans believe the working-class feel of the district, combined with local Democrats’ support for a recent county tax increase and recent drama in the ownership battle with U.S. Steel — which still operates a plant in Clairton — means that they can win the race.
If recent trends continue, the race could see low voter turnout
History shows that off-year, off-cycle elections tend to have lower turnout than midterms or presidential elections.
In February 2023, there were four special elections in parts of Allegheny County for state representative seats. According to county data, none of those races had voter turnout of over 30%.
That includes when Gergely won his race in the 35th. He defeated Republican Don Nevills, when voter turnout was about 21.7%.
As of Friday, 4,054 voters in the district have requested mail-in ballots, according to county officials. It remains to be seen what impact that will have on turnout, and the results.
“The Democrats can’t take it for granted because they still have to get people out to the polls,” Susquehanna Polling & Research CEO Jim Lee told the Post-Gazette.
Residents want the winner to focus on jobs and keep crime down
Multiple residents and workers in the 35th district said in recent weeks that they were not aware that a special election was being held to fill a vacant office in Harrisburg.
But a quick walk around communities such as Clairton and McKeesport, along with interviews with those people, showed the top issues facing residents: job creation, economic development and public safety.
Some people feel there has been a lack of investment in the area, including Carlitez Thompson, who owns a barbershop in Clairton. He has been trying to get money for a roof replacement, but has so far had no luck.
The area where his shop stands used to have a bakery, bank and other businesses. Storefronts sit mostly vacant now.
David Mains, a McKeesport native who now lives in Indiana County, said crime has continued to get worse in the town in recent years. Shootings and other violent crime were reasons he moved away from a community where, growing up, he would walk with his father to various small businesses in the city’s downtown.
“You’re in your kitchen and you have to tackle your old lady on the floor because you hear gunshots,” Mr. Mains told the Post-Gazette recently. “And then you come out and they got the whole block held off, and there’s bullet casings all over the ground.”
There’s another special election Tuesday — for a state Senate seat in Lancaster County
Hundreds of miles away, voters in Lancaster County will head to the polls Tuesday or submit mail-in ballots in a race for the state Senate’s 36th district.
Ryan Aument, a Republican, left that seat in December to work as state director in U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick's office.
Republican Josh Parsons, Democrat James Andrew Malone and Libertarian Zachary Moore are the three candidates running for that seat.
According to county and state voter registration data, Republicans hold a major advantage in that district — more than 42,000 voters over Democrats.
First Published: March 24, 2025, 11:00 p.m.
Updated: March 25, 2025, 8:09 p.m.
