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State House Races Yield Results Both Narrow And Wide

The races for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives have come to a close. Some were neck-and-neck, and others — not so much.

In District 20, incumbent Adam Ravenstahl of Pittsburgh’s North Side held off challenger and Avalon public school teacher Tom Michalow with just 52.26 percent of the vote. Ravenstahl, the brother of former Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, will take on Republican Tom Fodi in the fall.

Incumbent Ed Gainey won re-nomination for a second term in District 24 by capturing 86 percent of the vote. Gainey faced two challengers: William Anderson and Todd Koger. Anderson ended the night with about 8 percent of the vote and Koger got the remaining 6 percent.

Gainey said hard work was the key to his campaign.

“What we did is we went out and talked to the people,” he said. “We made sure that we went around and we told what we’ve done in the last two years, and we continued to touch base with people to make sure that we got our message across, and we did it.”

Gainey said he’s looking forward to being able to continue his work in the House.

Incumbent Dan Deasy of Westwood defeated former Pittsburgh Mayoral candidate A.J. Richardson for the District 27 seat with about 84 percent of the vote. Deasy was first elected to the chamber in 2008 and is currently also the chairman of the Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority.

In District 32, incumbent Anthony DeLuca defeated attorney Kristopher Wiegand by a 3-to-1 margin. DeLuca, who’s been a member of the state House for more than 30 years, received 4,100 votes. Wiegand got 1,251.

Deasy, DeLuca and Gainey will not face a Republican in November.

The Erie, PA native has been a fellow in the WESA news department since May 2013. Having earned a bachelor's degree in print journalism from Duquesne University, he is now pursuing an M.A. in multi-media management. Michael describes his career aspiration as "I want to do it all in journalism."