Every seat in the state House is up for election this year, and a handful of the races in Allegheny County had competitive primaries. Republicans currently control the chamber, but the November elections could change that.
We’ll be updating this story with election results from competitive state Senate and House races in Allegheny County.
State Senate, 38th District: State Rep. Mizgorski to face off against incumbent Democrat
State Rep. Lori Mizgorski won the Republican nomination for the 38th state Senate district, defeating public defender Jake Roberts.
Mizgorski will face Democratic incumbent Lindsey Williams, who ran unopposed, in a district that stretches across the northern portion of Allegheny County, covering the North Hills suburbs, Allegheny River towns, and East End neighborhoods in Pittsburgh. Williams narrowly won her state Senate seat in 2018, though her district has become somewhat friendlier to Democrats since then.
If Mizgorski prevails in the November election, the GOP could further solidify its hold on the state legislature.
Mizgorski jumped into this race after being drawn into a heavily Democratic state House district during this year’s legislative reapportionment process. The Shaler resident emphasized her desire to fund public education, infrastructure, and workforce development programs without raising taxes. She said she believes Pennsylvania must change its tax structure to encourage business growth. She supported a GOP-backed investigation into the state’s 2020 election results despite a lack of evidence of any widespread issues or fraud.
A resident of Ross Township, Roberts says he decided to run for state Senate because he found Mizgorski’s “conservative credentials” to be inadequate. He, meanwhile, staked out a position decidedly to the right, vowing to protect gun rights and calling for a voter ID requirement. He opposed school mask mandates and the teaching of critical race theory, saying parents should be heavily involved in K-12 education. He’s the lone full-time public defender in Clarion County. Given that Pennsylvania is the only state not to fund indigent defense, he suggests he could work with Democrats to ditch that outlier status.
State House, 25th District: Schlauch ekes out a win in GOP primary
Financial manager Stephen Schlauch appears to have won the Republican nomination for the 25th state House district, defeating school director John Ritter by a small margin.
Schlauch will face Democratic incumbent Brandon Markosek, who ran unopposed. The district includes eastern Allegheny County communities such as North Versailles, Monroeville, East McKeesport, Pitcairn, Turtle Creek, Wall, Wilmerding, and portions of Plum and Trafford.
Ritter is a school director and vice president of the board of directors for the Gateway School District. He’s run in the state House race multiple times, including a 2020 bid in which he lost to Markosek by a 58-to-42 margin, but the Republican has yet to win a seat in the historically Democratic district.
Ritter has a background in health care and was first voted onto the Gateway School Board more than six years ago. He’s said his top priority is helping Pennsylvania and the 25th district recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Schlauch, a long-time financial manager who has worked for BNY Mellon and Federated Investors, previously served on the board of directors for the Plum Borough School District. He also ran for the 25th District seat in 2018 but lost to Markosek by the same 58-to-42 margin that Ritter lost by two years later.
Schlauch said during the campaign that he wants to focus on helping small businesses, stopping critical race theory (though critical race theory is not taught in K-12 public schools in Pennsylvania), and ensuring local police have “tools and training.”
State House, 34th District: Summer Lee holds on to her seat in the state House
Incumbent state Rep. Summer Lee defeated attorney Abigail Salisbury in the 34th state House district, earning the Democratic nomination. Lee was also running in the 12th Congressional District primary. As of early Wednesday morning, she held a slight lead.
The 34th district includes a number of suburbs east of Pittsburgh: Wilkinsburg, Edgewood, Swissvale, Churchill, and North Braddock. It’s heavily Democratic and one of the most racially balanced districts in the region — slightly more than half of its residents are white, while more than 40 percent are Black.
No Republicans ran for the primary in this district.
Lee’s 2018 election to the state House over veteran legislator Paul Costa has had a galvanizing effect on the region’s politics. It helped chart a course for progressive challengers and diversified a county delegation that had never before included a Black woman.
In Harrisburg, Lee has been an unapologetic champion of criminal-justice reform and environmental justice in a region where industry still shapes — and sometimes pollutes — the landscape.
Attorney and Swissvale Borough council member Salisbury said she’s supported Lee in the past, but that she will be more focused on infrastructure needs and aiding the district’s resource-strapped municipalities like the one she serves. And Salisbury says environmental principles are important, but leaders have to consider the economic and health costs of lost jobs on communities.
State House, 39th District: Attorney Kuzma defeats incumbent
Attorney Andrew Kuzma won the Republican nomination for the 39th state House district, defeating Incumbent state Rep. Mike Puskaric.
The 39th was represented for a decade by Rick Saccone, a conservative firebrand, and it's the kind of white, working-class area where Republicans have a decided advantage. Communities that make up the district include Elizabeth Township, Jefferson Hills, Finleyville, Somerset Township, and portions of South Park. No Democrat appeared on the primary ballot — all but ensuring the winner of the GOP contest will hold the seat next year.
First elected in 2018, Puskaric has opposed Pennsylvania’s participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, and he has staked out a number of conservative issues. He joined a resolution disputing Pennsylvania's 2020 statewide election results, and he recently voted against a move to extend an emergency declaration that would expedite rebuilding Pittsburgh's Fern Hollow Bridge.
He also supported a state house bill to ban transgender girls from competing in girls’ school sports. Before taking office, Puskaric was the director of settlement operations at Matrix Property Settlements.
Local attorney and former Elizabeth Township commissioner Kuzma is a familiar foe to Puskaric: In 2018, Kuzma publicly supported Puskaric’s Democratic opponent, Rob Rhoderick, saying at the time that he valued Rhoderick’s responsible approach to budgeting.
Kuzma ran on promises to prioritize police, school choice and election reform. But like Puskaric, he also ran on a slate of touchstone issues for conservatives, including opposition to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a partnership with 10 New England and Mid-Atlantic states designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
State House, 40th District: Incumbent Mihalek fends off challenger
Incumbent state Rep. Natalie Mihalek won the Republican nomination for the 40th state House district, defeating Steve Renz.
The 40th District spans two counties — Allegheny and Washington — and is widely considered a Republican bastion. No Democrat filed for the race.
Mihalek is the kind of Republican who traditionally does well in the South Hills suburbs: a U.S. Navy vet with experience as a prosecutor, appealing to business groups and even a conservative union or two.
Among Republicans, the American Conservative Union ranks her in the middle of the GOP in terms of her conservatism, but she’s opposed to abortion rights and firearm restrictions. She's also recently taken up the ever-popular cause of liquor store privatization.
Renz is the kind of Republican who has become an increasingly visible presence in the party: He adopted “Make Votes Count Again” as a campaign slogan, and he criticized more moderate Republicans as well as Democrats.
His campaign foregrounded voting issues and denounced Mihalek and other Republicans who supported Act 77 of 2019, which enabled easier mail-in balloting. He was formerly a board member in the Brentwood School District and now serves as vice chair of the Peters Township Republican committee.
