In Allegheny County, a Republican incumbent kept her seat in the state House 44th District, while a win by another Republican candidate in the 28th District kept that seat red as well.
Three-term Republican Valerie Gaydos will serve a fourth term in House District 44 seat. She received 53.9% of the vote, defeating Democrat challenger and activist Hadley Haas.
Made up of airport-area suburbs and some Ohio Valley communities, the 44th District has long been held by Republicans, though Democrats have vied for the seat in recent cycles.
Gaydos has been adept at turning aside previous challenges. Haas announced her candidacy a year ago and assembled an array of support from Democrats and progressive advocacy groups.
In conceding Tuesday night, Haas said she was proud of the work she and supporters had done.
“During this campaign I have had the opportunity to meet and speak with residents all over the district, connecting on our shared interest in making our community safer and stronger. My hope is that this work will continue.”
A Sewickley resident, Gaydos has held the seat since 2018. She touts herself as an independent, business-minded Republican — one of her initiatives involves reducing the size of the legislature — with little interest in culture-war slugfests. She recently cosponsored a state House bill, signed by Gov. Josh Shapiro, that reined in the business practices of pharmacy benefits managers, who some blame for rising medicine costs.
In the 28th State House district, Republican Jeremy Shaffer beat Democrat Bill Petulla after gaining around 57% of the vote.
The district, crossing a territory of affluent suburbs stretched across Allegheny County’s northern tier, has long been a Republican bastion. It was once the home turf of former Speaker of the House Mike Turzai. Incumbent Rob Mercuri yielded the office to focus on a run for Congress, and Democrats had hoped to seize an opportunity to flip the seat.
A resident of Pine Township, software engineer and entrepreneur Shaffer previously ran to represent the region in the state Senate and Congress. Both bids were unsuccessful. This time, he emphasized a moderate pro-business Republican message.
"We stayed positive the entire campaign. Our message was, how can we work together to move Pennsylvania forward?" he said Tuesday night. "And I think that really resonated in the district. That's why we won by about 15 points. I'm looking forward to working with both parties to try to make our state a little better place, try to grow our region and our state."
Petulla was a first-time political candidate with prosecutorial experience. He is a criminal prosecutor and chief trial deputy in the Allegheny County District Attorney’s office.
Oliver Morrison of WESA contributed to this report.
