Majority control of Pa. House hinges on special election in 35th District outside Pittsburgh

Pennsylvania's special election Tuesday will determine whether Democrats or Republicans will control the state House, a glimpse of voter sentiment in the swing state that helped return President Donald Trump to the White House.

But the race between McKeesport Democrat Dan Goughnour and White Oak Republican Chuck Davis has been in many ways a low-key affair.

"I know Dan, and I’ve known him for years," Davis said. "I don’t throw mud, and neither does he. It’s been a good campaign."

The death of Democratic state Rep. Matt Gergely has left the House deadlocked at 101-101 since January. A Democratic win on Tuesday would keep Speaker Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia as the chamber’s presiding officer, while a Republican flip would enable the GOP to pick a different speaker, control the voting schedule and install their own members as committee chairs.

The race pits Goughnour, 39, a police officer who supervises detectives and serves on the school board in McKeesport, against Davis, 66, a fire chief who also serves as president of the White Oak Borough Council. Libertarian Adam Kitta is also on the ballot.

Goughnour and Davis both stress public-safety concerns, including the need to provide more state support for EMS services that are struggling in the district and in many other parts of the state. Goughnour also emphasizes a need for state support of education.

"My time on the school board for the last three years has opened my eyes to how crucial ... is making sure that we're receiving the funding. And it's also got to be fair." Districts like McKeesport, he worries are losing millions of dollars a year to support charter schools. "That's a pretty substantial portion of the pie that we get."

For his part, Davis says he worries about infrastructure concerns, including bridges in McKeesport that have been closed due to their poor condition. "They've had a lot of state representatives coming out of McKeesport, but it looks like Beirut."

He also said he's motivated by a desire to "bring some common sense into Harrisburg." He said he's been concerned about policies that have allowed transgender athletes to compete in sports leagues based on the gender they identify with. "Women fought long and hard for their own sports, and that’s being taken away now," he said.

Davis was selected quietly as the GOP nominee by a select group of party leaders. Goughnour was chosen from a field of six Democrats in an open vote of party committee members. He likened the whirlwind process of meeting those officials to being "thrown in the deep end without a life ring. Everything happened so quickly."

But the party has rallied behind him, with national Democrats taking an unusual interest in the race. Goughnour has been endorsed by Barack Obama's former attorney general, Eric Holder, who ordinarily doesn't weigh in on such contests. And in a visit to the district last month, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said a Goughnour victory "sends a signal to Democrats around the country that we’re willing to fight for our values at every single level."

The party arguably needs such a signal: Pennsylvania Democrats lost a U.S. Senate seat and all three row offices — treasurer, attorney general and auditor general — in the November election, along with giving Trump a slim majority of the state’s votes.

Davis has drawn some party support of his own. A "get out the vote" rally Friday evening will feature state Senator and Pennsylvania Republican Chairman Greg Rothman, state Representative Jamie Walsh, and Slippery Rock Mayor Jondavid Longo.

"It’s a tie-breaking seat so both sides want to jump on it." Davis said. “You can say it’s on my shoulders to gain conservative control, but it doesn’t weigh on me much," he added. District voter registration tilts strongly toward Democrats, he acknowledged, but voters "are usually Democratic because that’s what their parents are,"

But it would be a seismic upset for Republicans to flip the district after it went for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump in November, 58% to 42%. Gergely won it with 75% of the vote in a special election in 2023, and Republicans did not field a candidate against him last fall. In the 2022 gubernatorial race, Democrat Josh Shapiro also won three-quarters of the district's vote, swamping Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano of Franklin County.

House Democratic Campaign Committee executive director Madeline Zann said she senses some increased enthusiasm among volunteers and small-dollar donors that may be prompted by concerns about the Trump administration. She said the candidates will have to focus on issues closer to home and getting core supporters to vote, since many people ignore special elections.

“It’s a turnout election in many ways,” Zann said.

State Rep. Jamie Barton of Schuylkill County, who leads campaigns for the Republican caucus in the state House, said Davis is in an uphill fight in the 35th, calling it a “strong-leaning Democratic district.” But he said new local GOP leadership has energized Republican voters.

“No matter who looks good on paper you’ve got to have the election,” Barton said. “We’re not taking anything for granted.”

Allegheny County's newly installed Republican Party chair Jason Richey has said the race offers an early chance for the party to flex its muscles.

Another special election on Tuesday will determine who fills the state Senate seat that Ryan Aument, R-Lancaster, relinquished to work for Republican U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick. Republican Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons is running against Democrat James Andrew Malone, the mayor of East Petersburg. A win by Malone in the Republican-leaning district would not threaten the GOP state Senate majority. The third candidate is Libertarian Zachary Moore.

Tom Riese contributed to this story.