Two vie for state House seat held by Saccone

In the race for the state House seat in the 39th District, voters will choose between Republican Mike Puskaric, a title insurance agent, and Democrat Rob Rhoderick, a chiropractor and Elizabeth Township commissioner.

Rep. Rick Saccone, a Republican, has served in the seat since 2011. He ran for Congress in a special election earlier this year, losing to Democrat Conor Lamb, and did not seek re-election in the 39th.

Republicans control the 203-seat state House, with 120 Republicans and 80 Democrats. Three seats are vacant.

Mr. Puskaric, 29, of Elizabeth Township, works for Matrix Property Settlements, a real estate closing settlement company. He has not previously run for elected office but said he has volunteered in the past for Republican campaigns.

He said he’s running because he believes the district has been forgotten in terms of infrastructure and business development.

Mr. Puskaric said he has seen district residents struggle to pay school property taxes. He said he would support eliminating the school property tax to alleviate its burden on senior citizens and replacing it with increased sales and income taxes

He also supports extending the Mon-Fayette Expressway to the city of Pittsburgh; current plans

call for it to go only as far as Monroeville.

“I think it’s something that is vitally important for the area,” he said.

He has been endorsed by a gun-rights group Firearm Owners Against Crime, a pro-life organization LifePAC, and business groups NFIB and ChamberPAC.

“I think it’s time for some younger folks to step up with fresh ideas,” he said.

Mr. Rhoderick, 47, previously served on the Elizabeth Forward school board and has been one of seven township commissioners since 2014. In 2012, he ran for state representative but lost the Democratic primary.

In 2009, he led an unsuccessful campaign and lawsuit to require the township board to reduce its number of commissioners from seven to five and to have all of them elected at large.

He said he enjoys helping residents solve problems and, if elected, would like to do the same on the state level.

He also said he supports eliminating the school property tax, replacing the revenue with either a sales tax or a shale tax.

He also said he favors several reforms of the General Assembly, such as term limits, shrinking its size, and requiring legislators to submit receipts for their per diems, which they currently do not have to do.

Additionally, Mr. Rhoderick said taxpayers should not be on the hook for legal settlements paid by local governments as the result of the actions of one or two elected officials.

“One issue I truly would like to push for … is issues on the local level with settlements, lawsuits, things that end up getting paid by the taxpayers’ money that are the result of one or two local elected officials … I’ve seen it on a local level where one or two local officials cost the township a lot of money,” he said.

Mr. Rhoderick has endorsements from the AFLCIO and several other labor organizations.

The election is Nov. 6.