Williams claims Senate win
Unofficial tally gives her victory in 38th District
Unofficial voting results put Democrat Lindsey Williams narrowly ahead of Republican Jeremy Shaffer in their liberal vs. conservative, closely watched contest to capture Pennsylvania’s 38th Senate District Tuesday.
As of 12:20 a.m., Allegheny County’s elections website showed Ms. Williams leading by a mere 540 votes out of more than 122,000 cast for the two candidates. She declared victory, saying the tally included a count of absentee ballots, but Mr. Shaffer wasn’t ready to concede defeat.
“This is going to be a razor-thin race … really a coin flip, and we’ll have to let the election officials count all the votes,” the Ross Township commissioner told more than 100 supporters at the Pomodoro Pizzeria and Ristorante in Franklin Park just before 11:30 p.m.
Ms. Williams appeared before several hundred raucous supporters at the IUOE Local 66 headquartersin O’Hara at 11:45, telling them she was eager to get to Harrisburg with hopes “to accomplish a lot for progressive voters in the 38th.”
“Good jobs and affordable health care, I want that for everyone,” she said. “It’s been a long, tough race, but I’m proud of the campaign I ran.”
County spokeswoman Amie Downs said there is no automatic recount based on closeness of races at the local level, including state Senate, although losing candidates may go through a process to petition for a recount.
The close result reflected a race that had been perceived as both competitive and bruising throughout.
Mr. Shaffer, a software company executive, branded Ms. Williams a “socialist” out of step with the district and the rest of Pennsylvania, while the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers attorney making her first bid for office labeled him a “right-wing extremist.”
Among 25 Senate seats on Tuesday’s ballot across Pennsylvania, the 38th District was one of the few that did not feature an incumbent, which brought it special attention and campaign contributions from outside the district. In the spring primary election, Mr. Shaffer, 41, handily defeated GOP Sen. Randy Vulakovich, who has represented the district since 2012. Ms. Williams, 35, of West View, won her own competitive primary race.
Although it has been a Republican-held district and Mr. Shaffer bested the incumbent by touting himself as a more conservative alternative, Democrats eyed it as a potential gain for their minority caucus in Harrisburg because the district gave more votes to Hillary Clinton than Donald Trump in 2016. The Allegheny County district includes many of the North Hills and Alle-Kiski Valley suburbs, as well as Pittsburgh neighborhoods in the eastern 11th and 12th wards.
Republicans currently hold a 33-16 edge in the Senate, and the Democrats needed to gain at least one seat Tuesday to prevent the GOP from retaining a twothirds majority that can override any gubernatorial veto. The Democrats seemed poised to pick up several seats, regardless of the 38th District, based on unofficial vote totals favoring their candidates in multiple eastern Pennsylvania races.
Ms. Williams has championed unions and workers’ rights in a variety of professional positions, while advocating during the campaign for more education funding; a $15-an-hour minimum wage; a tax on shale drilling; and women’s reproductive rights.
After she unsuccessfully sought endorsement in the primary election from the Democratic Socialists of America, Mr. Shaffer and his supporters tagged Ms. Williams as a socialist. His supporters also unsuccessfully filed suit trying to remove her from the ballot, claiming she did not meet residency requirements to run in the district.
Mr. Shaffer campaigned as a pro-business, anti-tax candidate wanting a more frugal government — including a smaller state Legislature — while backing a more modest hike in Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $10 an hour. Ms. Williams maintained his budget positions would lead to cuts in education funding, among other steps backward, but Mr. Shaffer denied he would support school cuts. He considers himself a “pro-life” candidate favoring restrictions on abortion rights.
While half of the Senate’s 50 seats were up for election, only two other races were southwestern Pennsylvania contests without a clear outcome in advance, as Sen. Wayne Fontana, DBrookline, had no challenger in seeking a fourth full four-year term.
In the 46th District, Republican Camera Bartolotta of Carroll, Washington County, won a second term in a district that is heavily Democratic and was traditionally represented by that party until she ousted an incumbent four years ago. She was challenged for re-election by Democrat James Craig, a real estate attorney from North Strabane in his first campaign.
Ms. Bartolotta, who owns an oil-change business, represents all of Greene County, most of Washington County and part of Beaver County.
In the 32nd District, Sen. Patrick Stefano of Bullskin, Fayette County, was also a Republican incumbent who coasted to a second term. The printing business owner, who chairs the Senate Game and Fisheries Committee, was opposed by Pamela Gerard, a schoolteacher from Uniontown who obtained the Democratic nomination as a writein candidate. She is the wife of former NBA player and Laurel Highlands High School standout Daniel “Gus” Gerard.
Sen. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Jefferson Hills, who is in the middle of his first full Senate term, won election to Congress Tuesday. That victory will prompt a special election to determine his successor in the 37th District, which covers a swath of Pittsburgh’s southern and western suburbs.