PITTSBURGH (TNS) — Amy Bradley and Frank Burns both knew by early Wednesday afternoon who had been elected the next president of the U.S., but neither of them knew which one of them had won their head-to-head matchup for a state House seat in Cambria County.
The delay in counting votes in the 72nd House District was tied directly to a ballot-counting equipment malfunction that may have been the single most disruptive problem for in-person voting on Election Day in Pennsylvania. But the scrutiny Wednesday was even more intense because control of the state House was hanging in the balance.
All 203 seats in the chamber were up for election on Tuesday. Democrats went into the election with a slim, one-vote majority — and having the majority means controlling the flow of legislation and the choice of Speaker of the House.
By late Wednesday afternoon the Associated Press had called winners in 201 of the races, with 101 Republican winners and 100 Democrats. But Democrats had the lead in the two races that had not been called: The 72nd House District, Bradley-Burns contest, and the 172nd House District race in Philadelphia.
In the latter contest, Democrat Sean Dougherty — the son of state Supreme Court Justice Kevin Dougherty — was pitted against Republican Aizaz Gill. Late Wednesday afternoon, incomplete results showed Dougherty had 12,619 votes to 12,165 for Gill.
In the race between Burns and Bradley, Burns had 6,755 votes late Wednesday afternoon and Bradley had 5,050. A delay in counting was triggered Tuesday morning by an equipment failure that prompted a judge to order polls stay open until 10 p.m.
Secretary of State Al Schmidt early Wednesday said pre-printed ballots were used for voting in Cambria County after the equipment failure. He indicated counting them by hand would be time-consuming.
Before the election, the race had been viewed as very competitive. Both candidates said in separate interviews Wednesday they were frustrated by the problems.
“We have the president picked, but not a lawmaker in Cambria County,” said Bradley. “I have been told it could take most of today and maybe some of tomorrow.”
Burns called the problems “unfortunate” and wondered if the malfunction could have been detected before vote-counting started. “It seems like there should have been testing,” he said.
For two years, the state has been run via “divided government” in which the executive branch is led by Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro while the legislative branch has been split between a Republican-controlled Senate and a Democrat-controlled House.
Half the seats in the Senate were up for election Tuesday. Incomplete results on Wednesday made it clear Republicans would be in control of at least 27 of the 50 seats in the next two-year session that begins in January.
House members across the state — even if their own races were already decided — were looking for news on the undecided House races.
“I am waiting patiently, like everybody else, to see the outcome of those races,” said Rep. Joe Ciresi, D-Montgomery. “We are all waiting.”
The longest-serving House member, Rep. Bob Freeman, D-Northampton, said he believed Democrats would retain the majority. In the 2023-24 session, he said, the Democratic majority had been “proactive” in promoting its agenda but there were challenges working with the Republican-controlled Senate.
Republican Rep. Valerie Gaydos of Allegheny County defeated Democratic challenger Hadley Haas by a margin of about 54% to 46% in a race that at least some observers dubbed competitive. Ms. Gaydos said those “pundits” apparently looked at voter registration numbers that show both major parties with between 20,000 and 21,000 voters in the district.
“In Western Pennsylvania, we put people over parties. Registration doesn’t matter,” Gaydos said.
