1-seat Democratic margin has Pennsylvania House control up for grabs in fall voting

Pennsylvania’s legislative Republicans would like to pass additional voter ID requirements, restrict abortion and make election changes to improve their odds of winning judicial races. Democrats want to bump up the state’s minimum wage and widen civil rights for LGBTQ people.

In the closely divided General Assembly, those proposals have gone nowhere.

Next month the state’s voters will determine whether to change that dynamic, filling all 203 House seats and half the 50-member Senate. Democrats go into the election with a one-seat House majority, while in the Senate, Republicans have 28 seats and therefore majority control.

Democrats would need to flip three Senate seats to get the chamber to a 25-25 deadlock, leaving Democratic Lt. Gov. Austin Davis to break ties on procedural votes but not final passage of legislation. They hope to thread the needle by taking GOP seats in Harrisburg, Erie and the Pittsburgh area while returning all of their own incumbents.

This year, a few dozen legislative races across the country could determine party control in state capitols, affecting state laws on abortion, guns and transgender rights. Statehouse control is more politically important in the wake of recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions weakening federal regulatory oversight, giving more power to states.

In state House elections, it’s typical that only a couple dozen races are close enough to be competitive — a handful in the Philadelphia suburbs along with others scattered around the state.

Democrats were aided by redrawn district lines when they flipped a net of 12 seats two years ago, retaking majority control after more than a decade in the legislative wilderness. A state House rule linking majority status to the results of elections rather than new vacancies has meant Democrats have maintained control of the chamber floor even as two members resigned this summer and gave Republicans a bare 101-100 margin. Those seats were filled Sept. 17 by Democrats who ran unopposed, and both are also unopposed in the General Election.

This fall, more than half of the House districts have only one candidate on the ballot.

Among the Republican targets in the House is Rep. Frank Burns, a Cambria County Democrat who has somehow stayed in office despite facing biennial GOP challenges in the very Republican Johnstown area. Another is Rep. Jim Haddock, a freshman Democrat who won a Lackawanna and Luzerne district by about 4 percentage points two years ago.

Democrats have hopes of unseating Rep. Craig Williams, R-Delaware, who made an unsuccessful bid for the GOP’s attorney general nomination this spring. Outside Pittsburgh, Rep. Valerie Gaydos is also seen as relatively vulnerable.

Rep. Nick Pisciottano, a Democrat, is giving up his Allegheny County district to run for state Senate. Rep. Jim Gregory lost the Republican primary to Scott Barger, who is unopposed in a Blair County district. Brian Rasel, a Republican, faces no other candidate to succeed Rep. George Dunbar, R-Westmoreland.

Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, is unopposed for reelection but he’s also running for auditor general, raising the possibility the two parties could be tied after the votes are counted.

The state Senate races widely seen as the most competitive are the reelection efforts of Sen. Dan Laughlin, R-Erie, and Sen. Devlin Robinson, R-Allegheny. Dauphin County Sen. John DiSanto, a Republican, is not seeking another term after his district saw significant changes through redistricting. State Rep. Patty Kim, D-Dauphin, and Nick DiFrancesco, a Republican and the Dauphin County treasurer, are facing off to succeed DiSanto.

Democrats have to defend a Pittsburgh state Senate opening because of the retirement of Sen. Jim Brewster, a Democrat. Pisciottano is going up against Republican security company owner Jen Dintini for Brewster’s seat.