Democrats retain 1-seat majority in Pennsylvania House of Representatives

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrats retained their majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Friday by holding Johnstown County, giving them enough votes to retain the speakership and set the chamber’s voting agenda.

The victory by incumbent Rep. Frank Burns is the latest House race to be called in a year in which none of the 203 districts change hands. That gave Democrats a 102-101 lead and dashed Republican hopes of regaining control after two years in the minority.

Burns defeated Republican Amy Bradley, executive director of the Cambria Regional Chamber of Commerce and a former television news anchor and reporter.

Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee President Heather Williams said maintaining a House majority was “one of the toughest but most important priorities of the cycle” and that her party would be a “critical check on Republican extremism.”

Burns, a conservative Democrat who supports gun rights and opposes abortion, regularly voted against his Democratic colleagues in the House. It has long been an electoral target for Republicans, while many other similarly situated counties in western Pennsylvania have long gone GOP.

The district includes Johnstown and most of Cambria County.

Burns’ victory provides some consolation for Democrats in what has otherwise been a banner election year in Pennsylvania for the GOP. Former President Donald Trump won the state. Dave McCormick defeated Democratic US Senator Bob CaseyTwo Democratic congressional seats were flipped, with GOP candidates taking all three state seats.

In the state Senate, where half of the 50 seats were filled this year, Democrats and Republicans each flipped one seat, leaving the chamber with the same 28-22 Republican majority it had in the 2023-24 session.