Democrats keep control of Pennsylvania House with election win

Democrat Dan Goughnour handily won a special election in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday, keeping majority control of the state House in his party’s hands by a single seat.

HARRISBURG — Democrat Dan Goughnour handily won a special election in western Pennsylvania on Tuesday, keeping majority control of the state House in his party’s hands by a single seat.

Goughnour beat Republican Chuck Davis in a district in the Mon Valley region southeast of Pittsburgh, winning a seat that became vacant in January with the death of Democratic state Rep. Matthew Gergely.

After the House race was called, Goughnour said, “It’s overwhelming, but I feel good.” He said his goal was to “maintain common sense in Harrisburg” and give his district a strong voice.

“We knocked on thousands and thousands of doors,” Goughnour said. “We worked hard and didn’t take anything for granted.”

Goughnour’s victory means Democrats control the House by a single representative, 102 to 101. The party will be able to keep Democratic House Speaker Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia as the chamber’s presiding officer.

Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said in a statement that the majority means state House Democrats “can stand up to Trump’s mayhem in Washington,” prevent efforts to weaken Shapiro’s authority and “continue to expand job opportunities, strengthen schools and create safe communities in Pennsylvania.”

Goughnour, the winner of the House race, will be resigning as a detective supervisor after spending well over a decade as a police officer in McKeesport. He is a Teamster and a first-term member of the school board in McKeesport, where he graduated high school. Goughnour is married and has three children.

Davis, a veteran volunteer firefighter and fire chief, is president of the White Oak Borough Council.

The district is about 12 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. Many of the towns that make up the district were part of the once-thriving steelmaking region, but the area is now economically challenged.