Republican Chuck Davis campaigns in Clairton, Pa., on Friday, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — 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 a seat that opened in January when Democratic state Rep. Matthew Gergely died.

After the 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 Gov. Josh Shapiro's authority and “continue to expand job opportunities, strengthen schools and create safe communities in Pennsylvania.”

Goughnour has spent well over a decade as a police officer in McKeesport and currently serves as supervisor of detectives. 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 (19 kilometers) 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.

Democrats have held the Pennsylvania House majority since 2023, after they flipped 12 seats, the minimum needed to reclaim control after more than a decade. Since then, Democrats have maintained their majority by winning a series of special elections.

The Senate remains comfortably in Republican control, and the chief executive is Shapiro, a rising star among Democrats who is seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate. The partisan divide and power sharing in Harrisburg — a dynamic that has prevailed for much of the past two decades — has prevented major changes in state law.

There was also a special election Tuesday for a vacancy in the state Senate created when Sen. Ryan Aument, a Lancaster Republican, quit to take a job working for U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick. Republican Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons ran against Democrat James Andrew Malone, the mayor of East Petersburg. No matter which candidate wins, majority control of the state Senate will not flip.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025