Rob Mercuri in line for GOP nod to seek House Speaker Mike Turzai's seat
A Republican from Pine held a wide lead late Tuesday in a three-way race for the GOP nomination to seek the seat of retiring House Speaker Mike Turzai, according to unofficial election returns.
As of around 6 a.m. Wednesday, Rob Mercuri had collected 60% of the votes counted in the 28th State House District, while opponents Libby Blackburn had collected 22.7% and Mike Heckmann had 17.3%, the unofficial tallies showed.
Allegheny County officials were continuing to count ballots late Tuesday, and more votes could be counted over the next week. Gov. Tom Wolf issued an executive order Monday extending the deadline for Allegheny and five other counties to receive mail-in and absentee ballots by mail. They will be accepted through 5 p.m. June 9, as long as they were postmarked by June 2.
Emily Skopov was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. The district includes the North Hills communities of Bradford Woods, Franklin Park, Marshall, McCandless and Pine.
“We had a great day at the polls and we want to thank the voters and all of our supporters,” said Mercuri, 38, a West Point graduate and senior vice president for PNC Bank.
“As we head toward the fall, we’ll be looking to unite the constituents of the district as we recover from this economic crisis and turn toward growth in Pennsylvania’s comeback,” he added.
He said on his campaign website that he is running on a platform to “keep Turzai’s tradition of fiscal restraint alive in Harrisburg.”
Turzai, 60, announced in January that he would retire from politics after serving nearly two decades in Harrisburg. He was elected to the House in 2001 and rose to become speaker in 2015. He is leaving to accept a job in the private sector.
Tawnya Panizzi is a TribLive reporter. She joined the Trib in 1997. She can be reached at tpanizzi@triblive.com.
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