Incumbent state lawmakers have shuffled around and new faces emerged victorious during the 2022 Pennsylvania primary election.
The May 17 primary marked Pennsylvania’s first election since legislators redrew congressional district boundaries to reflect the state’s shifting demographics.
Several House districts and one Senate district in the Greater Harrisburg area featured primary contests, including two that involved incumbents. In Pennsylvania, candidates faced off for 203 House seats and 25 of 50 Senate seats.
Based on unofficial returns, which include mail-in ballots, here are the results of key central Pennsylvania state House and Senate contests to determine who will represent their parties in the November general election.
103rd State House
Five-term incumbent Patty Kim won the Democratic nomination besting Heather MacDonald, a progressive community activist from Camp Hill.
The newly-drawn 103rd now includes the West Shore communities of Wormleysburg, East Pennsboro Township, Lemoyne and Camp Hill in addition to much of Harrisburg. It previously covered none of the West Shore.
Before getting elected to the state House in 2012, Kim spent six years on Harrisburg City Council and worked as a TV news journalist. She says her work on city council and as a journalist gave her an understanding of local issues and ability to articulate solutions.
She will face David D. Buell who won the Republican nomination against Jennie Jenkins-Dallas, the former Harrisburg police officer who has made two attempts at city office as a Democrat in recent years.
Buell, 57, is a former two-term Cumberland County prothonotary, a role that put him in charge of the county’s civil court system. He now works in financial services.
105th State House
Justin Fleming, a Susquehanna Township Commissioner, won the Democratic nomination for the 105th House District seat against Eric Epstein, known as a watchdog over state government and Three Mile Island.
Fleming has worked in several state agency press offices and done work for nonprofits advocating for children and mental health services. He has served as a volunteer baseball coach, been active in school district activities, and serves as president of the Pennsylvania Association of Government Relations.
Earlier this spring, Fleming told PennLive he wants to address what he says is the alarming child poverty rate in the district, which includes Susquehanna Township, Penbrook and part of Lower Paxton Township.
As a state representative, he said he will have the ability to pursue these efforts on a full-time basis.
“I have dedicated my professional and personal life to serving others,” he said. “This office would be a continuation of that service.”
Fleming will likely face off against write-in Republican candidate Therese Kenley in the November general election. She decided to enter the race to give voters of this new House district a choice.
The district covers all of Susquehanna Township and Penbrook and parts of Lower Paxton Township in Dauphin County.
86th House District
Incumbent Rep. Perry Stambaugh, of Green Park, Perry County, won the Republican nomination against two-term incumbent Rep. John Hershey, in the 86th House District.
A new legislative map pitted the two candidates against each other for the seat, which covers Perry and Juniata counties.
Earlier this spring, Stambaugh, who has held one term, noted he is one of the relatively few members of the General Assembly who refuses to participate in the state pension system.
He said he believes that benefit violates a provision in the Pennsylvania Constitution and adds to the state’s $76 billion (and growing) pension debt.
Stambaugh also cited his introduction of a state constitutional amendment to eliminate school property taxes; filings with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to hold CenturyLink accountable for its poor service in Perry, Juniata, and Cumberland counties; and measures to increase rural broadband access, including the recent creation of the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority.
He runs unopposed in the fall general election.
87th State House District
Lower Allen Township Commissioner Thomas Kutz won the Republican nomination for the 87th State House seat against Eric Clancy, an Upper Allen Township businessman.
The district covers all of Upper Allen, Monroe and Silver Spring townships; parts of Lower Allen and South Middleton townships; and Mount Holly Springs borough.
Kutz currently serves as a policy director for the state Senate and was elected to the Lower Allen Township Board of Commissioners in 2019. He said the board has passed balanced budgets with no tax increase every year he has served.
After college, Kutz worked as a congressional staffer for the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee at a time when Congress passed the largest tax cut in American history, and then went on to serve as policy director for a U.S. Senate candidate before attending law school.
Kutz will face unopposed Democrat Kristal Markel in the fall general election.
34th Senate District
Rep. Greg Rothman won the Republican nomination for 34th Senate District seat over challenger Mike Gossert, a Cumberland Valley School District board member.
The district encompasses northern Dauphin County, all of Perry County, and most of Cumberland County apart from the southeastern municipalities near the York County line.
Rothman’s current legislative seat, the 87th House District, was substantially redrawn under the new maps created by the state legislative redistricting commission, part of the required decennial re-apportionment following the 2020 census.
“I’m a conservative Republican who represents a suburban district,” Rothman, a commercial realtor with his company, RSR Realtors, told PennLive earlier this spring. “I’ve done well in the more suburban purple areas, but my voting record is more conservative.”
Rothman will face James Massey, the sole Democratic candidate, in the general election.
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