Democrat wins Pennsylvania special election, handing party control of state House
Democrat Dan Goughnour has won the open Pennsylvania state House seat left vacated by the death of the most recent officeholder, restoring Democrats’ narrow majority in the body, Decision Desk HQ projects.
Goughnour, who is a member of the McKeesport school board and a police officer, will win over Republican Chuck Davis, the president of the White Oak Borough Council. The result is not a surprise in the Democratic-leaning House District 35, which voted for former Vice President Harris in November with about 58 percent of the vote.
The seat has been vacant since January, when the late Rep. Matt Gergely (D) died in office. He had first been elected to the state House in 2023 in a special election to succeed now-Lt. Gov. Austin Davis (D) and was reelected to a full term in November without opposition.
Gergely’s death reduced the Democrats’ 102-101 majority down to an even split with the Republicans, but Goughnour’s victory will return the body to the composition it had. Democrats won that majority in the state House for the first time in a decade in 2022 and kept it exactly intact in November.
The party has needed to win a few special elections since then to keep the majority.
The Democratic National Committee signaled its strong interest in securing this seat with newly elected DNC Chair Ken Martin starting a national tour in McKeesport and campaigning with Goughnour in February.
Martin said in a statement that Goughnour will fight for families, and his win allows Pennsylvania Democrats to better stand up to President Trump and defends Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) from Republican legislators pushing constitutional amendments to bypass his power.
“Building the Democratic Party back begins in the states and down-ballot wins like Rep.-elect Goughnour’s offer a powerful rebuke of Trump and Elon Musk’s MAGA agenda,” Martin said.
The state House district is located in Alleghany County in western Pennsylvania, to the southeast of Pittsburgh.