Control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives appeared to hang on the results of a single race in Cambria County, where a voting system malfunction caused election day chaos and caused the vote count to drag into Wednesday afternoon.
While the Associated Press had not called the winner in eight state House races at noon on Wednesday, Democrats were focused on three particularly close districts.
By mid-afternoon, House Majority Leader Matt Bradford, D-Montgomery, said the party was confident of victory in all but one: the race between incumbent Rep. Frank Burns, D-Cambria, and his Republican challenger Amy Bradley, who was backed by GOP mega donor Jeff Yass.
“The only thing in dispute is the Cambria County Frank Burns protect,” Bradford told the Capital-Star on Wednesday.
Democrats in the other two close races claimed victory on Wednesday afternoon, although the Associated Press still had not called the races. Incumbent Rep. Brian Munroe, D-Bucks, held a 2.5 percentage point lead over Republican Daniel McPhillips. Democrat Sean Dougherty had a nearly 2 percentage point lead over Republican Aziz Gill in the northeast Philadelphia district where Democratic Rep. Kevin Boyle lost a primary challenge this year amid personal issues.