Pennsylvania
Majority control of Pennsylvania House hinges on special election in steel region near Pittsburgh
Pennsylvania’s special election next week will determine whether Democrats or Republicans will control the state House, a glimpse of voter sentiment in the swing state that helped return President Donald Trump to the White House.
The death of Democratic state Rep. Matt Gergely has left the House deadlocked at 101-101 since January. A Democratic win on Tuesday would keep Speaker Joanna McClinton of Philadelphia as the chamber’s presiding officer, while a Republican flip would enable the GOP to pick a different speaker, control the voting schedule and install their own members as committee chairs.
The race pits Democrat Dan Goughnour, 39, a police officer who supervises detectives and serves on the school board in McKeesport, against Republican Chuck Davis, 66, a fire chief who also serves as president of the White Oak Borough Council. Libertarian Adam Kitta is also on the ballot.
Steelmaking towns once thrived in the district southeast of Pittsburgh at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers, but the the area known as the Mon Valley is now economically challenged.
In a visit to the district last month, Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin said a win will show that Democrats are willing to fight for their values. Pennsylvania Democrats lost a U.S. Senate seat and all three row offices — treasurer, attorney general and auditor general — in the November election, along with giving Trump a slim majority of the state’s votes.
It would be a seismic upset for Republicans to flip it after the district went for Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump in November, 58% to 42%. Gergely won it with 75% of the vote in a special election in 2023, and Republicans did not field a candidate against him last fall. In the 2022 gubernatorial race, Democrat Josh Shapiro also won three-quarters of the district’s vote, swamping Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano of Franklin County.
A man in Monroe County, Pennsylvania, is accused of vandalizing several pickleball courts after suffering an injury that “ruined” his summer, police said.
Saif Kaleem of Tannersville is facing charges of criminal mischief, disorderly conduct and trespassing after the vandalism at TLC and Mountain View parks, the Pocono Township Police Department said in a news release over the weekend.
Authorities said Kaleem was captured on video cutting a net at TLC Park on May 12 before leaving the scene in a white Hyundai Tucson. On May 14, police said the same vehicle was spotted on video entering Mountain View Park after it closed. He got out of the vehicle and went to the pickleball court, police said in the news release. A snapshot of the video obtained by police showed Kaleem using crutches to get around.
“Pocono Township Community members informed the PTPD that the pictured male had been seen at TLC Park on multiple occasion prior to the incident,” police’s news release said.
Kaleem, according to police, matched the description of the person in the video footage, and investigators went to his home to interview him. Police said he admitted to suffering “a recent pickleball injury” at Mountain View Park. The exact injury was not released by law enforcement.
The 31-year-old man then allegedly confessed to cutting the pickleball net at TLC Park and three pickleball nets at Mountain View Park, as well as the tennis court net at Mountain View Park, due to his “summer being ruined.”
The body of a 27-year-old man was found in a pond in Lynn Township, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night.
The Lehigh County Coroner’s Office said the man was found submerged on a property along the 8500 block of Allemaengel Road around 6 p.m.
The 27-year-old from Emmaus, whose name is not being released to give his family time “to mourn and grieve this tragic loss privately,” according to the coroner, was pulled from the water and pronounced dead at the scene.
An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday to determine the cause and manner of death.
“I extend my heartfelt condolences to the decedent’s family, friends, and loved ones during this difficult time,” Lehigh County Coroner Daniel Buglio, D-ABMDI, said in a statement Sunday.
The Pennsylvania State Police Fogelsville Station is also investigating the death.
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