Pennsylvania 2014 Election Results

Pennsylvania held its general election on November 4, 2014, deciding 228 legislative seats and 2 statewide offices led by the governorship. No chamber changed party control.

Highlights

• Democrats broke the Republican trifecta by ousting Gov. Tom Corbett (R), but Republicans widened their majorities in both chambers, so Gov.-elect Tom Wolf (D) would face a Republican-controlled legislature and a budget deficit.
• Wolf, a central Pennsylvania businessman in his first campaign for office, beat Corbett by nearly 10 points. Corbett became the first governor to lose a re-election bid since the 1968 constitution allowed governors two four-year terms. Wolf campaigned on restoring education funding and faulted Corbett for refusing to tax natural gas drilled from the Marcellus Shale. His running mate, Mike Stack (D), unseated Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley (R).
• Republicans finished with majorities of 119-84 in the House and 30-20 in the Senate, short of the two-thirds needed to override a veto. All 9 legislative seats that changed party went Republican. The closest race was in House District 58, where Rep. Ted Harhai (D) held on by about 280 votes. Among the Democrats who lost:
  • Jason Ortitay (R) unseated Rep. Jesse White (D) in House District 46; a 2013 report had found White using pseudonyms to bully online commenters who supported shale gas drilling.
  • Camera Bartolotta (R) beat Sen. Tim Solobay (D) in Senate District 46, and Pat Stefano (R) defeated Rep. Deberah Kula (D) for the open Senate District 32.
  • Jeff Wheeland (R) unseated Rep. Rick Mirabito (D) in House District 83, and Thomas Quigley (R) unseated Rep. Mark Painter (D) in House District 146.
  In House District 81, which stayed Republican, Rich Irvin (R) beat Rep. Mike Fleck (D), an openly gay Republican who had lost the GOP primary to Irvin’s write-in campaign and then ran on the Democratic line.
• The bigger majorities also chose new leaders. Senate Republicans ousted Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi (R), who had led the caucus since 2007, in favor of Jake Corman (R) of Centre County, and in January the House unanimously elected Mike Turzai (R) speaker.

Legislature

• House (203 seats): 92 D, 110 R, 1 other or vacant before the election, 84 D, 119 R after; control stayed with Republicans.
• Senate (50 seats): 24 D, 26 R before the election, 20 D, 30 R after; control stayed with Republicans.

Statewide races

Legislative races