HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Two Pennsylvania legislators facing corruption charges lost their seats in the primary election, while the Legislature’s only openly gay Republican awaited the results Wednesday of a write-in challenge to see whether he would remain on the November ballot.
Tuesday’s election returns showed voters rejected re-election bids by Sen. Leanna Washington and Rep. J.P. Miranda, both Philadelphia-area Democrats.
Washington faces charges stemming from allegations that her taxpayer-paid staff work on campaign fundraisers. She was defeated by Cheltenham lawyer Art Haywood. The district includes parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County.
Miranda is accused of funneling taxpayer money to his sister using a “ghost” employee. He finished last in a four-way race in his Philadelphia district. Social worker Leslie Acosta was the primary race winner.
Elsewhere, officials in Blair, Huntingdon and Mifflin counties reviewed write-in ballots to determine whether Republican Rep. Mike Fleck was beaten by write-in challenger, Richard Irvin, the Huntingdon County treasurer. Fleck also had a shot at winning the Democratic nomination as a write-in candidate. Fleck announced in late 2012 that he was gay.
In Tuesday’s election, all 203 House seats were on the ballot, as were half of the Senate’s 50 seats. The Nov. 4 election will decide contests for five open Senate seats. Republicans currently hold a 27-23 majority in the Senate.
The Fleck-Irvin race aside, no Republican in the House lost a re-election bid. The GOP also holds a 111-92 majority in the House. Among contests for open House seats, four of five challengers backed by the conservative Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania lost their bids. Retired state corrections officer Chris Dush won the Republican nomination for the Jefferson County seat being vacated by retiring House Speaker Sam Smith after 13 terms.
Four House Democrats from Philadelphia, who The Philadelphia Inquirer reported were captured on tape accepting money from a confidential informant in a criminal investigation for the attorney general, will be on the fall ballot. Only one had a primary opponent.
Because of delays in redistricting, House Democrats faced each other in two primaries. In those races, Frank Farina beat Kevin Haggerty for a Scranton-area district and Harry Readshaw beat Erin Molchany in Pittsburgh.
In Senate races, Rep. Ryan Aument beat his Lancaster County colleague, Rep. Gordon Denlinger, in the Republican primary to succeed retiring GOP Sen. Michael Brubaker.
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