Iovino or Raja? Today’s special election will determine who will be state senator from the 37th
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
Democrat Pam Iovino is surrounded by supporters on stage at the Library fire hall in South Park Township after her selection as the party’s candidate for the special election in the 37th Senatorial District.
Barbara S. Miller/Observer-Reporter
Greg Smith of Pleasant Hills, left, congratulates candidate D. Raja after his selection as the Republican candidate for the special election in the 37th Senatorial District.
Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander
Before Guy Reschenthaler, R-Peters Township, was sworn in as a congressman representing the southwest corner of the state in early January, he had to resign from his seat in the 37th State Senatorial District.
Turnout to fill the vacancy in today’s special election could be in the teens to the low 20s, percentage-wise, according to the candidates’ predictions and the Washington County elections director.
Both candidates are Mt. Lebanon residents, so will they cancel each other out in their home municipality?
“We feel pretty strongly about Mt. Lebanon,” Iovino said.
“Mt. Lebanon has been blue for a long time,” said Raja, a former commissioner in the municipality.
Although he didn’t use the term “firewall,” Raja is counting on a heavy Republican voter turnout in Peters Township, the sole municipality in Washington County where registered voters will be going to the polls today.
If Iovino is ahead in Allegheny County, the race could turn on Peters Township’s reliably Republican results.
The GOP in Peters outnumbers Democrats nearly 2 to 1. Figures from the Washington County elections office show a Republican registration edge in every one of Peters’ 12 precincts and overall, 10,072 GOP members to 5,261 Democrats and 2,192 third-party members or independents.
The question is, who will turn out?
The last time Raja ran for a 37th Senatorial District seat was in 2012, a presidential election year that pitted incumbent Democratic President Barack Obama against Republican Mitt Romney. Presidential elections attract more voters than in other years.
In 2012, both 37th District candidates were also from Mt. Lebanon. Raja’s opponent was Democratic state Rep. Matt Smith.
Raja won each of Peters Township’s precincts that year against Smith. The Republican candidate’s highest percentage of votes was 66 in Peters D-3, part of Venetia, which is the single-wealthiest zip code in Washington County. Smith received almost 34 percent.
The Democrat’s highest percentage in Peters was in C-2, McMurray, where he received 43.7 percent to Raja’s 55.9. Smith, however, was elected that year, garnering 70,883 votes districtwide to Raja’s 63,854.
“Last time, my campaign did not talk about me being a first-generation immigrant,” Raja said in an interview late last month.
Republican Party Chairman Val DiGiorgio, in a press release Friday morning, touted that Republicans requested more absentee ballots than Democrats in the this race.
Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander, overseeing her first election since being promoted to the position, said, “We thought because Peters Township is usually a politically active community, we were going to get a higher response in absentee ballots because they vacation in the winter, but we haven’t seen the same type of response” as in the Conor Lamb-Rick Saccone contest March 13, 2018.
But a mid-March versus April date may mean some snowbirds have since flown home.
“It’s later, which may explain why we haven’t received as many requests for absentee ballots,” she continued.
“The way we’re getting absentees, I think it’s going to be in the mid-20s, but I would hate to discourage people.
“Turnout may be greater at the polls.”
As of Friday afternoon, just hours before the 5 p.m. deadline, the Washington County elections office had received 149 absentee ballots of the 196 issued.
Iovino, asked about turnout in an interview March 19 with the editorial board of the Observer-Reporter, said, “I’m told – this isn’t me prognosticating – 18 to 22 percent.” She noted her campaign, at that point, had knocked on in excess of 22,000 doors.
“In a special election, you want to turn out your voters.”
Raja, meanwhile, said the same week as Iovino, “I’ve done 20,000 doors in my campaign,” predicted turnout at 15 to 20 percent.
Although Washington County usually begins on the day after an election the work that goes into counting its absentee ballots, Tuesday may be a long day and night for those who work in the elections office.
“If the race is very close, we’ll go ahead and count them Tuesday night,” Ostrander said.
Allegheny County, which collects election returns at regional centers to keep people from having to make a round trip into and out of downtown Pittsburgh, typically posts results more quickly than those from Washington with its single, central location.
An elections office worker known as a “rover” will be collecting memory cards and other equipment from all the Peters precincts after the polls close. Making the rounds and heading to Washington will yield Washington County totals between 10 and 10:30 p.m., Ostrander predicted.
Each candidate’s committee filed a campaign finance report for contributions, expenditures and debt through the end of 2018, in advance of nominees being chosen Jan. 27.
By Dec. 31 of last year, Raja reported loaning his committee, Friends of Raja, $3,168,500, including a $25,000 loan on Dec. 12.
Friends of Pam Iovino, meanwhile, reported a $10,000 loan from the candidate on Dec. 10. During 2018, the Iovino campaign raised $14,300 and spent $415.
In a pre-election filing, however, Iovino’s $10,000 personal loan to her committee was still her sole unpaid debt on the books, while Friends of Raja listed unpaid debts and obligations of $4,065,088. His committee’s documentation pegs $3,143,500 of that as Raja’s loan to his 2012 campaign and an additional $850,114 lent to his committee between Jan. 31 and March 14 of this year.
Money came rolling in, with each committee raising $1.03 million to promote its candidate.
The base salary of a Pennsylvania state senator is $88,610.
A get-out-the-vote rally on behalf of Iovino on Friday featured Gov. Tom Wolf, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb.