Apr 3, 2018 3 min read

Allegheny County, which had the largest number of precincts in the 18th Congressional District special election, Monday became the final county to certify the results of the race between Democrat Conor Lamb and Republican Rick Saccone.

Saccone won in three of the four counties in the March 13 special election – Washington, Greene and Westmoreland – but his totals were not enough to overcome Lamb’s lead in their home county of Allegheny.

After a meeting of Elections Board Chairman John DeFazio and members Rich Fitzgerald and Sam DeMarco, the certification will be sent to the Department of State today.

The staff of House Speaker Paul Ryan has not returned email or voicemail messages from the Observer-Reporter about the schedule for Lamb’s swearing-in.

Washington County’s Election Board, which is made up of the county commissioners, signed its certification last week after the challenge period expired, following Greene County.

Saccone conceded defeat March 20 when overseas, provisional and other ballots added to Lamb’s overall lead, which grew to more than 700 votes.

The race drew national attention because President Donald Trump, who made two appearances on Saccone’s behalf, won the district by 19 percentage points in 2016.

There was a vacancy in the 18th Congressional District when Republican U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy resigned in the wake of an adultery scandal, and the Lamb-Saccone race determined who will represent the district in Congress through the end of the year.

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to throw out a new congressional district map drawn by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, so Lamb and Saccone won’t be squaring off again this year for a new congressional term.

The map placed Lamb’s home community, Mt. Lebanon, in the 17th Congressional District, where he and Ray Linsenmayer of McCandless Township will face each other in the May 15 Democratic primary. Elizabeth Tarassi of Sewickley Heights announced she is suspending her campaign. The Democratic nominee will run against incumbent Republican Congressman Keith Rothfus of Sewickley in the Nov. 6 general election.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court map placed Saccone’s home community, Elizabeth Township, in the 18th Congressional District, where Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle is the incumbent. Doyle faces Dr. Janis Brooks of North Versailles as a primary opponent in a district where no Republican filed.

Congressional candidates in Pennsylvania do not have to reside in the districts where they run, and Saccone filed for the seat in the new 14th Congressional District, which includes all of Washington, Greene and Fayette counties and part of Westmoreland County.

State Sen. Guy Reschenthaler of Jefferson Hills, Allegheny County, is also a resident of the 18th Congressional District, but he’s also making a run for the 14th District on the Republican ballot.

Two Democrats who live in the 14th are running for their party’s nomination: Bibiana Boerio of Unity Township, Westmoreland County, and Adam Sedlock of Wharton Township, Fayette County. Dr. Bob Solomon of North Fayette Township, Allegheny County, and Tom Prigg, a McGuffey High School graduate who now lives in McCandless Township, Allegheny County, round out the Democratic field in the 14th.