Jan 27, 2018 3 min read

On the first ballot, South Strabane Township resident Tim O’Neal prevailed over a pair of Republican hopefuls to appear on the May 15 special election ballot for a seat in the state legislature previously held by Brandon Neuman.

The vacancy occurred because Democrat Neuman, now a Washington County judge, resigned his seat in the state House Dec. 31. The winner of the special election will serve for the remainder of 2018.

O’Neal, a U.S. Army veteran, will do battle against Democrat Clark Mitchell Jr., an attorney whose rallying cry was, “Let’s keep the 48th District blue,” when he won his party’s nomination Jan. 14 at VFW Post No. 191, Canonsburg.

Hoping to “flip” the seat, the Republican nominee Saturday at his own nominating convention at Washington Country Club countered, “Let’s make the 48th District red. Right now, I’m ready to be your state representative.

“I’ve worked the coal mines, fought in Afghanistan, I support our energy industry and they’ve returned that support,” he told the conferees.

Sixty-seven GOP committee members from the Washington-Canonsburg area convened during the convention. Six absent conferees voted by proxy ballot.

The tabulation, as announced, went overwhelmingly for O’Neal with 44 votes. Jerad Cypher of East Washington had 22 votes and Joseph DeThomas of Washington finished with 7.

O’Neal said he decided late last fall to make his first try for public office.

A combat veteran of the Afghanistan war, he earned a Bronze Star with a V for valor for his leadership while under fire. He was a platoon leader and company commander. O’Neal has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Pittsburgh Katz graduate school.

He is human resources director for Mascaro Construction Corp. in Pittsburgh.

In his address to those gathered, O’Neal took the legislature to task for its track record of tardiness in adopting a budget, wasting “$500,000 on secret out-of-court settlements from members who’ve sexually harassed their staff, given us the highest gasoline tax in the country” and promulgated billions of unfunded pension liabilities “far better than we taxpayers will ever get.”

O’Neal claimed Gov. Tom Wolf wanted to “tax the one growth industry out of business,” a reference to the industry that has been extracting natural gas by fracturing the Marcellus Shale.

State Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Carroll, who was among several elected officials attending the mini-convention, at the close of the meeting called for unity among Republicans.

“This is a red year, this is our year, and we’re in it to win it,” she said.

“The values of the Republican Party are the values of the people of this district,” O’Neal said Saturday. “In running this race, the Republican Party is energized.”

O’Neal also plans to circulate petitions for the two-year term that will be on the May 15 primary ballot, an option that is open to both Democratic and Republican candidates who meet the requirements for holding the office.

As O’Neal was receiving congratulatory handshakes, DeThomas declined comment on his plans as the conferees dispersed. Cypher, after listening to closing remarks, said, “I really haven’t thought past this point in time. Today was the focus, and you have to have tunnel vision in that situation.”