Apr 23, 2024 By Mike Jones 4 min read

After fending off a Republican challenger going for his 50th House seat during Tuesday’s primary, state Rep. Bud Cook is now on the “warpath” looking to take on GOP leaders and area politicians who backed his opponent.

“It’s time. I’m on the warpath,” Cook said Tuesday night after his election victory. “I’ve informed the (GOP) leadership in Harrisburg: No more Mr. Nice Bud.”

Cook, a four-term incumbent whose district covers all of Greene County and parts of Washington County, easily defeated challenger Stephanie Waggett in the Republican primary. Cook said he felt slighted by some in the GOP who backed his opponent, and he viewed Tuesday’s primary election as a turning point in his time as a politician.

“This is what April 24 is about,” Cook said of the date after the election. “It’s not about party anymore. It’s not about Democrats, it’s not about Republicans. It’s about the politically connected and the insiders. What the politically connected care about is their power, their control and their personal gains.”

And the person he is looking at most is Republican state Sen. Camera Bartolotta, who heavily backed Waggett in the primary. The two legislators have been at odds with each other for years, with Cook raising questions about Washington County’s Local Share Account system. Bartolotta sits on the committee that decides what organizations get grants from casino gambling revenue.

“We’ve always been or tried to be a team player. Part of that means you try to get along with everybody. I think the good senator (Bartolotta) has made it clear the past eight years she’s not been receptive to our efforts,” Cook said about his concerns with the LSA. “We’re going to give her one more opportunity on the LSA issues. She’s a sitting member of the LSA board. Either she’s for the people, or she’s for whatever.”

Bartolotta fired back in an interview Wednesday morning, questioning Cook’s accomplishments during his tenure as a state legislator since coming into office in 2017.

“He has no qualms of misrepresenting things. People need to look at the issues. What has Mr. Cook done as a legislator?” Bartolotta said. “In eight years, he’s never had a bill passed into law.”

Bartolotta said she has been “bombarded” by phone calls from party leaders, county commissioners, municipal officials and residents in Greene County who reached out to her over the past few years after their county was moved into Cook’s district.

“I stepped in because my constituency was screaming to step up and fix a problem,” said Bartolotta’s, whose 46th Senate District includes all of Washington and Greene counties. “It’s a waste of a seat for what it could be in Southwestern Pennsylvania. We have an empty chair with Bud Cook’s name on it.”

Although the primary is now over and Cook appears to be in a good position to win his fifth term in office, Bartolotta is not concerned about intraparty fighting within the GOP because a relationship “was never established” to begin with between Cook and other local Republican leaders.

“He has not worked with anyone since his first day of office,” she said. “I just want someone in that position to do the job they’re hired to do. You need to speak up for the people who put you there.”

Cook, who was moved into the 50th District during the reapportionment in 2021, dominated Tuesday’s primary in both Greene and Washington counties, despite Bartolotta’s best efforts to unseat him.

Cook easily cruised to victory after receiving 3,709 votes compared to Waggett’s share of 2,174, giving him more than 63% of the total. Most surprising is that Cook, who resides in West Pike Run, was able to run up a big lead in Greene County, despite Waggett living in Cumberland Township. More than 400 Republican mail-in votes still had not been tabulated in Greene County as of Wednesday morning.

“The credit to this victory goes to our team,” Cook said Tuesday night about his campaign staff. “It was an absolutely amazing team.”

Cook is now looking toward the general election in November, although it was not immediately known if he would have a Democratic challenger.

The Democrats were encouraging their voters to write-in Drew Ross Manko of North Bethlehem Township to run, although it was not yet clear whether he had the 300 votes needed to get on the general election ballot. Write-in votes will be tabulated next week, which will show whether there will be a competitive race for the 50th state House District in the fall.