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All even-numbered seats in the Pennsylvania State Senate 26 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Pennsylvania |
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 Government |
The 2014 elections for the Pennsylvania State Senate were held on November 4, 2014, with all even-numbered districts being contested. Primary elections were held on May 20, 2014. [1]
Contents
The term of office for those elected in 2014 began when the Senate convened in January 2015. Pennsylvania State Senators are elected to four-year terms, with 25 of the 50 seats contested every two years. Republicans have controlled the chamber since the 1994 election (20 years), but Democrats have competed to retake the majority. A net Democratic gain of two seats, combined with a win for their ticket of Tom Wolf and Michael J. Stack III in the 2014 gubernatorial election would have seen Stack become Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania and thus cast the tie-breaking vote to give Democrats the majority. Democrats hoped the unpopularity of Governor Tom Corbett would help in their efforts. [2] Instead, the Republicans gained three seats from the Democrats to expand their majority. [3]
Democratic senator LeAnna Washington of the 4th District was the only incumbent to be defeated in the primary elections. She lost to attorney Art Haywood, shortly after she was charged with diversion of services and conflict of interest for illegally using her legislative staff for campaign purposes. [4] She received 13,708 votes (33.82%) to Haywood's 16,113 (39.75%). Brian Gralnick, the director of the Center for Social Responsibility at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, took 10,711 votes (26.43%).
These were the first elections held under new maps drawn using data from the 2010 census. Maps intended for use in the 2012 elections were struck down by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania due to splitting too many counties and municipalities unnecessarily. The court later allowed a new set of maps drawn by Republicans to pass despite accusations of partisan gerrymandering from Democrats, but they were not passed in time to be used for the 2012 elections. [5]
