Sen. Bartolotta wins Republican primary, while Rep. Cook defeated by GOP challenger
State Sen. Camera Bartolotta beat her GOP challenger in Tuesday鈥檚 primary, while state Rep. Bud Cook lost his seat to a political newcomer in his Republican race.
With all precincts reporting, Bartolotta defeated Al Buchtan 53% to 47% in her only primary challenge she has faced since first winning election in 2014.
The campaign between Bartolotta, R-Carroll, and Buchtan, who is a construction company owner from Cumberland Township, featured a barrage of political commercials and mailers from outside groups lobbing attacks at each other. But Bartolotta brushed aside those assaults to hold onto her party鈥檚 nomination.
鈥淚鈥檓 very happy about it. My opponent wasn鈥檛 Al Buchtan, It was Pace-O-Matic,鈥� Bartolotta said of the games of skill machine manufacturer that pumped money into the race in an attempt to oust her. 鈥淥utside, out-of-state gambling money wanted to interfere and buy a Senate seat, and we weren鈥檛 going to have it. It was great to have so many folks set up and set out.鈥�
She pointed specifically to the onslaught of mailers from Citizens Alliance political group targeting her with money from the skills game industry trying to sway the race.
鈥淚 think they were just desperate,鈥� Bartolotta said. 鈥淭hey just kept sending junk out there to see what would stick. All of the mailers that went out.鈥�
Buchtan said in a phone interview Tuesday night he was not upset with the results and felt like he and his team ran a good campaign. But he did lament the amount of money spent in the race, noting that Bartolotta was backed by Win for Pennsylvania, which was financially supported by the gaming industry.
鈥淚鈥檓 not sad, at all. I think we did a great job for the amount of money we had,鈥� Buchtan said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 tough to win, but we accomplished a lot of things. I believe we changed the dynamics of how things were done. 鈥� Unfortunately, we came up short. I鈥檓 happy we ran a good campaign. We had a lot of people helping us.鈥�
Bartolotta, who is running for her fourth term in office, is now expected to face Democrat Evan Snyder of Nottingham Township in the Nov. 3 general election after he ran unopposed in his primary.
Buchtan led Bartolotta in Greene County, but she took a large lead in her home county of Washington, both with mail-in ballots and Election Day voting. The 46th State Senate District includes all of Washington and Greene counties, along with the southern sliver of Beaver County.
While the incumbent Bartolotta won her primary, the other Republican legislator on the ballot lost his.
Cook, R-West Pike Run, lost to his GOP challenger Ben Humble by a 55% to 45% margin in the 50th State House District that includes all of Greene County and parts of the Mon Valley in Washington County. The five-term incumbent first won election to office in 2016 in what was then the 49th District that includes Washington and Fayette counties.
Humble thanked the community and his campaign team while celebrating with his supporters at a watch party in his hometown of Waynesburg.
鈥淚 couldn鈥檛 be more grateful to the community showing up and really trusting me to move forward,鈥� Humble said. I got to give it to my team. Everyone worked so hard. We stayed true to ourselves by not running negative ads or being negative ads on Facebook. We were faith-driven and community-based.鈥�
The project manager at Humble Flooring and Decorating Center and Waynesburg Borough Council president said he planned to 鈥渢ake a few days off and get back to work鈥� as he now faces a general election race against Democrat Lois Bower-Bjornson of North Bethlehem Township, who ran unopposed.
鈥淲e want to finish strong and put the community in the forefront,鈥� Humble said. 鈥淲e did this as a big team and that鈥檚 something I never want to forget.鈥�
Cook did not return a phone message seeking comment Tuesday night.
In Fayette County, three-term state Sen. Pat Stefano easily defeated Republican challenger Harry Young Cochran by a 74% to 36% margin in the 32nd State Senate District, which also includes Bedford and Somerset counties, along with a small sliver of southern Westmoreland County. No Democratic candidates ran on their side of the primary, but there were more than 2,500 write-in votes, meaning the party could ultimately field a challenger if that person received more than the 500 needed to get on the ballot.
In the only competitive Democratic primary in this area, Dylan Altemara appeared to be cruising to victory, leading fellow Elizabeth resident Kellianne Frketic by a 63% to 37% margin for the 39th House District seat that includes mid-Mon Valley communities in Allegheny and Washington counties. The winner will then face Republican state Rep. Andrew Kuzma of Elizabeth in the general election.
Turnout was anemic for the primary, possible due to the lack of competitive races. In Washington County, about 28% of party-affiliated voters cast ballots, while 24% of them in Fayette County turned out. Figures for Greene County were not immediately available Wednesday.