Field of candidates triples in special election, 58th District
In politics, what a difference a week can make.
On Jan, 21 in the West Newton Lion’s Club, Democrats chose Robert Prah Jr. as their nominee in the upcoming special election in Westmoreland County’s 58th Legislative District.
At the time, no Republican was listed as a candidate on the Pennsylvania Department of State website. GOP conferees weren’t meeting until the night of Jan. 23.
The candidate who emerged from the gathering at the Herminie VFW Post was Eric Davanzo, 43, of Smithton.
But the political process didn’t end there. Monday was the filing deadline for the special election and a third candidate emerged.
Ken Bach, 52, who finished in Democratic balloting with 14 votes to Prah’s 42 in the first and only round, made a trip to Harrisburg to resurrect his candidacy in the March 17 special election as a Libertarian.
“I left the party,” Bach said Tuesday of Democrats in a conversation from his automotive repair shop in Smithton.
“I’ve always had Libertarian thinking on many issues, so that’s why I became a Libertarian. Property owners are in revolt. Our representative has to stand up for us, the little working people.
“I guess I’m a one-issue candidate, if nothing else, to get this out and make (my opponents) talk about it.”
A 12-year member of the Yough school board, Bach is a member of the Pennsylvania School Boards Association property tax reform task force.
Prah, 37, said he is taking an unpaid leave of absence from his job as the director of military and veterans affairs at California University of Pennsylvania to campaign.
A major in the U.S. Army Reserve, he was a U.S. Army infantryman, infantry officer and military intelligence officer during the Iraq War.
Prah, who now lives in Fellsburg, Rostraver Township, is a Smithton native and firefighter. He served for eight years on Smithton borough council and one term as mayor.
Davanzo, the Republican nominee, identified himself as a union carpenter for nearly 20 years. As a superintendent, he said in a news release he is responsible for managing million-dollar budgets, controlling costs and ensuring his projects are completed on time, skills that will serve him and taxpayers in the State House of Representatives.
“In light of all that is occurring in government today, I believe we need a true fiscal and social conservative who will stand up for our values. This includes making government do more with less to protect taxpayers, creating a fairer property system that does not force seniors from their homes and reforming welfare so those most in need get the help they deserve.
“We must expand vocational-technical training schools to prepare students and adults for good-paying jobs in the trades and expanding rural broadband to ensure all families have access to high-speed internet. It also includes fighting for our Constitutional rights and the sanctity of life.”
There is a vacancy in the 58th District Legislative seat due to the resignation of Justin Walsh, who became a Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court judge this year.
Although the state relaxed some rules regarding absentee ballots and pre-election voter registration, the changes apply only to contests taking place April 28, the date of the primary, or thereafter.
For the March 17 special election, 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, is the deadline for the Westmoreland County elections bureau receiving applications for absentee ballots.
Friday, March 13 – also 5 p.m. – is the last day for voted absentee ballots to be returned to the elections bureau, 2 N. Main St., Suite 109, Greensburg, PA 15601.
The person who is elected to the House of Representatives in the special election will serve the remainder of this year, the equivalent of Walsh’s unexpired term.
The seat will also appear on the 2020 April 28 primary and Nov. 3 general election ballots for a two-year term that will begin in early January 2021.
The 58th Legislative District includes Monessen, Rostraver Township and Smithton and North Belle Vernon boroughs, plus parts of two other townships, all of Sewickley and South Huntingdon townships, and seven other boroughs.