Mar 28, 2026 By Mike Jones 6 min read

Republican state Senate candidate Al Buchtan spent three hours testifying about his new rental home in Washington County Friday during a hearing challenging his residency that at times felt more like an open house tour rather than a court battle trying to get him booted from the ballot.

Buchtan’s residency has been questioned as he runs in hotly-contested Republican primary against three-term state Sen. Camera Bartolotta that has included a flurry of attack mailers for the 46th Senate District that includes all of Washington and Greene counties and the southern sliver of Beaver County.

Three Republican voters, including former Washington County GOP chairman Dave Ball of Peters Township, challenged Buchtan’s residency claiming he still lives in Greene County. Ball and current Washington County Republican Party chairman Steve Renz, who supports Buchtan’s candidacy, and several others attended Friday’s hearing in Pittsburgh before state Commonwealth Court Judge Stacy Wallace.

Buchtan testified he had lived in his Cumberland Township home near Carmichaels with his wife, Melinda, since 2013 before moving to the Canonsburg rental home in early October. He changed his driver’s license and voter registration to Washington County, but he kept his Greene County address listed on a financial interest statement, which he said was because he misunderstood the filing instructions.

Buchtan testified he moved to Canonsburg so he could “scout out” places in Washington County to eventually buy a new home and move the rest of the family up there.

“My intent is to live there forever,” Buchtan said. “That’s where I’m at.”

His oldest step-daughter and his wife still live in the Cumberland Township house, while a younger step-daughter lives with her biological father in Washington County and goes to school in the Washington area. Buchtan said he’ll often take the youngest girl to school and then either work from the Canonsburg address or go to his construction business near Carmichaels and visit his wife at that other home.

But attorney Joshua Voss, who is representing the Republican objectors, questioned why Buchtan would move to Canonsburg by himself.

“Why would you move in advance of your wife?” Voss asked.

“Why would I not? To scout out the area,” Buchtan said of him weighing the schools, taxes, local restaurants, neighborhoods and even crime in the area.

“So you are reporting back to your wife?” Voss asked.

“Yes,” Buchtan said. “Regardless of what happens (with the election) we’re moving to Washington County. I’m selling my businesses. I love the area and we want to live there.”

Buchtan estimated that he spends four or five days each week at the Canonsburg house, eating there and sleeping there most nights.

“You would agree that you spend the rest of the time at the Greene County house?” Voss asked.

“No. There have been a lot of nights at hotels, too,” Buchtan said, estimating he spends about 70% of his time in Canonsburg.

But then the questioning turned to his furnishings and lifestyle at the both homes. Voss went through various screenshot photographs from a recent television interview Buchtan did at the Cumberland Township home with the attorney questioning the candidate on his pool house, autographed helmet memorabilia, workout equipment and even his collection of 50 wristwatches.

Buchtan and his attorneys also supplied photographs of the Canonsburg rental that shows it has modest furnishings, minimal dishes and no pictures nailed into the plaster walls.

“This is my living room. Don’t make fun,” Buchtan said with a laugh. “I use paper plates because I don’t like doing dishes.”

Buchtan admitted that one of the factors for moving to Washington County was for political purposes because he felt he was more in tune with the Republican Party there. But it also was due to the schools, taxes and proximity to local businesses.

“The people there are just incredible. They go over backwards for you,” Buchtan said.

After more than two hours of questioning, Wallace asked Voss how much longer he would be going because she had only blocked off an hour of time for the hearing. Following a short recess, Buchtan continued on the stand for nearly another hour before Voss ended his questioning.

“It’s pretty clear his domicile is not in Washington County,” Voss said.

Buchtan’s attorney, Matthew Haverstick, said he would spend only a brief time questioning his client – which lasted less than two minutes – and argued to Wallace that voters should be given the chance to decide. Buchtan offered to amend his financial interest statement so it included his Canonsburg address, since that is where he is claiming his current residency.

“This is all about enfranchising voters and giving people a choice to vote,” Haverstick said.

Following the hearing, a newspaper reporter visited Buchtan’s rental in Canonsburg’s downtown business district, where campaign signs adorn the two-story brick home. Casey Roman, who owns the hair salon next door, said she and the other local business owners know Buchtan as “Butch” and have seen him around since he moved into the house in October.

“He brings us snacks. He brings us food. He comes over and chit-chats every day,” Roman said. “He’s a really nice guy.”

She said Butchtan sat outside during Canonsburg’s Old Fashioned Christmas event in December and served hot chocolate to people passing by.

“I see him five days a week that I’m here,” Roman said. “His window is open or his door is always open.”

He even shoveled the sidewalks for businesses around his house during the late January snowstorm and helped Roman fix the smoke detectors in the salon.

“I think he should be fine here. I mean, he helps us out. … I feel like if there’s anything we need I could ask him for it,” she said.

The only other witness called by the objectors during the five-hour hearing was Buchtan’s wife, Melinda.

Before the hearing even began, Wallace gave attorneys on both sides a chance to mediate outside the courtroom to find a compromise or solution to the disagreement, such as possibly having Buchtan’s residence be listed as Greene County below his name on the ballot.

“The question isn’t the intent of why he moved there. The question is whether he actually lives there,” Wallace said. “This isn’t about any of us (in the courtroom). This is about people getting to vote for somebody.”

But after less than five minutes, the attorneys returned to the courtroom and Voss told Wallace he was ready to proceed before beginning his three-hour questioning of Buchtan on the stand. It was not immediately known when Wallace would rule on the challenge to Buchtan’s residency.