Wertz claims Democratic nomination in race for Republican Laughlin's state senate seat

Jim Wertz spent the last five years helping win elections for local Democrats. On Tuesday, his party returned the favor, nominating the former Erie County Democratic Party chairman to be their candidate in the race for the 49th District Pennsylvania Senate seat.

Unofficial results from the Erie County Board of Elections Tuesday show Wertz, 44, beating fellow Democrat Selena King, 69% to 29%, respectively. With all 143 precincts reporting, Wertz had 16,499 votes to King's 7,016.

"Tonight we cleared the first turn in the long race to November because of you," Wertz told supporters as he declared victory just after 9 p.m. Tuesday at the La Nuova Aurora Society Club, 1518 Walnut St. "From the beginning, this campaign has been about protecting our rights and lifting up working people across Erie County. Our message has been loud and clear. I'm honored tonight to be your Democratic nominee for state senate."

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King gathered with supporters at Pineapple Eddie's Southern Bistro at 1402 W. 10th St.

"We've run a great race," King said in acknowledging the loss. "I'm proud of the race that we've run and the support that we've had. There's nothing I would take back at all. I'll continue to do the work that I do to advocate for people in the Northwest region. There's definitely no regrets at all."

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Wertz advances to the Nov. 5 General Election to face two-term Republican incumbent Dan Laughlin, who serves as chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee.

As he did in 2020, Laughlin campaigned not only for Republican votes in his uncontested primary, but also for write-in votes on Democratic ballots. Write-in votes will be tallied when the Board of Elections conducts its final, official tally in coming days, but unofficial results showed a total of 555 votes, a little more than 2% of the overall vote, being cast.

The race pitting Wertz against Laughlin will unfold as the two battle each other in Erie County Common Pleas Court. Laughlin is suing Wertz and the alternative newspaper the Erie Reader for libel for a column Wertz wrote for the publication in July 2022 about Laughlin and U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly and their actions following the 2020 presidential election.

Matthew Rink can be reached at mrink@timesnews.com or on X at @ETNRink.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: PA Senate: Erie Democrats pick former chairman to face GOP's Laughlin