Pennsylvania governor schedules special House elections for November

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) announced Wednesday that the special election to replace a pair of departing state representatives will coincide with the November general elections.

Wolf announced that elections to replace Reps. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.) and Pat Meehan (R-Pa.) will take place on Nov. 6, along with the rest of the nation’s midterm elections. Both congressmen announced their resignations in recent weeks.

{mosads}“Given the calendar and timing of these announcements, it makes the most fiscal and practical sense for our county elections office to schedule these special elections on the same day as the November general election,” Wolf said in a statement.

Wolf said he would schedule the elections to replace any additional retirements between now and Nov. 6 in the same way. 

Dent, who previously announced he would not seek another term, announced in mid-April that he would resign from Congress in May. 

Dent has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration, particularly since he announced his retirement plans. 

Meehan announced his immediate resignation last week in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations. He reportedly expressed romantic desires to a former female staffer and grew hostile toward her after she started a relationship with another man, according to the allegations.

Meehan has said he plans to pay back the $39,000 he used from his office account to settle a claim against him.

The voting for the special elections could be complicated by a state Supreme Court decision that ruled the state’s past electoral map was illegally gerrymandered to favor Republicans.

The new district lines are in place for the 2018 midterm election calendar, but a special election would be required to be held under the old lines.

As a result, voters will be tasked with choosing someone to represent the old district for the remainder of the year, as well as another lawmaker to represent the new district in 2019.