Pennsylvania State Rep. Fred Keller won the Pennsylvania House 12th district special election, according to the New York Times.

Keller defeated Democrat and professor at Penn State University Marc Friedenberg in a special election Tuesday. The congressional seat became vacant after former Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA), who easily beat Friedenberg in the 2018 midterm elections, resigned less than one month into this term.

The Pennsylvania Republican’s victory serves President Donald Trump as well. Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday.

Ahead of the election, Trump said he endorsed Keller and contended that the election would serve as a referendum on his presidential administration. – READ MORE </s> Republican Fred Keller has declared victory in the special election to replace Rep. Tom Marino in Pennsylvania's 12th District.

Keller is a Pennsylvania State Representative who just began his fifth term in office.

The day before the election, President Donald Trump visited Lycoming County to drum up support for Keller.

Keller will serve out the remainder of Rep. Tom Marino’s term in the U.S. House 12th District which doesn’t expire until January 2021.

Marino, a Republican who easily won re-election to a fifth term in the U.S. House 12th District in the fall of 2018, resigned in January.

The 12th District covers all or parts of 15 counties, stretching from Susquehanna County in the east to Potter County in the west and the New York State line all the way to Perry County in the south.

CLICK HERE for the latest election results and more. </s> Voters in Pennsylvania’s 12th District go to the polls Tuesday in a special election to fill the seat vacated by Rep. Tom Marino (R) in January.

Republican state Rep. Fred Keller is favored to best Penn State professor Marc Friedenberg (D) in the heavily Republican district. Friedenberg was also the Democratic nominee in 2018, when he lost to Marino by 32 percentage points.

Pennsylvania redrew its congressional districts in 2018. The current 12th District, which covers a large and deeply conservative swath of the north and central parts of the state, voted 66.1 percent for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.

Shortly after beginning his fifth term in Congress, Marino announced in January that he was resigning later that month to take a job in the private sector.

Trump nominated Marino to be the nation’s drug czar in 2017. But Marino withdrew from consideration in the wake of a Washington Post/“60 Minutes” investigation detailing the lawmaker’s role as the chief architect of a law that undermined government efforts to crack down on the opioid industry.

Trump tweeted his support of Keller on Monday and made a campaign stop in the district to rally support for him. At a rally in Montoursville, Trump called Keller a “tough man” who is “tough on crime.”

“He loves our military. He loves our police. He loves our vets. And he will always protect patients. … We will always protect preexisting conditions,” said Trump, despite his administration’s efforts to gut the Affordable Care Act.

Health care looms as a major issue in 2020, with the Trump administration pushing the courts to declare the ACA unconstitutional. The 2010 law ensures coverage for Americans with preexisting medical conditions. Republicans have failed to craft a health-care plan that provides the same benefits.

Keller, wearing a bright red tie and dark jacket, bore an uncanny resemblance to Trump as he stood next to the president onstage.

“The people of northeastern and north-central Pennsylvania have been behind you since Day One,” he told Trump. “And Mr. President, our support for you is as strong today as it ever was. In 2016, Pennsylvania put Donald Trump over the top. And in 2020, we’re gonna do it again!”

Friedenberg responded to the rally in a tweet Monday night.

“If tonight tells you one thing, let it be this. Our campaign is fueled by every day, working people, while our opponent @VoteFredKeller has vowed to be nothing more than a puppet for corporate interests,” the Democrat said.

Friedenberg has repeatedly sought to tie Keller to Trump’s trade policies, which he has argued are hurting Pennsylvania’s agriculture and manufacturing industries.

After Tuesday’s election, there will be two remaining vacancies in the 116th Congress. One is in North Carolina’s scandal-plagued 9th District; the other is for the seat of the late representative Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.). Both vacancies will be filled after special elections in September.

Mike DeBonis and Anne Gearan contributed to this report. </s> HARRISBURG — A heavily Republican swath of central and northern Pennsylvania has a new congressman to represent it in Washington.

Republican state lawmaker Fred Keller, of Snyder County, won Tuesday's special election to replace Republican Tom Marino, who resigned in January.

Keller beat Democrat Marc Friedenberg in the 12th District and ran with the support of President Donald Trump.

The 53-year-old Keller is a fifth-term state lawmaker. He's one of the state House's most conservative members, with a 90% lifetime rating by the American Conservative Union.

Friedenberg is a lawyer and Penn State information technology instructor. He lost November's election to Marino by 32 percentage points.

The district covers all or parts of 15 counties. </s> Voters in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District will pick a replacement on Tuesday for former Representative Tim Murphy, a Republican who resigned last year after reports he encouraged a woman, with whom he had an affair, to have an abortion. The special election pits Rick Saccone, a Republican lawmaker allied with President Trump, against Conor Lamb, a former prosecutor running as a moderate Democrat.

The solidly Republican district, where Mr. Trump won by double digits in 2016, takes in the Pittsburgh suburbs and stretches through more rural areas to the West Virginia border. But the race has become unexpectedly competitive, and Mr. Lamb could score an upset if he can pair strong Democratic turnout in Allegheny County with crossover support from conservative-leaning towns in Washington and Greene counties.

Whoever wins will have to decide soon which district to run in this year: The state Supreme Court threw out its current congressional map, and recently adopted a new map with redrawn boundaries. Polls close at 8 p.m. Eastern. Here’s what to watch for in the race. </s> The New York Times on Wednesday called the special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District for Democrat Conor Lamb, becoming the first large national publication to declare a winner in a congressional district that voted heavily for Donald Trump in 2016.

The Associated Press, seen as the standard-bearer for calling close elections, has not yet announced its call.

“The results may still be contested, but Mr. Lamb’s current lead appears insurmountable based on the number of provisional, military and other absentee ballots left to count,” the Times wrote. </s> May 22 (UPI) -- Republican Fred Keller became the newest member of the U.S. House late Tuesday, winning a special election in Pennsylvania to fill a seat that's been vacant for four months.

Keller, running in a solidly Republican district, defeated Democrat Marc Friedenberg with 68 percent of the vote. The seat has been open since Republican Tom Marino left Congress at the end of January. Keller will serve out the remainder of Marino's term, which ends in 2021.

President Donald Trump stumped for Keller, having won 66 percent of the district's votes in 2016. Winning Pennsylvania was key for Trump's election and the state is expected to be critical for his re-election bid next year.

"Great news for Republicans: Fred Keller has just won the hard fought for Pennsylvania Congressional contest in a landslide, over 70 percent of the vote," Trump tweeted.

Keller had served in the Pennsylvania legislature for five terms, starting in 2010.

Keller's was one of several races in Pennsylvania Tuesday.

Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney won a three-way Democratic primary in his bid for re-election. As the city is a longtime Democratic stronghold, the win virtually assures Kenney another term. Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala, Pittsburgh's top prosecutor, fended off a primary challenge. Republicans also held onto three state legislative seats. </s> Pennsylvania State Rep. Fred Keller won the Pennsylvania House 12th district special election, according to the New York Times.

Keller defeated Democrat and professor at Penn State University Marc Friedenberg in a special election Tuesday. The congressional seat became vacant after former Rep. Tom Marino (R-PA), who easily beat Friedenberg in the 2018 midterm elections, resigned less than one month into this term.

The Pennsylvania Republican’s victory serves President Donald Trump as well. Trump held a rally in Pennsylvania on Monday.

Ahead of the election, Trump said he endorsed Keller and contended that the election would serve as a referendum on his presidential administration.

“Go get em, Fred,” Trump told Keller on Monday. “It’s a little bit of a referendum.” President Trump then said that if Keller wins the special election, the media will not widely report the story; however, if Keller loses the election, Trump said that they will play it up as one of the biggest political events in recent memory.

Keller’s victory could also serve as a referendum on Trump’s vs former Vice President Joe Biden’s popularity in Pennsylvania.

During the rally on Monday, Trump reminded Pennsylvanians that Biden abandoned them to become a senator in Delaware.

“Don’t forget, Biden deserted you, he’s not from Pennsylvania, I guess he was born here, but he left you, folks, he left you for another state,” Trump said.

“He left you for another state, and he didn’t take care of you because he didn’t take care of your jobs,” Trump added. “He let other countries come in and rip off America.” </s> article

A look at the winners in key races in Pennsylvania's primary:

PHILADELPHIA MAYOR

Democrat Jim Kenney won the three-way Democratic primary in his bid for re-election, virtually guaranteeing him a second term as mayor of the nation's sixth largest city.

Kenney, 61, beat two longtime city political figures: Alan Butkovitz, the former city controller, and state Sen. Anthony Williams. Republican Billy Ciancaglini ran unopposed in the GOP primary, but has little chance in November's general election in the heavily Democratic city.

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U.S. HOUSE SPECIAL ELECTION

Republican Fred Keller, a state lawmaker from Snyder County, won the special election for Congress in a heavily Republican district that sprawls across central and northern Pennsylvania. Keller, 53, will replace the Republican congressman who resigned in January.

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He beat Democrat Marc Friedenberg and ran with the support of President Donald Trump. The 12th District also strongly supported Trump in the 2016 election.

The two-year term runs through 2020. Keller is a fifth-term member of the state House of Representatives, and one of its most conservative members, with a 90% lifetime rating by the American Conservative Union.

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LEGISLATIVE SPECIAL ELECTION

Republicans won special elections for three open seats in the state Legislature in heavily GOP districts in southcentral and western Pennsylvania.

For the 33rd Senate district in southcentral Pennsylvania, Republican Doug Mastriano beat Democrat Sarah Hammond; for the 41st Senate district in western Pennsylvania, Republican Joe Pittman beat Democrat Susan Boser; and for the 11th House district in Butler County, Republican Marci Mustello beat Democrat Sam Doctor.

All three seats were last held by Republicans, and the special elections have no effect on Republican control in both chambers.

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SUPERIOR COURT JUDGES

The endorsed candidates of the Democratic and Republican parties won contested races to run for open seats on a statewide appellate court.

The winners secured spots on the fall ballot in Tuesday's primary election to fill two open seats on the state Superior Court. Each party had a three-way primary race.

The winning Democrats were Amanda Green-Hawkins, a longtime steelworkers' union lawyer from Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia Judge Daniel McCaffery.

The Republican winners were Megan King, a Chester County prosecutor, and Cumberland County Judge Christylee Peck.

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ALLENTOWN MAYOR

Ray O'Connell declared himself the winner in Allentown's mayoral race over challengers Michael Daniels, Cheryl Johnson Watt and Patrick Palmer.

The interim mayor will run against Republican Tim Ramos in November to fill imprisoned former Mayor Ed Pawlowski's term.

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PHILADELPHIA SHERIFF

A woman who leads a city organization of black police officers beat Philadelphia's incumbent sheriff, who is the target of several sexual harassment lawsuits.

Former police officer Rochelle Bilal defeated Sheriff Jewell Williams.

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PITTSBURGH DISTRICT ATTORNEY

Pittsburgh's longtime top prosecutor has fended off a challenge in the Democratic primary, his first in 20 years.

Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala on Tuesday defeated Turahn Jenkins, a former public defender who criticized his handling of the case of a white police officer charged in the fatal shooting of a black teenager.
Voters head to the polls in a special election to elect a new U.S. House Representative to finish the term for Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district after Republican Tom Marino resigned on January 23, 2019.