Democrats keep Pa. House majority following Rep. Mike Zabel’s resignation

Pennsylvania House Democrats will retain their one-seat majority in the state House, after spending more than $1 million to defend their control of the chamber.

The Associated Press declared Democrat Heather Boyd the winner of the special election to replace former State Rep. Mike Zabel. She defeated Republican Katie Ford in the 163rd House District. Libertarian Alfe Goodwin also ran for the seat.

Democrats outspent Republicans 10-to-1 to preserve their majority, which they achieved in February for the first time in 12 years.

Boyd was confident she would win and gave a victory speech at a packed bar in Drexel Hill shortly before 10 p.m. She talked about the work Democrats have done over the last few years to flip each of the state seats.

“I’m ready to fight to make sure you have a voice,” she said.

“Something very near and very dear to my heart is to all the young girls and women who came out, even some of them for the first time, to protect a woman’s right to choose in Pennsylvania,” Boyd said. “I will always stand up for you and Pennsylvania.” Her speech closed out with attendees chanting “Heather.”

By 10:30 p.m., Ford said in a statement: “At the end of the day, I ran a campaign with honesty and integrity and that is more important than winning.”

House Democrats promised to continue the work they have started since taking the majority in February, such as advancing a number of long-sought legislative priorities they previously couldn’t get a vote for in committee, including gun reforms and protections from discrimination for LGBTQ residents.

Whoever controls the House sets the agenda on state policies for elections, school funding, taxes, abortion access, gun reform, and more.

Just weeks after Democrats assumed control of the chamber, the 163rd House District seat opened up when Zabel, a Democrat, resigned over allegations of sexual harassment.

Republicans tried to emphasize the sexual harassment allegations, but did not invest big money in trying to flip the Democrat-leaning district.

Throughout the two-month campaign, Ford stressed Zabel’s misconduct — and Boyd’s knowledge of it — along with her commitment to her community, where she’s lived her whole life.

Boyd focused her campaign on maintaining the Democrats’ House majority — and thus, reproductive rights. She specifically is concerned with a constitutional amendment passed by the Pennsylvania General Assembly last year in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s reversal that would not be eligible for a gubernatorial veto.

Voters in Montour County and parts of Northumberland County also went to the polls for a special election, but that vacant House seat remained in Republican hands. Michael Stender is projected to win the 108th District race based on unofficial results, according to the Associated Press.

Boyd, 46, chairs the Upper Darby Democratic Committee and left her job as a senior adviser to U.S. Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon (D., Delaware) in March to run. She’s been involved in Democratic politics in the Philadelphia suburb for years and previously served on the local school board.

Ford, 43, is an early intervention specialist, deeply involved in the local Home and School associations. She’s a lifelong Upper Darby resident and military veteran who describes herself as a political newcomer, spending what little free time she has rescuing dogs.

Democrats’ big spending seemed to pay off: The constant ads, texts, and calls worked to get Melanie Maron out to vote for Boyd at her polling place, St. John’s Indian Orthodox Church. She liked Boyd’s promise to protect abortion access in the state, and voted down-ticket for Democrats.

“Heather Boyd has been shoved down my throat so many times,” Maron said. “By now I get the picture.”

However, Boyd’s ads showing Ford as opposing reproductive rights convinced John Carullo to vote for Ford. (Ford told The Inquirer she would not support a constitutional amendment that Republicans in the state General Assembly passed last year to declare Pennsylvanians have no right to an abortion in the state.)

“All I’ve heard is that [Ford] is pro-life, and I haven’t heard anything else,” Carullo said. He hoped Republicans would regain control of the state House.

Martha McHale, an Upper Darby resident, said she voted for Boyd because “she’s a Democrat who will support abortion access” in the state.

”I’m not interested in going back 50 years,” McHale added.

Zabel first flipped the seat in 2018 from longtime Republican control, and it’s become bluer ever since: Under new district maps approved last year, 51% of registered voters in the district are Democrats, 37% are Republicans, and 12% are not affiliated.