Posted on April 7, 2005, and tagged as
Republican Pat Browne won a special election in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley to fill a vacant State Senate seat. He earned 53% of the vote. His competitor, Democrat Jennifer Mann, will remain in the State House.
Republican Pat Browne won a special election in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley to fill a vacant State Senate seat. He earned 53% of the vote. His competitor, Democrat Jennifer Mann, will remain in the State House.
As PD recently noted, the two tangled in a nasty campaign that reached its apex when Ms. Mann's campaign ran a television ad featuring Mr. Browne's conviction for drunk driving. "We need lawmakers, not law breakers, in Harrisburg," said an announcer against a background of sirens and screeching tires. Mr. Browne soon found an unlikely ally in another Democratic state representative, Sen. Lisa Boscola, who herself had once been arrested for drunk driving, though she later backpedaled from her defense of Mr. Browne after state Democratic Party officials threatened her.
Both camps say Ms. Mann's negative ad wasn't powerful enough to overcome Mr. Browne's use of mailers. A special election to fill Mr. Browne's House seat will be held 60 days after he's sworn in.
-- Christian Knoebel