Mazzocco wins Pa. 42nd House special election in South Hills

Democrat Jennifer Mazzocco cruised to an easy victory in the special election Tuesday to represent a number of South Hills suburbs in the state House this year.

Mazzocco bested Republican Joseph Leckenby in a race in which the outcome was clear from almost the moment polls closed at 8 p.m. and the first mail-in ballot totals were released. The Associated Press called the race for Mazzocco shortly before 9 p.m. Tuesday, with 45 percent of votes counted.

“We knocked a ton of doors,” said Mazzocco. “Given the national climate, people were not only glad to have a Democrat come to their door, but just excited to talk about an alternative to what’s going on.”

And in addition to performing well for her own sake, she said, “I really wanted it to be a good outcome just to set the tone for 2026.”

With 100 percent of precincts reported Tuesday night, unofficial vote totals showed Mazzocco received 10,419 votes, or 81.7 percent of the total votes cast. Leckenby drew 2,330 votes, or 18.3 percent of the total; 36 people, or 0.28 percent, cast write-in votes for others.

Mazzocco, a teacher in the Pittsburgh Public Schools and a Dormont borough councilperson, will fill the 42nd District seat vacated late last year by the departure of incumbent Dan Miller. The district includes Baldwin Township, Castle Shannon, Dormont, Mt. Lebanon and a portion of Upper St. Clair.

Mazzocco said she made a point of hitting areas such as Baldwin Township and Castle Shannon that might be overlooked in a district where the political weight is centered in Mt. Lebanon. Doing so, she said, made her appreciate that “so much of this job is just being someone that listens and takes that action and helps people out.”

The 42nd has been a Democratic stronghold, thanks in no small part to deep-blue Mt. Lebanon. And while Leckenby had a hometown advantage there, it was no match for a Democratic electorate that has racked up a series of special-election wins since Donald Trump took office a year ago.

Although the race was a low-wattage affair even in the district itself, both parties are gearing up for pivotal midterm elections this year, and national leaders kept tabs on the outcome. Ken Martin, who launched his tenure as chair of the Democratic National Committee by knocking doors in another Western Pennsylvania special election almost exactly a year ago, touted the win’s national implications in a statement.

“Donald Trump and Republicans’ out-of-touch, billionaires-first agenda leaves working families worse off than ever before — and Pennsylvanians have had enough,” he said in a statement. “Democrats have the momentum as we continue to win elections up and down the ballot and expand our power.”

The challenge Republicans faced was clear even before polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday.

Democratic voters, who outnumber Republicans in the district by a nearly two-to-one margin, requested four times as many mail-in ballots. And when the county released mail-in totals shortly after polls closed, Mazzocco leaped to a more than 6-1 lead with the first drop of mail-in ballots.

In 2024, when Leckenby challenged Miller for the seat, he lost the mail-in vote by a margin of around 3-1.

Mazzocco, who bested Upper St. Clair political activist and Democratic committee member Alliyson Feldmann to become her party’s nominee, will complete Miller’s term, which expires at the end of the year.

A full two-year term starting in 2027 is up for grabs, along with every other House seat, in the spring primary and general election this fall. Mazzocco said she plans to run for that term as well.

In fact, she said, “We did quite a bit of work to get some petition signatures today, and I’m fairly confident that I’ll be on the ballot” for the next round as well.

The race in the 42nd district and another special-election House race in the Lehigh Valley’s 22nd district on Tuesday were two of a handful of special-election contests taking place in the first part of the year. Democrat Ana Tiburcio, an Allentown school board member, claimed victory Tuesday night in the District 22 race, defeating Republican Robert E. Smith Jr. According to unofficial returns, Tiburcio drew 67 percent of the votes cast.

In all, five House incumbents ran for and won local office in their own home counties last year: All are considered to be relatively safe districts for the party holding them. And if the status quo prevails in each race, Democrats will maintain a one-seat advantage in the House through 2026 — assuming no one else steps down.