Puskaric claims victory in 39th District primary

By CHRISTINE HAINES

chaines@yourmvi.com

The Republican nomination in the 39th state legislative district appears to have gone to incumbent Mike Puskaric who is claiming victory with a 123-vote margin over challenger Tom Kirsch.

With 6,935 votes cast in the race, Puskaric edged Kirsch 3,529 to 3,406 according to the unofficial results recorded on the state website. Kirsch led the race in Allegheny County, while Puskaric had a commanding lead in the Washington County portion of the district. According to the Allegheny County Election Bureau, the Board of Elections will certify the results Monday.

Kirsch said he hasn’t determined if he will seek a recount or otherwise challenge the results.

“We are talking with an attorney, but we haven’t decided,” Kirsch said.

Kirsch said there were a number of irregularities during the primary election.

“There were no Republican ballots on site in Elizabeth from 7 a.m. until 10 a.m. when they were found mixed in with Democratic ballots,” he said. “The older people went home in disgust. We don’t know how many of those people returned or not. We lost votes in our strong area.”

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