Scanlon Defeats Pruett To Hold 5th Congressional District Seat

DELAWARE COUNTY, PA — Pennsylvania's 5th Congressional District did not waver in its support for Democratic Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon in the general election, according to reports.

Republican Dasha Y. Pruett was gunning for a spot in Washington as she looked to represent the region by taking Scanlon's seat.

But the Associated Press and New York Times called the race for Scanlon early Wednesday.

As of 4 p.m. Wednesday, Scanlon has secured 202,115 votes and Pruett 123,547, according to the state. However, Delaware County reports Scanlon has 160,310 votes by mail and in person. Pruett has 107,893, according to the county.

In Philadelphia, officials report Scanlon has earned 28,630 votes to Pruett's 11,335 with 129 of 131 divisions reporting. And in Montgomery County, election officials are reporting 16,727 votes for Scanlon and 4,573 for Pruett.

However, Philadelphia more than 167,200 mail-in ballots to yet be counted, according to the state. And in the suburbs, roughly 29,400 mail-in ballots need to be counted in Delco, and about 61,900 in Montco.

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Scanlon won the seat when it was the 7th district in 2018 and when Pat Meehan resigned amid a sexual harassment case in 2018.

Scanlon was one of four Democratic women elected to Congress from Pennsylvania in that year.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court redrew the district map after ruling the previous map unconstitutional due to partisan gerrymandering, making the 7th district the 5th district, covering all of Delaware County, some of lower Montgomery County, and South Philadelphia. But now she is facing a Republican challenger for the district.

The district has largely been under Republican control int he past, and Pruett represents a return to GOP control. Scanlon ran unopposed in the June Primary.

Pruett ran against Robert Jordan and handily defeated him, earning 61.5 percent of the vote to Jordan's 38.5 percent.

Scanlon, 61, is a Syracuse, New York native who graduated from Colgate University then earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania.

She went on to serve as a judicial clerk in the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.

Later in her career she was awarded the Fidelity Award, the highest award for public service from the Philadelphia Bar Association.

While in office, Scanlon worked to preserve about 4,000 jobs at the Boeing Plant in Ridley by restoring funding for a program in the National Defense Authorization Act. She also helped secure a $650 million contract to produce new ships at the Philadelphia Shipyard, according to her website.

Other problems she has taken on include easing student loan debt, preventing violence against women, gun violence prevention, and lowering prescription drug costs.

She also backed the impeachment of President Donald Trump and opposed Amy Coney Barrett's nomination to the Supreme Court.

"I take seriously the obligation we have as public servants to fight for the resources my constituents need and to protect the programs they depend on to grow and thrive," Scanlon said in September. "It is the privilege of a lifetime to represent our community in Congress — I’ll never stop fighting for families and children."

Pruett has accused Scanlon of being a leftist and says her time living in Moscow in the 1970s has made her vehemently opposed to leftist ideologies.

Pruett says she will "bring our American values and our community concerns back to this office."

"These concerns have been neglected since our current congresswoman took office and will remain so until she is voted out," she said.

Pruett is against the "defund the police" movement and is a strong supported of police in the region. She is pro school choice, against abortion, supports term limits, and seeks to combat the opioid epidemic by offering treatment and tracing the roots of addition, among other policies.

In the House of Representatives, Pennsylvania is represented by nine Republicans and nine Democrats.

For full coverage of the election in Pennsylvania, go here.