Helen Tai Wins Special Election For PA's 178th District

Democrat Helen Tai defeated Republican Wendi Thomas in a special election to represent Pennsylvania's 178th District in Harrisburg. The 178th district includes Northampton, New Hope, Upper Makefield, Wrightstown and Solebury. The special election was held to determine who will finish out former state Rep. Scott Petri's remaining term for the rest of the year.

Tai, the chair of the Solebury Township Supervisors, flipped the seat to the Democrats. Petri, a Republican, resigned at the end of 2017.

Tai defeated Thomas, a former member of the Council Rock School Board. According to unofficial vote totals, Tai won by 96 votes. She got 6,359 votes and Thomas received 6,263 votes.

In a victory speech posted to her official campaign Facebook page, Tai said she was inspired to run because "every person deserves an equal opportunity to succeed and that is not happening."

Tai, citing a "big blue wave" coming in November, said her victory shows people have had enough of lawmakers "not doing what's right."

See her victory speech here:

Follow along with our live election night results:

11:20 p.m. update: Tai's lead has expanded to 334 votes with 20 of 28 districts reporting. Five districts that have not yet reported results are in Thomas' native municipality of Northampton.

11:07 p.m. update: Results from New Hope Borough have come in, putting Tai over the top for the time being. Tai now leads by 300 votes. Twelve out of 28 districts have yet to report results.

11:03 p.m. Thomas and Tai are in a dead heat, both with 50 percent of the vote total. Thomas is up by 6 votes.

10:52 p.m. update: For the first time tonight, Tai has taken the lead. She has 2,944 votes to Thomas' 2,859.

10:39 p.m. update: Thomas has made up a bit of ground, and now leads by 91 votes with 11 of 28 districts reporting.

10:22 p.m. update: Tai has made up some ground after results from a Solebury district have come in. With six of 28 districts reporting, Thomas now leads Tai by just 45 votes.

10:10 p.m. update: Two more districts in Northampton Township — where Thomas lives — have reported. She now has 61 percent of the vote and Tai has 39 percent. No districts from Solebury, where Tai is the Supervisors chair, have reported yet.

9:59 p.m. update: The first votes in the 178th district have been recorded. Just one district in the 178th has reported results. That is Northampton Township 12, where Thomas has received 290 votes and Tai has received 164.

9:24 p.m. update: We continue to monitor results; just 13 districts in Bucks County have reported results, and none of them are in the 178th district. There are a total of 28 voting districts in the 178th district.

9:10 p.m. update: Eight of Bucks County's 304 districts have reported results and none of them are in the 178th district.

Is Your Dog The Best? Enter Patch's Top Dog In Philly Contest And Win Prizes