Politics & Government

Just 102 Votes Separate Leaders In 148th State Rep. Primary Race

The battle to replace Mary Jo Daley remained too close to call Wednesday morning, with mail-ins and overseas tallies still coming in.

Just 103 votes separate the leaders in the 148th legislative district race Wednesday morning, as the race remains too close to call.

Recently elected Whitemarsh Township Supervisor and establishment choice Megan Griffin-Shelley has 4,879 votes, to progressive environmental lawyer Jason Landau Goodman's 4,777.

While all 39 precincts in the district reported in before 1 a.m., there are still mail-in, military, and overseas ballots to count. Those ballots could still tilt the scales either way.

Find out what's happening in Plymouth-Whitemarshfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

It's the only Democratic primary that remained too close to call in Pennsylvania Wednesday. Jason Salus, with the Montgomery County Democratic Committee, said late Wednesday morning that they were following results and the ongoing counting closely.

Griffin-Shelley and Goodman are among four candidates who were on the ballot in an unusually competitive primary Tuesday to replace outgoing State Rep. Mary Jo Daley, who has been in office for 14 years.

Find out what's happening in Plymouth-Whitemarshfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

Leo Solga (1,846) and Andrea Deutsch (1,525) distantly trailed most of the evening Tuesday and are out of the running Wednesday.

The party did not formally endorse a candidate in the race, though Griffin-Shelley seems to have their backing. Daley endorsed her, as did State Rep. Tarik Khan, and her donors come from traditional party coffers. Goodman, who works for the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, earned endorsements from numerous progressive organizations and leaders around the 148th, including Indivisible Lower Merion and Montgomery County, the Sierra Club, and the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund.

The solidly blue district did not have a Republican candidate file paperwork in the primary, and the winner of the Democratic primary will be all but guaranteed the general election in November.

The 148th covers parts of Whitemarsh, Whitpain, Ambler, Conshohocken, Plymouth, Narberth, and Lower Merion.

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