Back in 1999, Republican Lou Barletta ousted Democratic incumbent Mike Marsicano as mayor of Hazleton.

This November, Marsicano will go against Barletta for higher stakes: His seat in Congress for the 11th District. Marsicano, who is retired from the state police and is an airline pilot, served as Hazleton's mayor from 1996 to 2000. Barletta, a business owner, took over the office after beating Marsicano in the 1999 election. Marsicano tried to get the job back from Barletta in 2007, but Barletta eliminated him in the primary by snagging the Democratic nomination through write-in votes - while easily fending off a challenge for the Republican nomination by Dee Deakos, making him the sole mayoral candidate on the November 2007 ballot.

Barletta's tenure as Hazleton's mayor ended and his term as a congressman began in 2010, when he beat longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski of Nanticoke - who had been elected to Congress in 1984 - in a major upset. The third time was the charm for Barletta, who had vied unsuccessfully against Kanjorski in 2002 and 2008.

The 11th district consists of all of Columbia, Montour, and Wyoming counties and parts of Carbon, Cumberland, Dauphin, Luzerne, Northumberland, and Perry counties; it includes Harrisburg, Sunbury, Carlisle, Tunkhannock, Hazleton, Bloomsburg, and Danville.