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Seven Republicans win state House races

Five Republican state representatives - including Doyle Heffley of Carbon County - will be returning to Harrisburg to serve in the House of Representatives for the next two years.

They will be joined by two other GOP newcomers.

The seven Republicans won their races in Tuesday’s election.

Heffley defeated Richard Kost of Palmerton 18,589 to 7,152 to win the 122nd District seat that includes all of Carbon County.

Newcomer Jamie Barton of East Brunswick Township defeated Tina Burns of Tamaqua 18,124 to 8,128 to win the 124th District that includes the Tamaqua area.

Four GOP incumbents, Jack B. Rader Jr., Zach Mako, Ryan E. Mackenzie and Timothy Twardzik all were re-elected, as was party member Dane Watro.

Here’s what happened in the various districts:

176th District

Rader defeated two candidates, Democrat Hope Christman and Libertarian Autumn Pangia, to win re-election in the 176th District. The four-term lawmaker had 13,981 votes, easily outdistancing Christman, 8,902, and Pangia, 1,229.

“I’m very happy, but this doesn’t happen without the help of people who supported me during the campaign and also during my term,” Rader said Wednesday morning.

“The whole district is a part of the process and part of the winning aspect of it. I try and listen to the people in my district and try and respond to their needs and I think that was reflected in vote totals this past election,” Rader said.

The district includes part of Monroe County, consisting of the townships of Chestnuthill, Eldred, Hamilton, Jackson, Polk, Ross, Tobyhanna and Tunkhannock, and represents 62,863 residents.

183rd District

Mako was unopposed and got 21,641 votes.

The district includes part of Lehigh County, consisting of the townships of Lowhill and North Whitehall and the Borough of Slatington, and parts of Northampton County, consisting of the townships of Allen, East Allen, Lehigh and Moore (part, Beersville and Klecknersville districts) and the boroughs of Bath, North Catasauqua, Northampton and Walnutport, and represents 66,148 residents.

187th District

Mackenzie was also unchallenged, winning the primary against Rep. Gary Day, another incumbent who fell victim to the redistricting process that put he and Mackenzie in the same district. Tuesday, Mackenzie got 22,868 votes in parts of Lehigh County, consisting of the townships of Heidelberg, Lower Macungie, Lynn, Upper Macungie (part, districts 3, 7 and 8), Washington and Weisenberg and the boroughs of Alburtis and Macungie.

123rd District

Twardzik defeated Democrat Kathy Laughlin Benyak of Pottsville to win re-election in the 123rd district that includes parts of Schuylkill County, consisting of the City of Pottsville, the townships of Blythe, Branch, Butler, Cass, East Norwegian, New Castle, North Manheim, Norwegian, Wayne and West Mahanoy and the boroughs of Ashland (Schuylkill County portion), Cressona, Frackville, Gilberton, Girardville, Gordon, Mechanicsville, Middleport, Minersville, Mount Carbon, New Philadelphia, Palo Alto, Port Carbon, Schuylkill Haven and St. Clair.

Twardzik had 17,051 votes to Benyak’s 7,849.

116th District

In the 116th, Republican newcomer Dane Watro defeated Democrat Yesenia Rodriguez, 9,755 to 4,476. The district covers parts of Schuylkill and Luzerne counties.