Democrat incumbent Matt Cartwright held onto his 17th district congressional seat in Tuesday's general election, but it wasn't an easy victory.

Cartwright won by 21,900 votes, ending the day with a total of 85,347 votes over his opponent, Republican Schuylkill County coroner David J. Moylan III, who had 63,447, according to unofficial tallies released by the state.Cartwright, 53, of Moosic, a former trial lawyer, won the seat in 2012.The district includes Schuylkill County, along with parts of Luzerne, Lackawanna, Monroe and Northampton counties.Moylan, 62, of Auburn, a political newcomer, grabbed the lion's share of the Schuylkill County vote, 23,427 compared with Cartwright's 14,262. He also won Carbon County, getting 6,270 votes to Cartwright's 5,703.Cartwright topped Moylan in the other counties, most notably in Lackawanna, his home turf. There, he came away with 30,288 votes to Moylan's 9,619.In Monroe County, Cartwright tallied 11,120 votes to Moylan's 9,847; in Northampton, it was Cartwright 9,025 and Moylan 7,784.Luzerne County, another Cartwright stronghold, voted 14,949 for the incumbent and 6,500 for Moylan.Late Tuesday, Moylan accepted defeat, and hinted at another run for Congress."I prayed about this, and our prayers were answered. This is what God had in store. I'm OK with it," he said from campaign headquarters at his Simon Kramer Institute in New Philadelphia. "I guess God had other plans for me."He acknowledged Cartwright's established base."They had a well-oiled machine up in Lackawanna and Luzerne. That was a force to be reckoned with," Moylan said.In his speech to supporters Tuesday night, Cartwright said, "I've worked hard to end the gridlock that we see down in Washington, the hyper-partisan bickering that goes on day in and day out on Capitol Hill. We're all sick of it. It's why Congress has an approval rating that is something like 12 or 13 percent."I make friends because that's what you're paying me to do to go down there and make friends and build bridges and figure out where the common ground lies, so we stop this incessant, infernal bickering that goes on in Washington. And we move the ball forward and we do what's right for this country."Cartwright ran on a platform that included securing United States borders to deter illegal immigration, but says the federal government should help those undocumented immigrants who are already here and working to become citizens in order to help replenish Social Security.He also supports the Affordable Care Act, believes the government should cut loopholes that allow multinational corporations to avoid taxes, and in growing the economy by investing in education, rail and highway development, and green technologies.Moylan, a radiation oncologist who was elected coroner in 2011, who ran on a conservative platform that called for ending abortion, sealing the borders and repealing the Affordable Care Act, swept the May primary election with 7,056 votes. He upstaged contenders Matt Connolly of Bethlehem, who came away with 4,545 votes, and Matt Dietz of Wind Gap, who had 2,716 votes.So, will he give it another go in 2017?"People are whispering in my ear, this was so close. So we're going to take a look at that. I'm not ruling anything out at this point," Moylan said.The Times-Leader, via The Associated Press,contributed to this story.