Pa. House staffer Megan Griffin-Shelley narrowly wins crowded primary to replace State Rep. Mary Jo Daley
The 148th state House district includes all of Whitemarsh Township and Narberth Borough and parts of Lower Merion Township.
Pennsylvania House staffer Megan Griffin-Shelley is set to replace retiring State Rep. Mary Jo Daley after narrowly beating out a crowded field of Democrats during the May 19 primary election.
Griffin-Shelley edged out environmental attorney Jason Landau Goodman — who conceded the race Friday — by 105 votes, according to data provided by Montgomery County’s board of elections on Thursday after it counted provisional ballots.
“I’m really excited to get to work, and it was a hard-fought campaign, and I’m very proud of the race I ran. I think the way I ran my race is the way I’m going to govern,” Griffin-Shelley said Monday morning.
Griffin-Shelley added that her tight margin of victory should be a reminder for Democrats in November that “every single vote matters.”
The race was one of the closest in recent memory for Montgomery County, according to county commissioner Neil Makhija.
“This is a very close election, there’s no question,” Makhija said last week as the county tabulated overseas, military, and provisional ballots. “... Just goes to show, every vote counts.”
Gen-Z criminal justice researcher Leo Solga and former Narberth mayor Andrea Deutsch also competed in May’s primary race, falling behind Griffin-Shelley and Landau Goodman by a wide margin.
Daley, a Democrat, has represented the 148th state House district since 2013. The district includes all of Whitemarsh Township and Narberth Borough and parts of Lower Merion Township, including Penn Valley, Gladwyne, Bala Cynwyd, and Penn Wynne.
Griffin-Shelley is all but certain to succeed Daley in Harrisburg next year, as no Republican is currently on the ballot for the general election.
Matthew Abelson, a rabbi and educator, mounted a write-in campaign as a Republican, however it is not yet clear if Abelson has cleared the threshold to move on to the general election. Montgomery County began tabulating write-ins the weekend after Election Day, and a spokesperson for the county said Abelson would need to receive at least 300 votes and be the highest vote-getter in the Republican primary to appear on the November ballot.
Griffin-Shelley, 30, is a Whitemarsh resident, Whitemarsh Township supervisor, and state House staffer who has worked for Democratic Reps. Nancy Guenst and Ben Sanchez. She serves as district office director for Guenst’s Hatboro office. Prior to working for Guenst, she worked in constituent services for Sanchez in Abington. Griffin-Shelley during the campaign touted her “direct experience inside the state government” and her understanding of Harrisburg’s processes.
She was endorsed by a dozen current and former lawmakers, including Daley, who last winter told local Democratic committee people that she wanted “to see a woman in this seat.”
Griffin-Shelley’s closest competitor was Landau Goodman, 37, a fourth-generation Lower Merion resident and former assistant counsel in the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Landau Goodman’s campaign garnered the support of dozens of local officials, including eight of 14 Lower Merion commissioners and Narberth’s mayor.
Landau Goodman called Griffin-Shelley on Friday to congratulate her, according to a post on his Facebook page.
“We came up 105 votes short,” he wrote on Facebook. “I won’t pretend that’s easy — it isn’t. But I keep coming back to what the numbers represent: that nearly five thousand neighbors who believed this community deserved a representative who will fight for it. That belief doesn’t disappear today. Neither does the work behind it."
With the candidates in sync on a number of policy issues, from supporting public education to funding SEPTA, their campaigns largely centered around endorsements and qualifications, with both Griffin-Shelley and Landau Goodman leaning on the community leaders backing them and their understanding of state government.
Despite the record-breaking heat, the candidates and their surrogates were out in full force across the 148th district during the primary, handing out fliers and pitching voters as they attempted to scurry from their cars into air-conditioned polling places.
Standing outside of Narberth Presbyterian Church on Tuesday afternoon, Elaine Stern, 69, said she voted for Griffin-Shelley because she respected some of the officials who endorsed her.
Adam Coe, 52, voted for Griffin-Shelley as well, saying she “really made her presence known in Narberth,” appearing at local events and knocking doors in the borough.
Griffin-Shelley was, notably, the only Whitemarsh-based candidate in the race, raising questions over whether she could prevail in a district dominated by Lower Merion and Narberth voters.
Landau Goodman voters said they appreciated the environmental lawyer’s resume and his endorsements from local officials, namely Narberth council members and Mayor Dana Edwards.
“His background just resonated with me,” said Ruben Rhoades, 41, a Narberth resident who voted for Landau Goodman at Narberth Borough Hall.
Inquirer Lower Merion
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