Two local incumbents ousted by voters, including the longest-serving Democrat in the Pennsylvania House

Two local state House incumbents were ousted by voters in Tuesday’s primary election, including the chamber’s longest continuously serving representative in a shakeup to the Philadelphia-area’s delegation in Harrisburg.

Despite a low turnout, voters chose new blood to represent them in Harrisburg in resounding margins in Delaware County and Philadelphia, where incumbent Reps. Reps. Greg Vitali (D., Delaware) and Keith Harris (D., Philadelphia), lost their respective seats.

Vitali has dedicated his career to environmental issues since first taking his House seat in 1993, but voters in the district overwhelmingly chose Haverford Twp. Commissioner Judy Trombetta, who campaigned as a “fresh face.”

Meanwhile, Harris, who was first elected to his deep-blue seat in 2024, faced a backlash over his support for GOP bills, prompting a successful challenge from Sierra McNeil, a social worker and Strawberry Mansion resident who was supported by the progressive Working Families Party. .

Here’s a look at races across the Philadelphia region and the state where voters made big changes or bucked special interests.

McNeil was elected Tuesday as part of an assertive win by Philadelphia’s progressive left and organizers in the Working Families Party.

“This was the moment for me to run. This was the time for me to be authentic,” McNeil said in an interview late Tuesday night. “The 195th had a choice of what type of Democrat they really wanted in the seat. Tonight they had their voice heard.”

McNeil won Tuesday’s primary with 54% of the vote, while Harris received only 27%. A third candidate, pastor Kenneth Walker Jr., received 19%.

McNeil said the primary election’s results across Philadelphia — including progressive State Rep. Chris Rabb’s win in the congressional race — demonstrated that voters want a specific type of leader representing them.

“They’re looking for people who understand their daily struggle and who is going to fight for them,” McNeil said.

McNeil had gotten involved with the Working Families Party in recent years when she began to feel disconnected from the Democratic Party. She found herself aligned with the progressive values of the Working Families Party, which often backs candidates in Democratic primaries.

Meanwhile, Harris, a longtime party operative and 28th Democratic ward leader, had come under scrutiny for being the lone Democratic sponsor on a number of GOP-led bills during the 2025-26 legislative session, including measures to restrict undocumented immigrants from working in Pennsylvania, allow parents to access minors’ mental health records without the child’s permission, or allow residents to file civil suits against sanctuary cities like Philadelphia. He later apologized for signing on.

Harris did not respond to requests for comment. As of Tuesday night, McNeil said she had not heard a concession from him.

Trombetta tracked 36,000 steps on her FitBit on Monday to make sure she left no stone unturned. Her campaign reached every street in the district.

And Tuesday’s results proved it was worth it.

Trombetta won with 62% of the vote over Vitali, who received 38% and had previously breezed past primary challenges.

“This campaign was about reconnecting with the community and giving them a voice and making them feel heard,” she said early Wednesday, just as the Associated Press called the race for her. “[Voters] understood this was the moment where they needed new energy and new leadership.”

She thanked Vitali for his 33 years of service to the district, adding that his tenure deserves “a lot of recognition and respect.”

Vitali said he didn’t regret running for a 16th term, despite Tuesday’s results. And he’ll keep working on environmental issues, such as staffing shortages at the Department of Environmental Protection and an environmental justice bill, even if House Democrats don’t have the political will to take on what he sees as critical threats to Pennsylvania’s future.

“It’s really frustrating to work on environmental issues in Harrisburg… sometimes it feels like you’re just beating your head against the wall,” Vitali said. “I won’t miss that for sure.”

Vitali quickly threw his support behind Trombetta, who in the fall will face GOP nominee Joe Walker, who ran unopposed in Tuesday’s Republican primary.

“I think she’s gonna make a really good state rep,” he said of Trombetta.

Philadelphia School District staffer Chris Johnson won the Democratic nomination to represent parts of Northwest Philadelphia in Harrisburg in the 200th legislative district, currently held by Rabb, who chose to forgo reelection to focus on his successful congressional campaign.

Johnson had been the favorite to win the seat in a three-way primary race between him, Democratic committeeperson Qasim Rashad, and social worker Deshawnda Williams. Johnson had the backing of the progressive Working Families Party, in addition to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and former U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.

He won decisively over the two other candidates, with 61% of the vote, followed by 23% of the vote for Williams, and 16% for Rashad.

No Republican has filed to run in the district, meaning Johnson is all but guaranteed to win the race in November.

Elsewhere in the state, three Republican senators heavily targeted by a conservative group with the backing of the skill games lobby were able to stave off expensive primary challenges.

The three state senators in safe GOP districts — Sens. Camera Bartolotta (R., Greene), Chris Gebhard (R., Lebanon), and Lisa Baker (R., Luzerne) — all won their primaries Tuesday, despite a more than $8 million in spending backed by the skill games lobby in support of their challengers or online gambling interests supporting the incumbents, Spotlight PA reported.

The skill games lobby had long been allies of the Senate GOP, until recent years, when Republicans — including the three targeted in Tuesday’s primary — considered a higher-than-desired tax on the currently unregulated and untaxed industry they claim would hurt small businesses.

Outside Mt. Gretna in Lebanon County on Tuesday evening, every voter at the polling place at the Quentin Volunteer Fire Station knew about the GOP Senate race between incumbent Gebhard and Clovis Crane, a horse farmer.

The primary election included unending ads and mailers filled with mudslinging about each of the candidates. Several voters said negative ads by both sides drove them to the polls.

And they were all well aware of the skill games issue, though few had an opinion on how the state should regulate and tax the machines, though several voters said they should be banned outright.

“There were [mailers] five times a week and those laminated pretty ones every day,” said Gary Wizer, who supported Crane.