Nov 4, 2014 By David Singer 3 min read

It’s a switch of Toms in Harrisburg as Tom Wolf defeated Governor Tom Corbett for the state’s highest office. Nearly all national media outlets projected his win five minutes after the polls closed on Nov. 4. This is the first time in modern state history that a governor has not won re-election since the constitution allowed second terms in 1968.

In local races, Jason Ortitay upset state Representative Jesse White for his 46th district seat, and Camera Bartolotta unseated state Senator Tim Solobay. Ortitay won with a 56-44 percent margin, while Bartolotta-the first woman to represent the 46th senate district-won by a roughly 54-45 percent margin in Washington County. Solobay served two four-year terms in the Senate after serving 12 years in the House.

The two upsets are a distillation of anti-incumbent sentiment from voters that particularly beleaguered White after he used false identities on social media to attack constituents and supporters of the natural gas industry. Both losing candidates blamed in part negative campaign ads from their opponents.

“The media never fact-checked any (of the attack ads), so whenever that’s allowed to happen, it’s not hard to see why people start to believe that stuff. And you hear people say they hate negative campaigns, but you know why they do them? They work,” White told a roomful of supporters.

“So people are going to get what they asked for… this campaign was so devoid of issues. I don’t know how you (run in this district) without mentioning Marcellus Shale,” White said.

Ortitay, a 30-year-old Republican business owner in South Fayette, stayed away from issues in acknowledging his victory, and emphasized how excited he was to win and get an opportunity to serve in the legislature.

“I’m here to be reasonable and be fair, and help bring people together and serve them in the 46th district,” he said.

There were shoe-ins for Congressman Tim Murphy (R-Upper St. Clair), State Representatives John Maher (R-Peters) and Dan Miller (D-Mt. Lebanon), all whom ran unopposed. In the 15th district, Republican Jim Christiana handily defeated challenger Paul Cain with 67 percent of the vote; Rick Saccone defeated his Democratic opponent Lisa Stout-Bashioum with 58 percent in the 39th district; and Democrat Brandon Neuman held on to his seat in the 48th district, grabbing nearly 59 percent of the vote over Sonia Stopperich.

In a ballot referendum in Mt. Lebanon, voters overwhelmingly approved both changing male-gendered pronouns to neutral titles in official documents, as well as allowing the municipal government to post legal notices through online distribution or posting them in the municipal building instead of posting them in newspapers. Jim Barthen, who cast his ballot at Markham Elementary, said he voted no against the measure.

“For some people, a newspaper is the only way they’ll get a legal notice. It’s still the only way for some people to get access to information.”

Voter turnout in Allegheny County was reported by the elections office to be 39.5 percent.

Observer-Reporter staff Katie Roupe, Scott Beveridge, Mike Jones and Barbara Miller contributed to this report.