58th state House candidates swap negative ads, complain of inaccuracy - TribLIVE

Candidates for the vacant 58th District state House seat in Tuesday’s special election are spending the final days of the campaign responding to the flurry of what they called inaccurate negative ads.

Both major party candidates, Democrat Robert Prah Jr. and Republican Eric Davanzo, said high-volume mailings, television and online ads misrepresented their positions and backgrounds as part of what has become an ugly campaign sponsored largely by the state’s political organizations.

Libertarian Ken Bach, the third candidate in the race, has been absent from the flow of negative ads.

“I think it will help me they are attacking each other,” Bach said. “They don’t say why they deserve it (the seat) and are just attacking each other.”

Davanzo ads portray Prah, a former Smithton councilman and mayor, as a socialist. They tie him to prominent Democrats on both the national and state stages: U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a presidential candidate, and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, who appeared in Monessen last month at a campaign rally for Prah and other Democrats.

“I am not going personal,” Davanzo said, “and I can back up everything we’ve said.”

Prah flatly rejects a Davanzo campaign claim that he was forced out of elected positions in Smithton. Prah said he resigned as mayor when he and his family moved to Rostraver.

“A lot of the information they put out is inaccurate, and we have not put out anything that is inaccurate,” Prah said. “They don’t have anything else to say about me.”

Several campaign ads in support of Prah highlighted a 2010 incident in which police cited Davanzo with two summary harassment offenses. The ads accuse Davanzo of lying about his criminal record. According to court records, Davanzo pleaded guilty and paid small fines after he was cited by mail for an incident in which he said he came to a cousin’s defense in a local bar.

“I was never arrested and never put in handcuffs,” Davanzo said.

Both campaigns have relied on the state Republican and Democratic committees, which paid for much of the advertising mailed to voters and aired on local media.

According to campaign finance reports, Prah raised more than $35,000 in donations but also received nearly $282,000 in in-kind contributions from the state’s Democratic committee.

Davanzo received more than $53,000 in in-kind contributions from state Republican campaign committees. He raised nearly $13,000 from local sources.

Neither heavy involvement of Pennsylvania’s political organizations in the special election nor the negative tone of their ads surprises G. Terry Madonna, a top Pennsylvania political observer who is director of the Center of Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College.

“This is not unprecedented,” he said. “It’s more and more going to be a way of life in this partisan age. The negative ads are only going to increase.”

For decades, the 58th District was based out of Monessen, a traditionally Democratic stronghold. The party continues to hold an edge in voter registration in the district, but Republicans have held the seat since 2016 when it was won by Justin Walsh, who was re-elected in 2018.

He resigned this year after being elected judge in Westmoreland County.

The district includes Adamsburg, Arona and East Huntingdon as well as parts of Hempfield, Jeannette, Madison, Monessen, Mt. Pleasant, North Belle Vernon, Penn Borough, Rostraver, Sewickley, Smithton, South Huntingdon, Sutersville and West Newton.

It will be one of three special elections on Tuesday to fill vacant seats in the Pennsylvania House, where Republicans hold a 110-93 edge. Before the 2018 election, Republicans held a 120-79 majority.

All 203 seats are on the ballot again in November.

“Make no mistake about it,” Madonna said, “these special elections are important given what could happen in the fall — for the Republicans to hold on to their majority or for the Democrats to take over.”

Rich Cholodofsky is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Rich at 724-830-6293, rcholodofsky@tribweb.com or via Twitter .

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