https://lancasteronline.com/news/politics/delrosso-could-jump-into-special-election-for-western-pa-house-seat-a-win-by-mastrianos/article_daffa690-729b-11ed-8ed4-cf0fccd12545.html?fbclid=IwAR2M3vO7QLayCBFGorAtpiuKM6GGBJebP8_XifgkGLdEBBYb2SiTNtWzuWcIn a race that could determine which party controls the state House of Representatives in 2023, the Republican candidate for Lt. Governor in last month’s election said she is considering a bid for the seat held by a longtime Democrat who died shortly before the Nov. 8 election.
Carrie Lewis DelRosso, a first-term House member from Allegheny County’s 33rd District, captured the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor last May, then went on to lose alongside the party’s gubernatorial candidate, state Sen. Doug Mastriano. The 2021-22 legislative session, in which she served, ended Wednesday.
DelRosso won her 33rd House District seat in 2020, pulling off a huge upset in defeating House Democratic Leader Frank Dermody. This year, she entered the statewide race after the once-a-decade reapportionment process redrew the 32nd District lines to include her home in Oakmont.
The 32nd had been represented for almost four decades by Democrat Anthony DeLuca, who died Oct. 9, too close to the election for Democrats to substitute a new name on the ballot. His seat will be filled in a special election that House Speaker Bryan Cutler, R-Lancaster County, scheduled for Feb. 7. Parties pick their choice for special elections; there are no primaries.
“I haven’t made my decision yet,” DelRosso told LNP | LancasterOnline on Friday. “I am doing a lot of listening rather than talking.”
A single mother of three, DelRosso said she is discussing the race with her family.
“When you are Italian, family means a lot,” she said.
“She’s one of those people you meet her – you like her,” said Rob Gleason, former chairman of the state Republican Party. “She’s a good campaigner. She works hard. … She’d be a very strong candidate. She beat Frank Dermody, which is unbelievable.”
Anthony DeLuca, son of the former legislator and an elected district judge, said he is not running and “no one in the family is interested.” It’s not known which other Democrats are seeking the party’s endorsement.
When the General Assembly is sworn in Jan. 3, control of the House will hang in the balance, with each party having 101 members. If DelRosso runs and wins the uphill race in the majority-Democrat 32nd District, Republicans will retain control of the House, 102-101.
When it is 101-101, Cutler has said the House Clerk will preside until a new speaker is selected. Democrats say they will eventually control the House, once DeLuca’s seat is filled and two other special elections in heavily Democratic districts are scheduled.
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