Abigail Salisbury, an attorney, won the special election Tuesday to fill the State House vacancy left when Summer Lee was elected to Congress. Salisbury defeated Republican Robert Pagane 87.7% to 12.25%. Salisbury will be the second openly bisexual elected State Representative in Harrisburg.
With Salisbury, there are now six openly LGBTQ State Representatives in Harrisburg, all of which are Democrats. Three of those are from Allegheny County: State Representatives Jessica Benham and La’Tasha Mayes and now State Representative-Elect Salisbury.
Salisbury’s victory was part of a Democratic sweep of the special elections for State Representative held on Tuesday, all in Allegheny County. Democrats Joe McAndrew and Matt Gergely also overwhelmingly won their respective elections for State Representative.
The three Democratic victories give the Party a narrow majority of 102 seats in the State House.
