Published November 07. 2018 12:15AM
Republican Luzerne County businessman Dan Meuser won a seat Tuesday night in the U.S. House of Representatives, triumphing in the newly redrawn 9th Congressional District over Democratic Columbia County dairy farmer Denny Wolff.
Even as incumbent Democrats comfortably won the state’s races for governor and senator, Meuser, 54, of Dallas, defeated Wolff, 67, of Millville, by nearly a 3-to-2 margin. Meuser had 112,765 votes to Wolff’s 78,687 as of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday with 320 of 429 precincts reporting.
Wolff conceded the race about 9:45 p.m. “I attribute it to a campaign that was really about the people,” Meuser said. “That’s not a cliche. We had a very grass-roots campaign. We worked at it very hard.”
Meuser said he also believes his positions align closely with those of most of his new constituents. “The message reflected the thoughts of the vast majority of the people of the district,” including a strong military, border security and a growing economy, he said.
“The people didn’t want to settle for less.” Meuser’s triumph was the first in the new 9th District, a product of redistricting by the state Supreme Court. The Democrat-dominated court ruled Pennsylvania’s existing congressional map unconstitutional in February and redrew the district lines. As a result, the 9th District was moved from the Altoona area to east-central Pennsylvania. It consists of all of Carbon, Columbia, Lebanon, Montour and Schuylkill counties and parts of Berks, Luzerne and Northumberland counties.
<p>Dan Meuser, Republican candidate for the Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district, greets the crowd after arriving at his election night party at Leggio's Restaurant in Dallas, Pa., on Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2018. Meuser defeated Democrat Denny Wolff. (Christopher Dolan/The Citizens' Voice via AP)</p>