Longtime Pennsylvania legislator David Argall of Lake Hauto flexed his political muscle in Tuesday’s General Election, easily winning his fifth four-year term in the 29th Senatorial District balloting.

A Republican, Argall swept Democratic challenger John Zugarek of White Haven in each of three counties that the district includes, including all of Schuylkill and Carbon counties and parts of Luzerne County, including Bear Creek, Buck, Dennison, Foster and Hazle townships, the City of Hazleton and the boroughs of Bear Creek Village, Freeland, Jeddo, Penn Lake Park, West Hazleton and White Haven.

“Tuesday’s results were amazing — and historic,” Argall said Wednesday. “I was very pleased to win every single precinct in this Senate district for the first time in Carbon, Schuylkill, and southern Luzerne counties with 73% of all voters, Republicans, Democrats and Independents, including several communities which Republicans do not normally win.

“My main goal remains the same,” he said. “To continue to work with my local partners to breathe new life into all of our towns across this large Senate district and to improve our local schools, from preschool to grad school!

“I want to thank all of the voters and my bipartisan volunteers who made this historic victory possible,” Argall said. “The vote totals in this race were much higher than I would have ever predicted.”

The unofficial overall totals showed Argall with 77,154 votes, while Zugarek had 25,409 votes and Libertarian candidate Timothy Henning received 3,198 votes.

In his home county (Schuylkill), Argall garnered an impressive 43,115 votes, compared to Zugarek’s 10,486 and Henning’s 2,124, while Carbon County voters gave the lawmaker an equally eye-opening win, 22,482 to 9,398, with Henning netting 740 votes.

In the Luzerne districts, Argall won by a margin of 11,557 to 5,525 over Zugarek. Henning netted 334 votes.

Libertarian Party candidate Timothy Henning collected 3,198 votes yesterday, including 2,124 in Schuylkill County, 740 in Carbon County and 334 in the Luzerne County communities in the district.

The victory will send Argall back to Harrisburg for his 18th term, including five of them in the Senate. He previously represented the 124th Legislative District of the state House of Representatives for 13 two-year terms.

The situation this year was a bit unusual in that Argall had represented Carbon County for the past two years, even though he never received a vote for the position from Carbon County voters. That’s because the county was moved to the district from the 14th Senatorial District under the redistricting process that took effect in 2023. Argall was in midterm of a four-year stint at the time and was not up for re-election, and simply began representing Carbon because the state moved the district boundaries.

The senator was first elected to that chamber in a 2009 special election following the passing of Sen. James J. Rhoades.

He served in the House from 1985, when he succeeded the late Rep. William Klingaman, until being elected to the Senate in 2009.

Zugarek is a professor at Marywood University, Scranton, and a councilman in White Haven Borough.

Kelly Monitz Socha and Bill O’Gurek contributed to this report.