Longtime state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe will retain his seat representing Butler County in Pennsylvania’s 12th House district.
Metcalfe, considered one of the most conservative members of the state legislature, fended off a challenge from Democrat Daniel Smith. Metcalfe, of Cranberry Township, won the race Tuesday by a solid margin.
First elected to the statehouse in 1998, Metcalfe has supported efforts over the years to create vouchers to help send children to private school and to allow concealed carry in schools.
Smith, who works for BNY Mellon and is openly gay, said during the campaign that he decided to run against Metcalfe when the lawmaker last year told another legislator who touched him on the elbow during a committee meeting to stop. At the time, Metcalfe said, “I am a heterosexual. I have a wife. I love my wife. I don’t like men, as you might. Stop touching me all the time.”
Smith told the Pittsburgh City Paper that one of his priorities, if elected, would have been to address traffic problems that have plagued his district due to Cranberry’s recent population growth.
