Despite a snowy morning, voters braved the weather to cast their vote in a special election that helped Democrats maintain control of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
Nearly 70 percent of voters chose Democrat Jim Prokopiak during the special election on Feb. 13, who will now represent the 140th Legislative District. The district covers the southeastern part of Middletown Township, all of Falls Township, Morrisville, and Tullytown Boroughs.
At the Emmaus Road Lutheran Church in Middletown Townships Levittown section, voter turnout was slow at first, but when the snow stopped, the voters came out in full force. In Middletown’s lower Fourth precinct, which covers the southern half of the Cobalt Ridge section, a total of 224 of the nearly 850 registered voters cast a ballot.
Prokopiak is a resident of Levittown and has been serving on the Pennsbury School District school board since 2021. Prior to this, he served on the Falls Township Board of Supervisors from 2002 to 2009, and on the board of the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority. He works as an attorney with a degree from Temple University School of Law.
He won against Republican candidate Candace Cabanas, a resident of Falls Township. She is a restaurant server with past home healthcare experience. Cabanas moved to the area from Lancaster County five years ago and has no prior political experience.
The two were vying to fill a seat left vacant by former Democratic Rep. John Galloway, who had been serving the district since 2006. He vacated the seat in December 2023 to replace District Judge Jan Vislosky, who will be retiring soon.
Prokopiak and Cabanas were appointed candidates through a closed nomination process, where Bucks County executives from each candidate’s respective party voted for a candidate to represent them in this race. Due to the sudden nature of the vacancy, a public primary was not held, as would be the case during a normal election.
According to the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC), a legislative
campaign committee for Democrats, Prokopiak’s goals will be to “prioritize codifying reproductive rights, funding education, and helping working families by supporting legislation to increase access to affordable housing and living-wage jobs.” 6abc Action News reported that the DLCC spent $50,000 to protect the party’s majority in the chamber.
The win gives Democrats temporary control of the legislature by two members. There is
another vacancy in the 139th legislative district of northeast Pennsylvania, which was represented by Republican Rep. Joseph Adams until he resigned on Feb. 9. This district has consistently voted Republican, so Republicans will likely win back this seat once a special election occurs, narrowing Democrats lead to just one additional representative.