Arena Football League player to compete against DeWeese
Greg Hopkins, an Arena Football League player, won the Republican Party nomination in Tuesday’s primary election, according to unofficial returns, and will compete against House Democratic Leader H. William DeWeese in the November general election. Hopkins, of Nineveh, defeated Greene County Republican Party Chairman Richard A. Yeager for the Republican Party nomination for the 50th District seat in the House of Representatives in Tuesday’s primary election, according to unofficial results.
DeWeese, the incumbent, defeated challenger Robert F. “Bobby” Danko, the Fayette County treasurer, for the Democratic Party nomination, according to unofficial results.
The 50th District encompasses all of Greene County and Luzerne Township, Brownsville, Masontown, Point Marion and part of German Township in Fayette County, and East Bethlehem Township and Centerville in Washington County.
Strong support in Greene County carried Hopkins to victory even though Yeager slightly out gained him in Fayette County.
In Greene County, Hopkins received 1,249 votes, or 58.8 percent, and Yeager received 752 votes, or 35.4 percent, according to unofficial results.
There were also 123 write-in votes cast.
In Fayette County, Yeager received 137 votes compared to Hopkins’ 98, according to unofficial results.
In Washington County with 40 percent of the vote counted, Yeager received 33 votes and Hopkins received 11 votes.
Hopkins, 34, of Nineveh is an 11-year veteran of professional football currently playing wide receiver and linebacker for the Los Angeles Avengers in the Arena Football League.
He serves on the five-member Arena Football Players association and helped establish the players’ union.
A former auditor in Morris Township, Hopkins graduated from Slippery Rock University with a bachelor’s degree in environmental science.
He said his priorities if elected would be water, sewage and road infrastructure.
Yeager, a Jefferson resident, is a freight company worker and chairman of the Greene County Republican Party.