Snyder edges out Rohanna McClure to capture third term
State Rep. Pam Snyder talks to Bobtown voter Bernard Garnek outside the Shannopin Civic Center in Bobtown on Election Day.
State Rep. Pam Snyder, left, and her husband Jack talk to campaign worker Wes Loring of Bobtown outside the Shannopin Civic Center in Bobtown on Election Day.
Republican legislative candidate Betsy Rohanna McClure, right, talks to voters outside the Franklin Township Municipal Building on Election Day as they wait to enter the polls. Campaign workers said that the line formed at 6:50 a.m. and had not subsided by lunchtime.
Betsy Rohanna McClure talks to Rebecca Duvall, right, and Jackie Young, center, both of Franklin Township, as they wait in line to vote at the Franklin Township Municipal Building on Tuesday morning. The Greene County Republican was running for state representative.
WAYNESBURG – Incumbent Democrat Pam Snyder bucked the trend of Greene County voters Tuesday and unofficially captured her third term as state representative for the 50th District, defeating political newcomer Betsy Rohanna McClure, a registered nurse from Franklin Township, by more than 1,000 votes.
While Democrats hold a 4,415 voter registration edge in Greene County, the electorate came out strong for Republican Donald Trump for president, as well as for GOP Pat Toomey for U.S. Senate.
Nonetheless, Snyder of Jefferson was able to sweep the precincts in the three counties that compose the 50th District. Unofficially, with all of Greene County’s 44 precincts reporting, Snyder had 7,577 votes to Rohanna McClure’s 7,366. In Fayette County, a more consistent Democratic stronghold, where voters in 14 precincts cast ballots in the 50th, Snyder had an incomplete total of 1,840 votes and Rohanna McClure had 1,309 votes. Finally, in Washington County’s two municipalities that fall with the 50th – Centerville Borough and East Bethlehem Township – Snyder won by 379 votes, 1,458 to 1,079.
These totals do not include absentee ballots; in Greene County, at least 793 absentee ballots have yet to be processed.
Snyder, who was watching the election results from Carmichaels VFW Post 3491 during the evening, was pleased with the unofficial results, after all 44 Greene County precincts reported.
“I am very honored that that the people have chosen me to represent the 50th Legislative District,” said “I want to thank my family, my friends and my supporters during this election. I am very proud to say that we ran a clean and positive campaign, especially in light of the negative climate that was evident in this election. And I look forward to working hard for the people of the 50th Legislative District.”
In November 2012, Snyder won her first term in the state House by defeating Waynesburg businessman and borough council member Republican Mark W. Fischer, 56 percent to 42 percent in Greene County.
She took office in January 2013, replacing Bill DeWeese, who held the seat for 35 years. DeWeese ran unopposed in the 2012 spring primary but was subsequently barred from appearing on the November ballot because he was a convicted felon and could not hold a public office.
Following that primary, Snyder was selected by the local Democratic Committees within the 50th to be the candidate in the fall.
In 2014, Snyder ran unopposed for her second term.