Republican incumbent faces independent challenger in 46th state Senate race
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first in a series of stories featuring key races in the upcoming Nov. 3 election.
Three-term incumbent state Sen. Camera Bartolotta is facing a challenge in the Nov. 3 election not from a Democrat, but from an independent candidate.
Jodi Borello of South Franklin secured enough signatures on her petition over the summer to get on the ballot as an independent to challenge Bartolotta, R-Carroll, in the general election.
Borello began collecting roughly 3,000 signatures for her run as an independent in late May, and her candidacy was certified by the state Department of State on July 17. Bartolotta, who was first elected to office in 2014, faced Al Buchtan of Cumberland Township in the Republican primary on May 19, defeating him by a 53.5-to-47.5% margin in order to continue on to the general election.
The 46th state Senate District includes all of Washington and Greene counties, and the southern sliver of Beaver County.
We asked two questions to each of the candidates and asked them to respond with their written answers.
Question 1: What are the most pressing issues facing Pennsylvania, and how would you address them?
Question 2: What is your position on the development of data centers, and what role should the state play in regulating them?
Their responses, which we asked to keep under 200 words, are below.
Name: Camera Bartolotta
Age: 62
Residence: Carroll Township
Occupation: State senator
Party: Republican
Question 1: The most pressing concern I hear from voters is affordability. Families and seniors are being hit from every angle: high gas prices, higher grocery costs, rising utility bills, and property taxes that threaten their ability to stay in their homes.
Our Governor, like those in Ohio and Indiana, has the authority and should suspend the gas tax to provide immediate relief at the pump. I will continue working to lower property taxes for homeowners, bring down utility costs by protecting our energy industries and workers, modernize infrastructure, and protect ratepayers.
Health care and child care are driving up household expenses. Too many families are forced to choose between work and being able to afford safe, reliable care, or between paying for medical care and other essential needs. I’ve supported efforts to expand access to both health care and child care, including my bill for full practice authority for nurse practitioners so more people can get timely, affordable care, especially in rural communities.
Tackling these cost-of-living issues – property taxes, utilities, health care, and child care – will remain my top priority so families and seniors can afford to live, work, and retire here with security and dignity.
Question 2: My position on data center development has been consistent: local governments – not Harrisburg – should have the authority to make those decisions. That’s why I proudly co-sponsored Senate Bill 1345, which gives municipalities the authority to pause or limit data center development through moratoriums, and to impose clear conditional use standards on issues like noise, pollution, power use, and setbacks from homes and neighborhoods. If a municipality approves a data center, the developer must pay for any necessary infrastructure upgrades, so those costs are not pushed onto ratepayers.
There has also been intentional misrepresentation about Senate Bill 991. This bill simply allows the Department of Environmental Protection to identify and accelerate the cleanup of a small number of toxic brownfield sites. It accelerates permitting for environmental remediation, not for building data centers.
I believe communities like Allenport, Hanover Township, South Strabane, and others know what’s best for themselves. The state’s role should be to provide tools and safeguards, while keeping decision-making power in the hands of local residents and the municipal officials they elect.
Name: Jodi Borello
Age: 50
Residence: South Franklin Township
Occupation: Small business owner
Party: Independent
Question 1: The biggest local issue in the 46th district is the skyrocketing cost of living. Prices for almost everything, including healthcare, groceries, and gas, are rising. Even our water and utility costs are increasing because unchecked hyperscale data center development is consuming our resources and the utility companies are raising rates for regular consumers.
Corporate profits for these massive companies continue to rise while regular people struggle to get by. We need to expand healthcare coverage and take on the healthcare, pharmaceutical, and big tech companies that are trying to rip us off. We must enact a statewide moratorium on data center development to prevent further rate hikes and stop rising utility prices. We also need to hold the utility companies accountable for unreasonable rate increases.
We also must increase the minimum wage and allow local regions to set their own wages. It’s unacceptable that while every state bordering Pennsylvania has raised its minimum wage, we have still not increased ours from $7.25 an hour.
Question 2: Unlike my opponent, I’ve never tried to fast-track data center development. I’ve been organizing residents of the 46th district against data center construction for two years now. In Harrisburg, I will immediately support Senate Bill 1359, a bipartisan bill to enact a statewide three-year moratorium on hyperscale data center construction. We cannot repeat past mistakes by letting massive industries operate unchecked while townships and communities pay the price. Only a binding state moratorium creates a regulatory floor, ensures full transparency, protects brownfield communities, and secures our air, water, and energy before new projects are approved. I also support fully repealing the sales tax exemption that provides massive data center companies with hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks.
My opponent may pretend to be against data centers now, but the truth is that she has been one of their biggest cheerleaders in Harrisburg. Last year, she was the lead sponsor of SB 991, a bill literally titled “Accelerated Data Center Permitting.” In 2021, she voted to pass the exact data center tax break she now pretends to oppose. We can’t trust Senator Bartolotta to fight for us on this issue.