In unofficial returns in Bucks County, incumbent Rep. KC Tomlinson (R-Bensalem), the daughter of former state Sen. Robert “Tommy” Tomlinson, won her race over Democratic challenger Anand Patel.
Tomlinson won the 18th District in 2022 with just over 52 percent of the vote. She previously won a special election in 2020 to replace Gene DiGirolamo, who became a county commissioner, then won the general election in 2020.
Tomlinson helped in her family’s funeral home.
Patel, a small business owner, served on the Bensalem Township School Board from 2015 to 2019. His family immigrated from India when he was 2 years old.
While early returns showed Patel might be winning, by morning Tomlinson had pulled through handily, 55 to 44 percent.
With more than 80 percent of precincts reporting, Rep. Joe Hogan (R-142) was ahead of Democrat Anna Payne 54 to 43 percent. The 142nd Legislative District covers all of Langhorne Borough, Langhorne Manor Borough, Lower Southampton Township, and Penndel Borough and part of Middletown and Northampton townships.
Voters elected Hogan by 76 votes in 2022, replacing Sen. Frank Farry.
Hogan began his political career in 2011 working for former Republican U.S. Rep Mike Fitzpatrick. He had worked as the program director for the Bucks County Redevelopment Authority before being elected to the state House.
Payne had been elected to the Middletown Board of Supervisors. She based much of her campaign on health care, having been born with cystic fibrosis, then developing colon cancer.
In a nail-biter, Rep. Brian Munroe (D-Warminster) was ahead of Republican challenger Daniel McPhillips 50.47 percent to 49.34 percent with 60 percent of precincts reporting.
That campaign resulted in denials from Munroe after McPhillips ran ads against him based on what Munroe said were unfounded, decades-old charges from when Munroe had served in the Navy.
McPhillips was a Warminster Township supervisor and is the Bucks County recorder of deeds. Munroe is a former police officer.
Bucks County voter registrations now favor Republicans over Democrats by 5,882 voters, the first time in 15 years the GOP has pulled ahead in Bucks, the only one of the Delaware Valley counties with a Republican registration majority.
