A special election in Pennsylvania’s 42nd House District kicks off what candidates believe will be a competitive midterm season.
The district, consisting of Mount Lebanon, Dormont, Castle Shannon, Baldwin Township and part of Upper St. Clair, will hold an election on Feb. 24, after former state Rep. Dan Miller, a Democrat, resigned to take a seat on the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas.
As the region’s first election ahead of the midterms, candidates and party strategists will be eyeing the results closely. Later this year, voters will decide the balance of power in the state General Assembly, and the state could play a part in determining which party controls the U.S. House.
Kate Garfinkel, chair of the Allegheny County Democratic Committee, believes the upcoming district election will have “echo effects” on others throughout the season.
“This election is a great way for Democrats to build muscle strength on a smaller scale that we’re going to need through the rest of the year,” she said.
Pittsburgh’s Public Source reached out to Republican strategists and party leaders, who either did not respond or declined comment on the special election.
In preparation for an elections-heavy year, Public Source asked readers what they’re hoping to see in state government. The topics raised included transportation, housing, fracking, education and health care. We asked the 42nd House District candidates about these issues.
Here’s a little bit about each of them, and what they had to say.
The candidates
Democratic nominee Jennifer Mazzocco is an English teacher at Taylor Allderdice High School in Squirrel Hill, where she has worked for 15 years. She’s running out of a commitment to “being a public servant” in her professional and personal life. She said her record on transit and housing, along with the passage of a non-discrimination ordinance as a Dormont councilor, demonstrates how she wants to “improve the lives of people across District 42 and the commonwealth.”
Hometown: Hempfield
Age: 41
Endorsements: Allegheny County Democratic Committee, Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers, United Steel Workers, Pittsburgh Fire Fighters, United Food & Commercial Workers
Republican nominee Joseph Leckenby is a recent law graduate of Duquesne University and is a member of the Mount Lebanon Republican Committee. He sought a seat in the district before, running against Miller in 2024. Leckenby said he is running again to help Republicans “end the one-party control in the district.”
Priorities: Affordable housing, minimum wage increases
Hometown: Mt. Lebanon
Age: 27
Endorsements: Republican Committee of Allegheny County, Gun Owners of America
Priorities: Tax reform, professional licensing, consumer safety
Transportation
Disagreement on transit funding delayed the state budget last year. The 42nd District is served by Pittsburgh Regional Transit’s light rail line. PRT saved its bus and rail routes last year but had to slash its infrastructure budget by two-thirds to avoid layoffs and cuts.
Mazzocco advocates for increased state funding for regional transit to reduce the effects of carbon emissions and improve service reliability.
“Without the transit that we have, it’s going to have a huge impact on people being able to get to work or to get to appointments and medical care,” Mazzocco said. “But we also need to address climate change, and one big way to do that is to reduce the pollution from cars.”
Leckenby said he supports increased funding from local sources rather than the state, because local governments understand their constituents’ needs and are better equipped to support vulnerable populations who rely on public transit.
“The state should kick in if there’s a real urgency or a need, because it’s a government responsibility. However, I think the primary responsibility goes to the transit agencies themselves at the city or county level, like Pittsburgh Regional Transit,” Leckenby said.
Housing
The district is homeowner-dominated and includes relatively little low-income public housing.
Leckenby believes the state should prioritize tenant safety, ensuring that renters and homeowners live in secure, hazard-free environments.
“I believe that people should have a safe home and keep their home in line with the implied warranty that landlords are making sure these homes are safe and don’t have rats or mold,” Leckenby said. “But I do not believe in rent control or rent caps.”
Mazzocco said affordable housing is important and that the state should support the development of new homes, but she also acknowledged the difficulties introduced by affordable housing policies.
“It can be challenging to get developers to build more housing when they must take a hit, and it’s hard for municipalities to support affordable housing with money from their coffers, because our revenue is very limited by property taxes,” Mazzocco said.
Fracking
The district does not include unconventional gas wells, but its representative could vote on state fracking regulations. Development of AI data centers in the commonwealth has energized discussion of the industry expected to power them: natural gas.
Mazzocco said fracking does not directly impact constituents in the district, and focused instead on the development of data centers. She emphasized the need to move toward clean energy production in light of these developments.
“While fracking is a reality in Pennsylvania right now, we need to ensure we have regulations that protect health and the environment in affected areas, and that we are moving away from fossil fuels and toward clean energy production, especially this year, as AI data centers become a reality in many parts of the commonwealth,” Mazzocco wrote in an email.
Leckeby said he supports fracking as a source of jobs and energy. However, he opposes fracking in public recreational spaces, which he said should remain accessible to constituents.
“A conversation needs to be had to make sure we do these activities in the most responsible way we can,” Leckenby said.
Education
The school districts of Mt. Lebanon, Keystone Oaks, Upper St. Clair and Baldwin-Whitehall are all partly or entirely in 42nd District.
While Mt. Lebanon and Keystone Oaks have relatively low child poverty rates — approximately 4% and 6%, respectively, Baldwin-Whitehall has a 13% child poverty rate, which is higher than the state and county averages.
Mazzocco advocates increased state funding for public schools, which she said is supported by a 2023 Commonwealth Court decision that found Pennsylvania’s public school funding system unconstitutional.
“It is the duty of the legislature to address this, so I will absolutely support more funding for public schools,” Mazzocco said.
Mazzocco said that additional funding can help address the underlying racial and socioeconomic inequities plaguing public education.
“The best way to solve these inequities is to strengthen our public schools and not divert public money into charters or voucher programs, where it is less accountable and harms the ability of our public school systems to improve and to serve the children that are there,” Mazzocco said.
Leckenby also supports increased funding for public schools. Rather than raising local property taxes — the primary revenue source for most districts — he favors House Bill 1649, which would increase funding for public schools through a sales tax. “I think we can have a more equitable school funding pipeline through something like that, rather than home values,” he said.
Additionally, Leckenby is a proponent of school choice, believing families should have greater access to private and charter schools.
“Public schools are unfortunately rife with the ability for government overreach because of how the public schools work as a government institution,” Leckenby said. “So I think we should make charter and private schools more accessible, but there’s also room for public schools in that mix.”
Health care
Enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies expired at the start of the year, leaving some 496,000 Pennsylvanians facing uncertainty and higher health insurance premiums.
Leckenby said he is open to discussing ways to increase subsidies, but encourages constituents to take advantage of public welfare assistance programs as a “temporary solution” if needed.
“I would hope that in the near future, people can get back up on their feet and have other creative ways to fund their needs,” Leckenby said. “I’m not opposed to having a conversation about an increase, but a policy would need to be developed that is sound and fiscally responsible.”
Mazzocco supports increased state subsidies for health care, though she notes the issues that can arise from expanding the state budget.
“It could be challenging,” Mazzocco said. “I think it’s hard to move big chunks of new funding through, especially for health care. But I would argue in favor of that.”
Mazzocco pointed to the recent approval of the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit as an example of “baby steps” the state could take. The credit reduces taxes owed by low- and moderate-income Pennsylvania workers and can give them a cash refund of up to $805. The state could use a policy like that to help with health insurance costs. “I think there is room for policies like that to add smaller subsidies.”
Is this district competitive?
Miller won more than 66% of the vote against Leckenby in 2024, and the Democrat rolled up 68% of the vote in 2020 and 2022. The district has voted reliably Democratic since 2008.
Leckenby said he believes local constituents are ready for change.
Leckenby said infighting among the Democratic party, which he said was exemplified in a lawsuit between Harrisburg’s Democratic mayor and council, is a turnoff for voters and can be used to Republicans’ advantage in the midterms. The 42nd District, he said, is ready for different leadership.
Mazzocco is confident her party will continue its success in the district, but will campaign vigorously all the same.
“I think our district is safe, but I’m not going to take that for granted. So, I think we’re going to knock on a lot of doors. We’re going to make sure that we’re talking to voters,” Mazzocco said.
She believes that issues at the federal level, such as health insurance costs and ongoing ICE immigration enforcement, are “turning people off to the Republican Party.”
“They [Republicans] are making people want something different,” Mazzocco said. “So I do think that Democrats are going to have a strong year, and I’m looking forward to being a part of that.”
Jamese Platt is an editorial intern and can be reached at jamese@publicsource.org.
This story was fact-checked by Jamie Wiggan.
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