State Senate seat remains in doubt amid pending lawsuit

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A day before Pennsylvania state lawmakers will be sworn in for a new two-year session, state Senate officials were unable to say Monday whether the Republican majority will object to letting a Democrat take his seat for a fourth term.

Discussions were ongoing, Senate aides said.

The dispute revolves around the election of Sen. Jim Brewster of Allegheny County. Brewster beat Republican challenger Nicole Ziccarelli by 69 votes in the Nov. 3 election, according to state-certified returns last month.

But Ziccarelli has a lawsuit pending in federal court in Pittsburgh that seeks to overturn that outcome.

In it, Ziccarelli is asking a federal judge to effectively throw out 311 mail-in ballots counted in Allegheny County that lacked a handwritten date on the outer ballot envelope. Counting those ballots provided the margin to give Brewster a victory.

The state Supreme Court, in a 4-3 decision, ruled in November that it would not apply the handwritten date requirement in the just-passed election.

Lawyers for Brewster, the Democratic Party and the state say the federal court lacks jurisdiction to overturn a state-court decision.

The outcome will not change the balance of power in the 50-seat state Senate, where Republicans have 28 returning members. There is one independent and 21 Democrats, counting Brewster.