Nick Miccarelli

Republican Nick Miccarelli was projected to handily win the open 162nd Legislative District seat Tuesday night, succeeding his former boss and retiring state Rep. Ron Raymond (R-Delaware).

With more than 95 percent of precincts reporting, Miccarelli led Democrat John DeFrancisco by about 15 points, or 4,000 votes. Though DeFrancisco had not yet called Miccarelli late Tuesday night, a campaign spokesman said later that he conceded.

Miccarelli, an Iraq war veteran and Raymond's former chief of staff, will likely be the youngest member of the General Assembly at 26 years old.

"I'm very proud of the campaign we ran," he told PolitickerPA.com. "But it's really much more about our organization. The campaign we ran was on the back of the community leaders that supported us, the business leaders that supported, the labor leaders that supported us. This victory is really theirs.

"I'd like to thank my opponent for a spirited race," he added. "And I'd to thank the voters of the 162nd. I'm going to make them proud."

GLENOLDEN--Even though the Philadelphis suburbs have become increasingly Democratic in recent years, Delaware County remains a conservative-leaning area. It is in this electoral climate that Democrat John DeFrancisco hopes to win a state House seat.

PolitickerPA.com caught up with DeFrancisco today, and asked him how we would overcome that demographic hurdle in his bid to represent the 162nd Legislative District.

See his answer below.

DeFrancisco is running against Republican Nick Miccarelli. 

RIDLEY PARK--Republican state House candidate Nick Miccarelli's biggest supporter in the 162nd Legislative District is the retiring incumbent.

PolitickerPA.com caught up with Miccarelli today and asked what it meant to have the backing of state Rep. Ron Raymond (R-Delaware).

See his answer below.

Miccarelli, Raymond's former chief of staff, is running against Democrat John DeFrancisco. 

Politicker Photo

Republican state House candidate Nick Miccarelli greets a voter in Ridley Park.

RIDLEY PARK-John DeFrancisco and Nick Miccarelli both said they had been to about two-dozen precincts each. And it was barely 1 p.m.

DeFrancisco, a Democrat, and Miccarelli, a Republican, are vying to replace retiring state Rep. Ron Raymond (R-Delaware) in the 162nd Legislative District. It's a compact area, which includes Ridley Park, Glenolden, Norwood and Prospect Park, and with turnout that the candidates variously described as "huge" and "astronomical," there are plenty of voters to glad-hand.

The Department of State, Boeing and the company's local union are investigating whether a campaign kick-off event held by Democratic state House candidate John DeFrancisco may have violated campaign finance law regarding corporate campaign contributions.

The issue concerns how DeFrancisco, who is running to replace retiring state Rep. Ron Raymond (R-Delaware) in the 162nd Legislative District, launched his campaign at a May event in Delaware County. DeFranciso was at the time head of the union, and a flier circulated among union rank-and-file in the days before the May 9 event billed it as a breakfast at the Eddystone union hall with local lawmakers. The "mock up," or shell, of a Boeing helicopter would be on display, the flier said.

But another flier, this one paid for by DeFrancisco's campaign, billed the exact same event, at the same time and place, as the launching of DeFrancisco's campaign for state Representative. Both were written as invitations directly from DeFrancisco.

The PA HDCC has launched a couple of websites attacking Republican House candidates. One attacking State Representative candidate Nick Miccarelli tries to tie the 26-year-old Republican to George Bush, Dick Cheney, Rick Santorum, Curt Weldon and contributor Tony Forte, Jr. The second site goes after Todd Stephens.

In another sign that the race to succeed retiring state Rep. Ron Raymond (R-Delaware) will be a tight one, the two 162nd Legislative candidates are close to even in their recent fundraising efforts.

Republican Nick Miccarelli and Democrat John DeFrancisco are running to replace Raymond in what has been an increasingly heated campaign. Miccarelli, an Iraq War veteran and Raymond's former chief of staff, raised about $182,000 between late May and late October. DeFrancisco, a longtime Boeing union head and Norwood Borough Councilman, raised a little over $90,000 during the same period. But taking into account in-kind contributions made to DeFrancisco's campaign by state Democrats, the race is much closer.

By that measure, Miccarelli raised about $234,000 total, while DeFrancisco raked in almost $222,000, according to his campaign finance report filed last week. Miccarelli's report had not yet been published on the Department of State Web site Friday, but a cover page of the report provided to PolitickerPA.com showed the GOP candidate with more than $44,000 in cash on hand for the closing two weeks before Election Day, with almost $13,000 in campaign debt. DeFrancisco had about $32,000 on hand.

The contest has been ranked as one of PolitickerPA.com's Top 5 most competitive state House races.

The heated campaign between Democrat John DeFrancisco and Republican Nick Miccarelli got revved up a notch Monday night, when the Democrat announced he would not participate in a debate and blamed Miccarelli's rhetoric for his decision.

The two have increasingly traded barbs in their contest to replace retiring state Rep. Ron Raymond (R-Delaware) in the 162nd Legislative District. The race is ranked as one of PolitickerPA.com's Top 5 most competitive state House races.

The two had been close to coming together for a debate this Wednesday, shortly before Election Day. Miccarelli's campaign on Monday released a statement accusing DeFrancisco of refusing to allow the debate to be videotaped and broadcast.

 "The DeFrancisco campaign is opposed to openness and transparency in allowing the forum to be videotaped, meaning that the forum will benefit very few voters," Miccarelli spokesman Pete Peterson said in the statement.  "The purpose of the forum, when we called for it, was to educate the larger public - not just those in attendance - about the positions of the candidates on the issues.  Without the opportunity to broadcast the content of the debate to a larger audience, the majority of the debate audience will likely be the supporters of each candidate which in my mind is far too restrictive."

The statement also said DeFrancisco "probably is not inclined to allow the debate to be videotaped because of his poor performance" at a candidates forum earlier this month.

DeFrancisco's campaign shot back with a statement of its own, saying the Democrat would "take his campaign straight to the voters Wednesday night" having "had enough of the dirty tricks and nasty campaigning by Miccarelli."

"Due to difficulties reaching an agreement on details for a debate with my Republican opponent, compounded by increasingly negative rhetoric and gotcha politics, including lies and use of video from a non partisan [candidates] forum, which is the last straw, I will instead take my campaign to the doors of voters on Wednesday night like I do every night" DeFrancisco said.   "The people of the 1622nd are struggling during this hard economy and when they hear how I want to fight for affordable healthcare, lower property taxes and good paying jobs, they know I'm their guy to send to Harrisburg. I prefer spending my time talking to voters personally with my message of improving the quality of life of residents of the 162nd.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) will endorse Democratic state House candidate John DeFrancisco on Thursday in Prospect Park.

The intra-party endorsement will come on the heels of Pennsylvania's Republican U.S. Senator, Arlen Specter, endorsing DeFrancisco's GOP opponent, Nick Miccarelli.

The race to replace retiring state Rep. Ron Raymond (R-Delaware) in the 162nd Legislative District has been ranked as one of PolitickerPA.com's Top 5 most competitive state House races.

This article is by Dan Hirschhorn in Philadelphia and Alex Roarty in Harrisburg.

With Election Day less than two weeks away, PolitickerPA.com turned to resident political insiders to help determine which state House races are the most competitive in Pennsylvania. As Democrats try to expand their narrow majority, Republicans try to take back control of the chamber and candidates throughout the state encounter changing demographics in the electorate, there is no shortage of tightly-contested races.

The five ranked below, starting with the most competitive and with incumbents listed first (one open seat being the exception), are just a way to start the conversation.

Don't agree with the order? Think we've left important races out? Want to make a list of your own? We invite you to post comments.