HARRISBURG — Two more candidates have announced they will seek state Sen. Bob Robbins’ seat.

Republican Jane MacPherson and Democrat Michael Muha, both of Hermitage, Mercer County, will run in the May 20 primary to represent the 50th District in the Senate.

Robbins announced Dec. 30 that he will not seek re-election. He has been in the Senate since 1990.

Democrat Muha

Muha, the only Democrat in the race, began campaigning for the office in July, but said he stepped back so as not to distract from the municipal elections in November. He stepped up his campaigning after Robbins announced his retirement, and recently formally announced his candidacy.

Muha used to be a Republican, but said the party had left him. He also said that the Republican Party has made it harder for residents to vote, and has ignored “real corruption,” such as “sweetheart” tax deals for the natural gas industry.

He said Republicans have not fixed the problems that have led to the Great Recession. Instead, they have taken up the causes of right-wing political thinkers.

If elected, his top priorities are increasing jobs, lowering property tax burdens and getting more funds for education.

“A strong and effective public education system in Pennsylvania will lead to better jobs, higher incomes, and a better standard of living for us all,” Muha said.

Muha also is a strong advocate for suicide prevention, fair elections, and proactive and responsible gun use.

He has his own law firm in Hermitage. He graduated from Slippery Rock University, the American University, and the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law.

GOP MacPherson

MacPherson is an industrial sales engineer at MacPherson Engineering in Warren, Ohio,

She said her top priority is to help reduce taxes.

“I believe the government should be a protector of people, not trying to run their lives,” she said.

MacPherson said federal health care reform and the new state transportation law put too much stress on many citizens.

“The tax system we have is so overbearing on the average, hard-working person,” she said. “I want to help reduce taxes and make it easier for people to live their lives.”

She said the gas tax hike in the transportation law, which was signed by Gov. Tom Corbett in November, will lead to problems, such as increasing the cost of food in the state.

She said the problems will be particularly difficult for the state’s elderly.

“It’s not fair that our seniors, who have worked 50-plus years, have to wonder how they’re going to eat,” she said.

MacPherson said her background working for a small business allows her to understand what issues are pressing to small business owners.

MacPherson in 2011 campaigned to become the Mercer County Recorder of Deeds, but she has never held public office.

MacPherson and Muha are the third and fourth candidates to run for the 50th District seat. State Reps. Michele Brooks, R-17th, of Jamestown, Mercer County, and Greg Lucas, R-5th, of Edinboro, Erie County, are the other two candidates.

Starting next year, the 50th District will cover all of Mercer, including Grove City, and Crawford counties and parts of Erie and Warren counties.

The district in the past had included Worth and Lancaster townships in Butler County.