CRANBERRY TWP — State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, R-12th, appeared to fend off another primary challenger, according to unofficial election returns Tuesday night.

Military, provisional and write-in ballots were not included in results released Tuesday.

Metcalfe, who has represented the 12th district since 1999, had garnered 6,456 votes, while his Republican challenger, Scott Timko, amassed 3,461. Another 26 votes were write-ins.

The incumbent state representative could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday night.

Timko, a private airline pilot who owns a Cajun restaurant in Cranberry Township, seemed confident Tuesday afternoon about his chances to win in Metcalfe's first primary challenge since 2016, saying he felt his message “resonated” with voters. His optimism continued after most in-person votes were tallied Tuesday night.

“Voting is ongoing and there's historic mail-in voting, so we'll wait until the morning and we'll have a statement then,” Timko said.

But Metcalfe barreled through the challenge with more force than he had his previous opponent, Gordon Marburger, whom he defeated 59 percent to 40 percent.

The apparently clear result, however, did not mean the race was free of allegations of malfeasance from both candidates.

Metcalfe sent a campaign mailer alleging Timko was a “fake Republican” who claimed Metcalfe was retiring, so voters would sign his candidacy petition and that Timko lied to campaign contributors by filing to run in the 17th congressional district, currently represented by Democrat Conor Lamb, and then switching to the 12th district race.

Meanwhile, Timko stopped just short of directly accusing the Metcalfe campaign Tuesday of removing his campaign signs from around the district, saying they had been displaced in a “weird weather phenomenon” and that Metcalfe signs were placed in front of his.

Barring any significant changes after absentee and mail-in ballots are tabulated, Metcalfe will take on his Democratic challenger, Daniel Smith Jr., whom he defeated in 2018 by a nearly 17-percentage point margin, in November.