U.S. House District 16 Kelly beats Gnibus in most precincts
The unofficial election returns from polling sites in the 16th Congressional District show incumbent Republican Mike Kelly handily beating newcomer Kristy Gnibus, a Democrat from Erie, as of 11 p.m. Tuesday.
The returns did not include the mail-in ballot returns from many counties, including Butler County's more than 31,000 mail-in ballots.
The 16th Congressional District encompasses the western half of Butler County and all of Mercer, Lawrence, Crawford and Erie counties.
Kelly beat Gnibus 79% to 21% in Butler County and even succeeded in Gnibus' home county, with Kelly earning 59% of the votes to Gnibus' 41%.
Five of the six Butler precincts tabulated by 11 p.m. favored the hometown candidate, with Kelly taking a total of 2,270 votes to Gnibus' 998.
In Slippery Rock, Kelly earned 449 votes to Gnibus' 294.
In Mercer County, Kelly beat Gnibus 74% to 26%. In Lawrence County, Kelly had 13,893 votes at 11 p.m. to Gnibus' 11,550.
Kelly took Crawford County by earning 76% of the votes to Gnibus' 24%.
Kelly, a Butler native who owns a car dealership in Butler Township, was elected in 2010 and took his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in 2011.
He was keen on Tuesday night to talk about his work with President Donald Trump to close loopholes in the “Trump tariffs” that allowed for foreign steel components to enter the U.S. through Mexico and Canada.
The CEO of Cleveland-Cliffs, which owns AK Steel, said the Butler plant would not stay open if the loopholes were not closed.
Trump announced this week that the issue was resolved and the loopholes have been closed.
“When I talked to him about this, I said, 'Mr. President, this is the last producer of grain-oriented electrical steel in the United States, and I want every piece of steel in those transformers to come from AK Steel, Cleveland-Cliffs steel and Butler, Pennsylvania. That's all I'm asking,'” Kelly said. “(Trump) said 'Really? That's all?' And I said, 'That's all.'”
Kelly is very pleased with Trump's efforts and the president's understanding that using quality electrical steel in the country's transformers is a national security issue.
“We need that mill working every day and working overtime,” Kelly said.
He also commended Trump for visiting Butler County on Saturday, when the president held a rally at the Pittsburgh-Butler Regional Airport.
“It just shows his commitment,” Kelly said. “He's an everyday guy who understands blue collar people and who understands what America really is.”
Kelly is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and a member of 22 caucuses, including those on anti-abortion matters, steel, manufacturing, Marcellus Shale, natural gas, small brewers, health care innovation, diabetes and childhood cancer.
Kelly's priorities as a congressman are defense and national security, the economy and jobs, education, abortion, energy, government oversight and reform, health and second amendment rights, among others.
In the 2018 election, Kelly eked out a victory against Ron DiNicola of Erie.
Voters in Erie County decidedly chose DiNicola in November 2018, but Kelly won enough votes in the rest of the district's four other counties to pull off the win at 51 percent to 47 percent.
Gnibus ran on a platform of understanding the issues facing working Pennsylvanians, such as the cost of health care and medication, working multiple jobs as a single mother and mental health issues.
Gnibus is a survivor of ovarian cancer, having been diagnosed during her sophomore year in college.
She scheduled treatment and surgery around her classes and work schedule, and graduated from Mercyhurst University in Erie with a degree in education.
Gnibus' priorities include affordable health care, education, good-paying jobs, eliminating big money in politics, a federal $15 minimum wage, criminal justice reform, supporting unions and working families, prescription drugs and climate change.
She did not return calls from the Butler Eagle late Tuesday night for comment.
