Infrastructure, inflation, and the state of the economy are hot topics for the campaigns of both Stephenie Scialabba, a Republican, and Robert Vigue, Democrat, as they face off in the upcoming State House 12th District race.

The two candidates are vying to take the seat previously held by Republican state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe, who announced his retirement earlier this year.

After the 2022 redistricting of state legislative boundaries, the 12th District consists of Adams, Cranberry and Jackson townships; and Callery, Evans City, Harmony, Mars, Seven Fields, Valencia and Zelienople boroughs.

Scialabba, who moved to Cranberry in 2018 with her husband, describes herself as a fourth-generation Butler County resident. A cybersecurity and data privacy lawyer, Scialabba, who practices law at Eckert Seamans, emphasized her legal experience as helpful in running for office.

She defeated candidates Scott Timko of Cranberry Township and Gregg Semel of Zelienople in the May 2022 primary.

Vigue, an Air Force veteran who was born in Maine and grew up in Valencia, works for Kromek in Jackson Township as an IT analyst. He retired from the military in 1995, and lived in New Mexico until 2003, after which point he returned to Butler County. He has served on the Valencia Borough Council for the past seven years, and also has served on the county library board and Mars Area Public Library board.

He ran unopposed in the May 2022 primary, and hopes to bring his years of municipal experience to the table in the election.

Both Vigue and Scialabba cited inflation and the economy as pressing problems for residents of their district.

“I think everybody’s pretty in pain right now,” Scialabba said. “You can’t find things you need to buy, and you can’t afford them if you can find them. While that was an issue that we were aware of and ran on in the primary, it’s only gotten worse.”

Scialabba cites energy policy as one factor she believes is worsening economic conditions. On her campaign website, she identifies herself as being in favor of energy independence.

“The inflation, the economy, the reliance on foreign oil and other supplies, no longer being sovereign and living in a world we are accustomed to and instead having someone else pulling the strings, it’s really getting scary,” Scialabba said. “Hopefully we are reaching a point where we will be able to turn it back.”

Vigue advocates for raising the minimum wage as a move that would be potentially beneficial to Butler County residents’ wallets.

“There’s no doubt that the minimum wage, in Pennsylvania and federally, is too low,” Vigue said. “What that does is it makes people who can’t afford housing up here have (to work) more jobs, and when you have a family, having two or three jobs is not good. You never get to see your family, and it causes a lot of strife on those families.”

He plans to push for the minimum wage to be increased to $15 at least, and hopes it would be tied to a price index that would match inflation.

“The advantage of this is if a business has somebody making a living wage and they’re happy, they’re not going to be out there searching for more employees,” Vigue said. “They’re going to be saving money on trying to recruit and train employees.”

The move would benefit both sides of the economic equation, he added.

“If you look at inflation today, people can’t live,” he said. “This is actually a win-win for both businesses and the employees.”

Vigue hopes to promote better treatment for older residents of his district, especially in the realm of health care.

“Our elderly need to be taken care of a little bit better. They have been working for 50-plus years and they need some breaks, better breaks than they get now,” Vigue said, advocating for potential tax breaks for the elderly. “Most of them are on a fixed income. We have to make sure our drug prices are lower and our health care costs are lower.”

Making sure that infrastructure keeps up with growth is also a priority, Vigue said. He hopes to push to complete the ongoing Route 228 widening project, as well as to look into options for public transportation connecting parts of Butler County or going in to Pittsburgh.

“We need to bring the money back from Harrisburg into our district and start sending it so we can have infrastructure that is world-class,” he said.

As the region grows, Vigue hopes to examine all aspects of infrastructure, including the power grid and sewer and water systems.

“We need to get something (done), because Butler is growing,” he said. “People are moving up here for a reason because we have lower costs and less taxes, and nice communities all the way up and down the line. That infrastructure is a serious thing we need to look at, and not just the roads. We need to take a look at the power grid, and make sure our power grid can handle this growth, and do a long-term plan.”

Scialabba also considers infrastructure improvements a priority, especially in the face of “unprecedented” growth in southwestern Butler County.

"Being able to secure the funding needed to be able to support our area in terms of infrastructure is really important,” she said. “I think that we need to be active and proactive in finding and seeking solutions and sources wherever they may be. We pay a lot of taxes out of here, and we need to see some of that coming back.”

She cited education, specifically school curricula and the philosophy of school choice, as goals to address.

“I think we need to have parental say in what our children are being taught,” she said, adding that. “The concern is that our ACT scores and other standardized test scores are the lowest they have been in in 30 years. We are falling behind in comparison to other nations.”

As an attorney, Scialabba said, she hopes to bring “integrity and reason” to serving the 12th District.

“Those are two core principles of being a lawyer. We are bound by our code of ethics as lawyers, and I plan to take that into the state house,” she said. “I think we need to restore principles to them, and not be afraid of them but also see reason where reason can be found, and have integrity in what we are doing.”

Vigue plans to bring his experience from the Air Force into being a representative, as well as his experience navigating the particulars of municipal government.

“One thing I’ve always done is I’ve always listened to people,” he said. “In the Air Force, I was an instructor for four years teaching electronics and avionics. I have been working with people, and I’ve learned to listen, to do things and get things done for people. It's part of my life, and I enjoy helping people. It’s just something that seems natural to me.”