The primary election on May 20 is less than a month away, and the race for the Republican nomination for the state’s 12th District is heating up.

Both incumbent Daryl Metcalfe and challenger Gordon Marburger are on the campaign trail, knocking on doors and talking to people about their policies.

Metcalfe, R-12th, has served in the state House of Representatives since being elected in 1999.

Marburger is an Adams Township farmer who was recently re-elected to a third term on the Mars School Board.

As both candidates tell it, the campaign is intense.

For Metcalfe, it’s the first time he’s faced an opponent in the primary in six years.

For Marburger, it’s the first time he’s undertaken such a large campaign himself, despite helping his wife, Diane, campaign countywide for county treasurer, a post she has held since 2000.

According to Metcalfe, his campaign has been especially trying because he’s not sure Marburger will be on the ballot on May 20. That’s because Metcalfe is appealing to the state Supreme Court to have his opponent booted from the race for failing to file financial interest statements in time.

A Commonwealth Court judge ruled April 17 that because Marburger relied on certain filing information that turned out to be wrong, the judge allowed him time to fix his mistake and remain on the ballot.

He has since filed the necessary paperwork with the state Ethics Commission.

For Marburger, he’s approaching the campaign as if it’s a certainty he will be on the ballot. He’s already done too much work to turn back now, he said.

“I’m going to keep on the route I’m on,” he said.

That means Marburger will continue walking around neighborhoods knocking on doors as well as attending municipal and senior citizen meetings in the district.

He’ll take his message to anyone who will listen, a message that it’s time for change in the 12th District.

In an interview last week, Marburger said it’s sometimes hard not to get dragged down into a nasty war of words with his opponent.

He called Metcalfe a mudslinger who’s running a vindictive campaign.

“That’s all he does,” Marburger said of Metcalfe. “If you look at his past campaigns, anyone who’s challenged him who had a chance, that’s all he’s done (is mud-sling). He’s a professional campaigner. Before this is over, he’ll have me labeled as a dumb, lazy farmer who can’t read.”

For his part, Metcalfe is still confident that he will be the only Republican on the ballot on May 20.

“If the court rules according to the law, he won’t be on the ballot,” Metcalfe said.

But, like his opponent, that doesn’t mean Metcalfe is slowing down in his campaigning.

“I’m doing what I always do,” Metcalfe said, which includes door-knocking and a grassroots effort to get his name out to voters. “I never take any election for granted even when there’s no potential challenger on the horizon.”

Marburger plans to travel around the district placing campaign signs. Each municipality has different ordinances governing sign placements, he said, and he is in the process of figuring out where to go and when.

As for Metcalfe’s allegedly nasty campaigning, Marburger said he has no intentions of playing the same game.

“We’re just going to sit here and take it,” he said. “That’s our plan.”

For Metcalfe, he continues to conduct business. This certainly isn’t his first campaign and, as Metcalfe tells it, it won’t be his last.

“I’m always preparing for the next election,” he said. “I’m always out talking to my constituents, working hard for them and working to earn their support to be able to represent them in the capital.”

The 12th District covers Adams, Clinton, Cranberry, Forward, Middlesex and Penn townships as well as Callery, Mars, Seven Fields and Valencia.