Rep. Altmire

HARRISBURG — U.S. Rep. Mark Critz on Tuesday challenged the nominating petitions of his fellow Democratic Pennsylvania congressman, Jason Altmire, as they compete for the party nomination in a district drawn by Republicans to force them into a primary runoff.

Critz’s campaign said that Altmire lacks the 1,000 valid signatures that are required by law and does not qualify to appear on the ballot in southwestern Pennsylvania’s 12th District.

Tuesday was the last day to file in Commonwealth Court objections to nomination petitions for candidates for president, U.S. Senate, U.S. House and the state’s three independently elected row offices: attorney general, auditor general and treasurer.

Critz’s campaign said more than half of Altmire’s submitted signatures are invalid, including hundreds that were obtained by a staff aide who lives outside the district.

Some signatures are illegible, some are not proper names, some are not registered voters or Democrats and some appear to be forgeries or duplicates, the Critz campaign said.

Altmire’s campaign manager, Angela Ruslander, said “we feel very confident that Jason Altmire will be on the ballot and will be the Democratic nominee from Pennsylvania’s 12th District.”

The primary is April 24.

Altmire, a third-term incumbent, has represented suburban Pittsburgh’s 4th District since 2007. Critz replaced his former boss, the late John Murtha, in 2010 in southwestern Pennsylvania’s 12th District. However, Republicans in Harrisburg controlled the once-a-decade process of redrawing congressional boundaries to adjust to population shifts, and they essentially squeezed the two districts into one.

The district will include all or portions of six counties, stretching from the Ohio border through Pittsburgh’s northern suburbs and east to Johnstown and its surroundings.

Also running for the seat is Republican Keith Rothfus, a lawyer who nearly beat Altmire in 2010.