State Rep. Marci Mustello and her father, Ralph Mustello, watch results come in at a joint election night event with U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, at the 11th Frame Bar and Grille in Butler.

State Rep. Marci Mustello finds herself ahead in her bid for reelection to the state House of Representatives' 11th District.

According to the county's unofficial returns Tuesday night, Mustello, a Republican, has the lead with 19,067 votes to her opponent Democrat Sam Doctor's 4,307 votes. Election results are unofficial and do not include all mail-in ballots.

“I feel really great about it,” Mustello said. “I really am humbled by the support today, and really the last year and a half that I've been serving.”

Mustello, of Butler Township, saw her largest margin from Connoquenessing Township, where she received 1,578 votes to Doctor's 241 votes cast at polling places.

Mustello's reelection would be her first after winning in a 2019 special election in which Doctor, of Butler Township, also ran as a Democrat. The seat became available after former Rep. Brian Ellis, a Republican, vacated the seat amid controversy.

“I do want to commend Doctor for running a clean race as we did also,” she said. “He's a great guy, and I look forward to working with him also.”

Doctor lost to Ellis in 2018. He said his struggles continued this year, but in a number of different capacities, one of which included the pandemic.

“Everything made it very difficult to put our best foot forward with our campaign this year,” Doctor said. “I hope that our supporters know that we are not satisfied with our performance. We're going to try this again in two years, hopefully under the conditions that will allow us to run the race we want to run.”

Mustello said if her reelection becomes official, she will continue her focus on reopening Pennsylvania's economy as well as addressing property taxes to account for the effects of the pandemic and to make them fair.

“My first priority would be to reopen Pennsylvania fully with all the safety standards responsibly, making sure employees and employers are back to work at full capacity,” she said. “I'm going to continue fighting for Butler County.”

Mustello said she asks for voters to remain patient as mail-in ballots are counted with more official results to come, especially since the election had a large turnout that she applauded.

“We haven't seen this turnout in I don't think ever. It's wonderful to see so many people out exercising their vote. That's what's great to see,” Mustello said.

Mustello celebrated her lead Tuesday night at the 11th Frame Bar and Grille in Butler.