Kelly reelected over Wagner in fight for the 16th District: unofficial results
Despite what now looks to be a blue wave in both halves of Congress, Mike Kelly, R-16th, appears to have won a ninth consecutive term in the U.S. House of Representatives, fending off a challenge from Democratic candidate Justin Wagner in Tuesday’s midterm election.
According to unofficial results as of 12:10 a.m. Wednesday posted by the state, Kelly — a Butler native, key ally of President Donald Trump and a fixture in Butler County business — received a total of 153,833 votes, or roughly 54% of the vote, to Wagner’s 131,361, or 46.06% of the vote.
In his home of Butler County, Kelly received 50,059 votes (58.6%), to Wagner’s 35,375 (41.4%).
"Tonight is a victory for the people of our district, for pro-growth policy, for secure borders, and for our Pennsylvania values,“ Kelly said in a statement to the Butler Eagle. ”Over the last two years, I've been proud to support policies that have put more money in the pockets of hardworking Pennsylvanians.
“For the next two years, as your voice in Washington, I look forward to building upon our record of success to continue serving Pennsylvanians.“
Kelly, who has served in the House of Representatives since 2011, has had little trouble winning elections. Tuesday’s midterm was no exception, even with the national trend toward Democrats.
The closest election in past years came as a narrow four-point win over Ronald DiNicola in 2018. Other previous elections have featured double-digit wins, including his first win in 2010 over Kathleen Dahlkemper, as well as an unopposed run in 2016.
“I am here to represent the people of the 16th District, and I am the only one who has a resume,” Kelly said at a pancake breakfast in Butler Tuesday morning. “The other guys don’t have a resume. When they are asked why they are running, they say, ‘I don’t like Trump.’”
Wagner, an Iraq War veteran who hails from Mercer County, attempted to campaign on a wave of opposition to the second Trump administration and the ongoing armed conflict in the Middle East in an effort to dethrone Kelly.
“It was a tough race, and I was prepared for this outcome,” Wagner told the Butler Eagle. “I want to thank everybody for making their voices heard. Nobody wins everything.”
Although Wagner told the Eagle his immediate plans were to go back to his engineering career, he did not rule out a return to politics in the future.
“Stay tuned,” Wagner said.
Pennsylvania’s 16th District covers all of Crawford, Erie, Lawrence, Mercer and Butler counties and a portion of Venango County. Of those, Wagner only picked up more votes than Kelly in Erie County, where he gained 53,710 votes (57.16%) to Kelly’s 40,248 (42.84%).
