Election 2022 Unopposed GOP incumbents cruise through primary

May 18—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Four area lawmakers moved a step closer to retaining seats in the state House of Representatives on Tuesday.

State Reps. Jim Rigby, R-Ferndale; Carl Walker Metzgar, R-Somerset; Jesse Topper, R-Bedford; and Leslie Rossi, R-Derry, Westmoreland County, had no primary opponents.

Barring successful write-in campaigns on Democratic ballots, none of the four is expected to face a challenger in the fall election.

Rigby received a combined 7,522 votes on Tuesday, unofficial results showed. He is vying for a third term in a 71st District that is shifting further east. It now encompasses the eastern half of Cambria County, from Ferndale and Geistown to Reade Township in the north and Adams Township to the south.

The 71st District also includes Somerset County communities within Windber Area School District, including Paint Township, Paint Borough and Ogle Township.

Metzgar is running to continue representing a 69th District that includes almost all of the rest of Somerset County, from Conemaugh Township to Wellersburg.

He received 10,986 votes, according to an unofficial tally in Somerset County as of late Tuesday.

Rossi represents the 59th District, which will now include areas north of Ligonier, including New Florence, Seward and St. Clair Township in Westmoreland County. Her district also includes the Derry, Latrobe and Mount Pleasant areas.

She had more than 4,245 votes, with a little more than one-third of Westmoreland County's precincts reporting at 10:45 p.m.

Topper is running for reelection in a 78th District that will now stretch from Bedford County's border with Somerset County east into Fulton County as far as the McConnellsburg area. He had 9,494 votes, unofficially, as of late Tuesday.