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Rep. English Makes Surprise Retirement Announcement

State Rep. Hal English will not seek a fourth term, the North Hills Republican announced Tuesday.

The pre-holiday surprise was first reported by WESA.

In a press release, English offered only general words about his decision to pull out of the race.

“During my time in office, I have tried to conduct myself as a statesman, like my predecessor Sen. Randy Vulakovich, while listening, learning, and applying facts, logic and compassion. Today I want to inform you that I am withdrawing from the November ballot to devote time to my family and my elder law practice,” he wrote.

English won the seat in 2012, taking over for Vulakovich, who was elected to the State Senate that year. He briefly tested the waters for a Superior Court bid in 2017, but opted against it. 

He was a favorite to win re-election, but the seat isn’t quite as reliably Republican as it used to be. The Allegheny County district went for Romney over Obama by 17 points in 2012, but Trump defeated Clinton there by 7 points in 2016. English was unopposed.

Furthermore, it is overlaid by several other contested campaigns including the hotly contested race between Reps. Conor Lamb and Keith Rothfus. And businessman Jeremy Shaffer’s defeat of incumbent Vulakovich in the GOP primary created an open state Senate race as well. Shaffer faces Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers communications director Lindsey Williams.

Allegheny County Republican Committee members who live in the 30th district will have the opportunity to selected a replacement nominee.

In the meantime, Democrat Betsy Monroe is the sole candidate on the ballot. She is a former supervisor at Highmark and lives in Fox Chapel. The Pittsburgh City Paper profiled Monroe in February, where she said she was inspired to become active in local politics following the Women’s March in January 2017.

Monroe won nomination with 39% in a three-way primary in May. She defeated data scientist Kareem Kandil, who had the endorsement of Pittsburgh’s DSA chapter, and college student Jacob Pavlecic. 

15 Responses

  1. The registration stats for the district are:
    20,029 Dems
    19,783 Rep
    5,850 Other

    Also, the Dem turnout in the district was higher than the GOP turnout for the primary and the 2017 General.

    While the Dems there may lean conservative, this is a Dem wave year, and without a GOP incumbent, this could be a good Dem pickup, if turnout numbers are high.

    1. Are those numbers from Nation Builder? They do an awesome job.

  2. These inane sidetrips into trivial character slamming take away from what could be a place for political discourse.

  3. Perhaps, this retirement news is the result of the “Trump effect” with all the air taken out of the room due to the numerous stories of Stormy Daniels, border issues, Michael Cohen, etc. The current political environment does not bode well for Scott Wagner because after millions spent in the primary he is 19 points down in the polls and even trailing Lou Barletta (one of the more divisive U.S. Senate candidates to come down the pike in a long time) who is 17 points down. Senator Doug Jones is a cautionary tale for Republicans as to election results when traditional R’s are turned off to a candidate and the Democratic base is energized.

    1. Wagner’s fund raising numbers are downright embarrassing too. He’s getting outraised 10 to one. His war chest would be middling for a state Senate seat.

      Clearly the big Republican donors don’t think it’s worth opening their checkbooks for this race.

  4. Writes me in for the state house race in the Vulakovich and English seat. I ams the best candidate.

    1. You’re better than Shaffer. He’s one of the most socially awkward people out there. Once he realized he couldn’t buy his way to being Lt. Gov this time. He realized he could try and buy himself a senate seat. Keep them bike trails going!

  5. Hey ass clown, go back to elementary school and learn proper grammar.

  6. I think for soon to be former state senator Randy Vulakovich should be the replacement nominee is to replace Hal English in the state house race in 2018.

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