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SD22: Chris Chermak Selected as GOP Candidate in Special Election

Republicans have selected their candidate for the state Senate’s 22nd District. 

Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak has been nominated for the upcoming special election in May. 

The special election is to fill the vacant seat previously held by state Sen. John Blake (D-Lackawanna), who resigned from office on March 8 to join Rep. Matt Cartwright’s office to lead economic development initiatives across the 8th Congressional District. 

According to the Scranton Times-Tribune, Chermak was uncontested in earning the GOP nod from local party officials on Thursday evening after Dominic Mastri, an attorney, withdrew his bid for the GOP nomination.

“It is an honor to be selected as the Republican nominee for the 22nd Senatorial District Special Election,” said Chermak. “In the coming weeks, I will be traveling across the 22nd district to meet with business owners, community leaders, and residents to learn about their concerns and tell them about my record of putting politics aside and doing what is right for our community.”

“Chris Chermak is ready to bring his getting things done approach to the Senate,” said SRCC Cycle Chairman Senator Dave Argall. “As a Commissioner, Chris Chermak has delivered grants to small business owners who’ve been devastated by Governor Wolf’s shutdown. He set up a veteran’s suicide awareness hotline and created a commission to examine where Lackawanna County money is being wasted. Chris Chermak has a record of getting things done and our Party looks forward to electing him to the State Senate.”

Chermak, a businessman, was elected in 2019 to serve as a minority GOP commissioner in Lackawanna County. 

Chermak will face state Rep. Marty Flynn (D-Lackawanna) for the vacant seat. 

Blake was first elected to represent the state Senate’s 22nd District in 2010 and won by 22 points over Republican Frank Scavo in his most recent reelection bid in 2018. 

The special election will take place on May 18, the same day as the Pennsylvania primary.

8 Responses

  1. For those who believe Democrats will hold onto the seat may be wrong. If Republicans do well in Texas’s 6th Congressional Special Election, it should give you hope about this race.

  2. Just ask ANY Republican (National, State, or Local) what their platform or plan for the future of the working person and Middle Class is. You will get a song and a dance number about them being the party of the working man. Then ask the what major or any legislation they wrote or proposed that would help the Middle Class, working man and seniors. Go back as far as the 1930’s

    EbL5

  3. Biden is being outed by his Covid Task Force members as liable for many many deaths. But why now? Not that I think that they are liars; it’s just that they did not speak up when it mattered. Cowards and bootlickers. Biden and they are all despicable.

  4. Going to be close election by the looks of it but because it’s a primary day, in Lackawanna County, Dems will probably hold the seat. If they don’t, it’s just one more sign the Republicans have continued to gain strength in that area of the state. In my opinion, the state is just about even in political terms. You can tell that by the races for state Treasurer and Auditor General in the last election.

  5. He looks like a decent guy. How could GOP let that happen? Only nuts and Trumper racists need apply is their usual motto.

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