PA 24th Senatorial District Race Still Remains Close

MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA —The race to replace retiring Republican State Sen. Bob Mensch in Pennsylvania's 24th Senatorial District was still extremely close at the time ballot counting stopped early Wednesday morning.

The contest is between Democrat Jill Dennin, a former school board member in Berks County, and Tracy Pennycuick, a military veteran and former state representative who vacated her 147th Legislative District seat to try and become Mensch's replacement in the senate.

At last check, Dennin was leading by 424 votes, with 48,011 votes to Pennycuick's 47,587.

Vote counting stopped at 2 a.m. and elections officials were still tallying up outstanding mail-in and provisional ballots, meaning the true winner might not be declared for a number of days.

The race was competitive since the incumbent was retiring, putting the seat up for grabs.

Montgomery County was a once red suburban Philadelphia collar county that is now blue after a surge in Democratic Party registrations due to changing demographics and migration from folks coming from solidly blue Philadelphia.

It is the third most populous county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

As such, districts such as the 24th Senatorial District are now at play for Democrats, even though areas within the district used to be pretty heavily Republican.

The newly drawn 24th Senatorial District includes parts of Berks and Montgomery Counties, including Amity Township, Longswamp,Red Hill, Pennsburg East Greenville, Boyertown, Colebrookdale, Earl, Douglass Berks, Douglass Montgomery, Pottstown, the Pottsgroves, Upper and Lower Frederick, Upper and Lower Salford, Skippack, Collegeville, Limerick, Upper Gwynedd, North Wales, and Towamencin.

There was a legislative redistricting process in Pennsylvania recently, so the 24th, like others, changed slightly.

Patch will continue to bring you additional information on the election results for this and other races as ballot results continue to trickle in.