Incumbent Kim Ward was holding on tight to her 39th District State Senate seat Wednesday afternoon, leading opponent Tay Waltenbaugh by more than 50,600 votes.

Ward, a 64-year-old Hempfield Republican who has served in the Senate for 12 years, had about 70% of the votes with 144 out of 206 precincts reporting by 3 p.m.

Experts predicted that Republican voters would largely cast votes in-person compared to their Democratic counterparts who are more likely to submit mail-in ballots. Mail-in ballots will be counted if they are received up to Friday, as long as they are postmarked on Nov. 3.

Ward has had a long career in Westmoreland County politics, a history she helps will spur her into her fourth term in office. Ward began her career in 1994 when she worked as county chair for Republican Rick Santorum’s successful bid for U.S. Senate.

After that, Ward served as a Hempfield supervisor from 2002-07 and then as a county commissioner in 2008. She held that position for eight months before deciding to run for state Senate. In November 2008, Ward became the first woman to represent the 39th District. She was reelected in 2012 and 2016.

During her time in office, she has passed bills regarding child abuse laws, the Real ID program and a grant program for middle-income college students. She has recently focused on bills related to covid-19 that impact small businesses, first responders and those in nursing homes.

Waltenbaugh is a 66-year-old Hempfield Democrat who recently retired from the helm of Westmoreland Community Action. He announced his bid for office last June, his first time seeking political office.

Prior to his retirement, Waltenbaugh spent 39 years doing human services work across Westmoreland County at organizations like Adelphoi Village in Arnold and Big Brothers/Big Sisters in Greensburg.

Twenty-nine of those years were served as CEO of Westmoreland Community Action, where Waltenbaugh built programs focused on helping people out of poverty through education and access to employment, while encouraging economic development and affordable housing in struggling communities like Jeannette and New Kensington.

Waltenbaugh decided to run for office after retiring, hopeful he could continue that work through the legislative process that impacts funding and laws related to his past initiatives.

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