Iraq War veteran and voting rights attorney Chris Deluzio defeated former Ross Commissioner Jeremy Shaffer in Pennsylvania’s newly redrawn 17th Congressional District.
The district includes all of Beaver County and part of Allegheny County. Most of the area has been represented by U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb, who chose not to seek reelection.
“The values I learned right here in Western Pennsylvania, we made them central in this race,” Deluzio told dozens of supporters gathered at the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council site in Collier.
Deluzio, the Democrat, collected about 52% of the votes compared with about 48% for the Republican Shaffer, according to unofficial tallies. The unofficial tallies showed a total of almost 95,000 mail-in votes had been tallied while almost 247,000 votes were cast at polling places.
Around that time, Deluzio said Shaffer had reached out to him to concede. Shaffer’s campaign confirmed that but offered no further comment.
After thanking his supporters, Deluzio vowed to make good on the promises he had spoken of on the campaign trail.
He told labor unions that he’d “have your backs in Washington,” and said he would support abortion protections, efforts to bring more manufacturing back to the United States and put the community he’ll represent first. He said he would work to fight inflation and “take on the corporate jagoffs that’ve been ripping us off.”
Deluzio said that, as a war veteran, he would take seriously any decisions to send troops off to war and wouldn’t do so unless it was absolutely necessary.
“I’m going to fight as hard as I can because I firmly believe our common good ought to come first,” Deluzio said. “I love this country. I believe in this country. I was willing to risk my life for this country, and I still think it’s worth fighting for every day.”
Data from the Pennsylvania Department of State show the vast majority of this year’s requests for absentee and mail ballots — roughly 70% — came from registered Democrats, according to Tribune-Review news partner Spotlight PA. Allegheny County reported the unofficial results of the mail-in voting soon after the polls closed and they skewed heavily toward Democrats.
Deluzio, 37, of Aspinwall, campaigned on promises to fight for abortion protections at the federal level, advocate for voting rights, bring more jobs to the United States, fund infrastructure improvements and support fellow veterans.
He has said his experiences serving in the military in Iraq after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, working as a voting rights attorney and actively supporting unions have helped form his ideals.
If elected, he has committed to joining the bipartisan For Country Caucus, which aims to provide military veterans serving in Congress with a “nonpartisan platform to work together to create a more productive government.”
Shaffer, 45, of Pine, vowed to support law enforcement, fight inflation, balance the federal budget and advocate for term limits and campaign finance reforms.
Shaffer said he is pro-life but believes abortion issues should be left to individual states.
As an engineer, Shaffer said he was supportive of President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill and would like to see greater accountability in maintaining infrastructure so that a bridge collapse like the one involving Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge doesn’t happen again.
