Joyce easily retains seat in U.S. House
As of late Tuesday evening, U.S. Rep. John Joyce, R-Blair, is projected to win re-election and defeat Democratic candidate Beth Farnham in the race for Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District, according to unofficial election results.
With 37% of votes cast, NBC News and The Associated Press declared Joyce as the projected winner of the race shortly before 10 p.m. Tuesday. At that time, Joyce led the race by a three-to-one ratio with 111,375 votes to Farnham's 35,877.
By the Mirror's deadline, 61% of the expected votes had been cast. Joyce led the race with 188,719 votes, or 77.5%. Farnham had 54,752 votes, or 22.5%.
In a press release, Joyce said he is grateful for the support, faith and confidence shown by his constituents and plans to be southcentral Pennsylvania's strongest advocate in Washington.
"I will never stop fighting to preserve our freedoms, protect our communities, grow our economy and ensure that every family has access to affordable and innovative healthcare," Joyce said in the release.
On Tuesday night, Joyce gave remarks to a crowd of supporters at the Altoona Grand Hotel.
Joyce told the Mirror his reelection is a victory "for our conservative values" and "common sense that needs to be taken back to Washington."
"I've been willing and able to stand up for our values, and those are the values that the people of Blair County and southcentral Pennsylvania sent me to the U.S. Congress to represent," Joyce said.
With another term, Joyce said he wants to grow the local economy, ensure every family has access to "affordable and innovative health care" and expand broadband throughout Blair, Bedford, Cambria and the eight other counties that make up the 13th Congressional District — Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Cumberland, Fulton, Franklin and Adams.
"Tonight I'm watching with everyone else. I'm looking for more and more results to come in, but I'm incredibly grateful. The gratitude is just overwhelming," Joyce said. "I look forward to continuing to work for the people here."
With 54% of votes cast in the race, Cambria County was the only county out of 11 counties within the 13th Congressional District in which Joyce was not defeating Farnham by more than a three-to-one ratio.
By that point, Cambria had 20.8% of votes submitted, Blair had 40.6% and Perry had 5.1% of votes tallied. Votes in Cambria County were not final before 11 p.m. because of a printing issue that led to thousands of ballots being counted by hand late Tuesday night at the Cambria County Courthouse. (See related story, Page A5)
Farnham said the 13th Congressional District is one of Pennsylvania's most conservative districts, and with an increase in Republican voter registration over the last year, "it's hardly a surprise that the Republican candidate won."
"The margin is disappointing of course," Farnham said, adding she's grateful for the support from her team members, volunteers and voters.
"I'm grateful for everything that every volunteer gave. I couldn't have asked for more," Farnham said.
Mirror Staff Writer Matt Churella is at 814-946-7520.
