U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson, R-Howard, has won reelection for a 10th term, defeating Democratic challenger Ray Bilger for Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
The Associated Press called the race at 9:28 p.m.
Thompson had 65.7% of the vote as of 10 p.m. Among Centre County voters, Bilger had 55.2% of the vote with 62% of ballots counted.
Pennsylvania’s sprawling 15th Congressional District includes all of Centre, Armstrong, Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Clinton, Elk, Forest, Jefferson, McKean, Potter, Snyder, Tioga, Union and Warren counties and parts of Indiana, Lycoming and Venango counties. It is Pennsylvania’s largest congressional district in terms of geographical area.
Thompson currently chairs the House Agricultural Committee, the first Pennsylvania congressman in 170 years and first Penn State alumnus to hold the position. He is a senior member of the Education and Labor Committee and serves on the Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education Committee and Civil Rights and Human Resources Committee.
Prior to running for Congress, Thompson spent 28 years as a therapist, rehabilitation services manager and a licensed nursing home administrator. and he served on the Bald Eagle Area School Board.
“It’s a privilege and honor to be able to serve and to work for the citizens of Centre County and the other 17 counties in this congressional district, to be a leader in Congress legislatively in supporting infrastructure, including right in downtown State College, supporting Penn State, our land-grant university with all the great things they do in so many domains,” Thompson said during an interview in September. “I’m just very appreciative of the confidence that people have provided in me and given me the ability to be a leader in Congress, and a good bipartisan leader… because I believe we need to be bringing everybody to the table to get things done.
Watch Thompson’s C-NET election interview conducted by StateCollege.com editor Geoff Rushton this fall.
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