Special election to fill Guy Reschenthaler’s Pennsylvania Senate seat to be set for April 2

Voters in southern and western Allegheny County and part of Washington County will return to the polls this spring to fill the Pennsylvania Senate seat left vacant by newly elected Republican U.S. Rep. Guy Reschenthaler.

Lt. Gov. Mike Stack, D-Philadelphia, the presiding officer of the state Senate, announced via Twitter that he has asked the Senate’s secretary to draft a writ scheduling the 37th District’s special election for April 2.

“Counties will be served the writ on Monday,” Stack wrote in the tweet posted at 4:10 p.m. Friday.

The 37th District includes much of Allegheny County’s southern and western and suburbs, among them Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon, Bridgeville, Moon Township, Upper St. Clair, Sewickley, Jefferson Hills, and Peters Township in Washington County.

The seat became open when rising young Republican star Reschenthaler, 35, of Peters bested retired auto industry executive Bibiana Boerio, 64, of Unity, Westmoreland County, in November in the 14th Congressional District race. The congressional district includes all of Fayette, Greene and Washington counties as well as about two-thirds of Westmoreland County, including Arnold, New Kensington, Lower Burrell and Allegheny Township.

Reschenthaler, who unsuccessfully sought his party’s nod to run in the spring special election in the old 18th Congressional District, won the GOP nomination in the May primary when he beat state Rep. Rick Saccone.

Reschenthaler rented an apartment in Peters in the new district shortly after winning the primary.

He submitted his resignation to the state Senate last Monday before getting sworn into the 116th Congress on Thursday, The Incline reports.

Pennsylvania has held at least eight special elections in the past year.

Natasha Lindstrom is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Natasha at 412-380-8514, nlindstrom@tribweb.com or via Twitter @NewsNatasha.