Election 2016: Hanna – Borowicz Tops Local Card
LOCK HAVEN — State Rep. Mike Hanna (D-Clinton/Centre) has won 13 races for the 76th district state House seat but this year is seeing his most aggressive challenge since he won his first term a quarter century ago.
Hanna is seeking a record 14th term in Harrisburg and has ascended over the years within his party to the post of House Minority Whip. In the general election of Nov. 8 he is contested by political newcomer Stephanie Borowicz, a 39-year-old mother of three and a pastor’s wife from McElhattan.
Their contest highlights the local races in next Tuesday’s election, one in which Clinton County Republicans have opened a registration edge of over 1,000 over their Democratic counterparts.
The Hanna – Borowicz matchup has drawn the interest of Harrisburg power brokers from both parties, thousands of outside dollars being channeled into the 76th district, much of it through mailers from the state Democratic party for Hanna and the state Republican party for Borowicz.
The Borowicz mailers have, among other things, claimed that Hanna has voted in support of Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s “liberal tax and spend agenda” and supported a measure to put a tax on diapers. The Democratic mailers have charged that Borowicz is a puppet of special interests in Harrisburg and she ran “a failed nonprofit” in Florida before moving to Pennsylvania.
Borowicz has played up her face-to-face visits to the homes of some 10,000 district voters but, after appearing in one Clinton County religion-based debate with Hanna in early October, has declined joint appearance opportunities from The Record and the Lock Haven Express. Hanna team members meanwhile say the incumbent has accepted the Borowicz challenge and is treating the current race as if it was his first.
The presidential race between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton sits atop the official Clinton County ballot available next Tuesday to 22,303 eligible voters. Of that number, 10,190 are Republicans; 9,157 Democrats; and 2,956 “others.”
Two Republican incumbent legislators are seen as all but prohibitive favorites to be re-elected in their heavily GOP districts. Glenn “GT” Thompson of Howard Township is seeking a fifth term as the U.S. 5th district congressman, challenged for a second time by Democrat Kerith Strano Taylor, an attorney from Brookville.
In the state’s 35th senatorial district, Joe Scarnati, Republican from Brockway and state senate president pro tem, is facing a challenge from Democrat Jerri Buchanan, a teacher from DuBois.
Voters locally and statewide will also have one ballot question: should the state constitution be amended so that state justices at all levels may serve until the age of 75, as opposed to the present mandatory retirement age of 70.
A complete listing of all races on the Nov. 8 ballot and county polling places can be found in The Record print edition of Nov. 3. County voting precincts will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. next Tuesday.
