The unexpected death of a Democratic lawmaker in January left the Pennsylvania state House deadlocked with a 101-101 tie for majority control between Democrats and Republicans.

That tie was broken on Tuesday when Democratic candidate Dan Goughnour easily won a special election to fill the vacant seat in a solidly blue district just south of Pittsburgh, the Associated Press reported.

The much-needed win for Democrats gives the party a one-seat margin in the Pennsylvania House, while Republicans will maintain majority control of the state Senate.

State House majority hung in the balance

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the unofficial results as of Wednesday morning showed that Goughner had prevailed in the 35th House District's special election with 6,797 votes, or around 63% of the total votes cast.

That was more than enough to defeat Republican candidate Charles Davis' 3,751 votes and Libertarian candidate Adam Kitta's 166 votes. Notably, Democrats enjoy a more than two-to-one advantage over Republicans in the district in terms of registered voters, so the outcome is no surprise.

The special election was held quickly to fill the vacancy left in January when State Rep. Matt Gergley (D), who'd just won an unopposed re-election in November, suddenly fell ill and died.

Given the Democratic Party's losses on the national level in November, this special election that would decide control of the Pennsylvania State House took on extra significance and benefited from additional attention and resources from the national party and affiliated groups that otherwise wouldn't be spent on a local race.

Race called quickly in Goughner's favor

Local NPR affiliate WESA reported that the 35th District's special election was called in favor of Goughner, a McKeesport police officer and local school board member, less than two hours after polls closed Tuesday evening.

In a victory statement, Goughner said, "I’m humbled and grateful that voters have put their trust in me to serve the 35th District and carry on Matt Gergely’s legacy of service to this community."

The winning candidate added, "I’m grateful to everyone who gave their time and resources to this campaign, and now I look forward to delivering real results" for his constituents in the Monongahela Valley district.

The PA House Democrats cheered on the victory, saying in an X post, "We held the House! Thanks to the voters of HD-35, Dan Goughnour is heading to Harrisburg as our 102nd seat! Congratulations to Representative-elect Dan Goughnour on your victory."

DNC chair attempts to nationalize local win as a "rebuke" of Trump's agenda

WESA noted that Goughner's special election win was also celebrated by Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin, who'd personally campaigned on behalf of the candidate and predicted at the time that a victory would prove to "Democrats around the country that we’re willing to fight for our values at every single level."

Martin attempted to nationalize the local win once the race was called by suggesting that it "secures the House majority for Pennsylvania Democrats so that they can stand up to Trump’s mayhem in Washington."

"Building the Democratic Party back begins in the states," he added, "and down-ballot wins like [Goughnour’s] offer a powerful rebuke of Trump and Elon Musk’s MAGA agenda."