Last updated: Tuesday, May 20, 2014, 10:30 PM Posted: Tuesday, May 20, 2014, 10:03 PM
The hotly contested race for the Democratic nomination in 13th Congressional District turned out to be not much of a race at all: State Rep. Brendan Boyle was declared the winner by 9:45 p.m. Tuesday.
With more than three-quarters of the polls reporting, the 37-year-old from Philadelphia held a nearly 2-1 lead over his closest contender, former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies.
'We moved forward, we kept the faith, we worked like hell and tonight we have one,' Boyle told more than 100 cheering supporters gathered at a Fraternal Order of Police Lodge in North Philadelphia.
On the Republican side, businessman Dee Adcock easily topped Beverly Plosa-Bowser, a retired Air Force colonel, for the nomination.
The real race was among Democrats, who by registration have the edge in a district split evenly between Philadelphia Montgomery County. The seat had been held by Rep. Allyson Schwartz, who lost her own bid for governor on Tuesday.
Once viewed as a slam-dunk for Margolies, it had grown increasingly tight in the final weeks as Boyle, state Sen. Daylin Leach and physician Val Arkoosh blanketed the airwaves with TV ads and attacked one another in mailers.
Margolies previously held the seat from 1993 to 1995 but was ousted for voting in favor of President Clinton's tax hike. The Clintons - now her in-laws - are now among her strongest supporters.
After calling to congratulate Boyle, Margolies thanked staff and supporters who gathered at the home of state Rep. Madeleine Dean in Jenkintown.
'I just want to let all of you know how important it is to make sure that women are represented,' she said. 'I think it's terribly important to continue this, to make sure that women run.'
Schwartz had been the only woman in Pennsylvania's congressional delegation.
The Margolies campaign over the last six months has been dogged by weak fund-raising and allegations of misused campaign funds.
In recent weeks, analysts have called the race wide-open, with Boyle the only Philadelphia candidate in a district evenly split between Northeast Philadelphia and Montgomery County.
The seat, which opened up when Rep. Allyson Schwartz decided to run for governor, is overwhelmingly Democratic.
Boyle, of the Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia, has been a state representative since 2009. His brother, Kevin Boyle, is also in the legislature.
Since her last stint in Congress, Margolies, 71, of Plymouth Township, has been running the Philadelphia-based nonprofit Women's Campaign International.
Leach, 52, of Wayne, has been in the Senate since 2009 and leads the Senate Democratic Caucus. From 2003-2008, he was a state representative and an attorney.
Valerie Arkoosh, 53, of Glenside, is an obstetric anesthesiologist who racked in significant contributions from medical and university groups. Arkoosh raised the most of any campaign - nearly $2 million by the end of April.
Earlier in the day, all four candidates traveled the district shaking hands and seeking out yet-undecided voters.
'It seems to be going great, but it's hard to know exactly,' said Leach, handing out campaign flyers at Robert Pollock Elementary School in the Torresdale section of Philadelphia.
Most voters nodded politely but barely slowed to shake Leach's hand.
Laya Thomas, 22, had come primarily to cast a ballot in the gubernatorial race.
She met Leach in the hallway and the two began discussing natural gas extraction, commonly known as fracking.
In the Senate, Leach said, 'I introduced a bill that would put a moratorium on fracking, five years, until we learn a little more about what the effects are.'
'Knowing is one thing, but can we do something more - can we tell these guys not to frack at all?' Thomas asked.
'It's going to take a different governor,' Leach responded.
Margolies made dozens of stops across the district, one of which became largely a family affair.
At the Philadelphia Protestant Home on Tabor Avenue, Margolies ran into several of her children and grandchildren.
'It's become kind of an impromptu reunion,' said Marc Mezvinsky, Margolies' son who is married to Chelsea Clinton. 'It's rare that we're all in the same city at the same time.'
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