Political newcomer Brittany Bloam declared victory Tuesday night in her race for the Democratic nomination and a spot on the November ballot in Pennsylvania’s 45th state House District.

Bloam, a Robinson native, fought off Allegheny County Council President Pat Catena to earn the Democratic nomination.

”I’m relieved. I’m happy. I’m excited to keep working,” Bloam said Tuesday night. “We really focused on meeting voters were they were.”

As of 10 p.m., with about 85% of precincts reporting unofficial results, Bloam had collected 62.74% of the votes tallied compared with Catena’s 36.91%.

In a text message around 9:45 p.m., her campaign manager said that Bloam had declared victory in the race.

Catena said he reached out to Bloam to concede shortly before 10 p.m.

“I wish Brittany well,” Catena told TribLive.

Bloam said Tuesday night she had been focused on the primary and planned to regroup ahead of the general election, where she will face another political newcomer.

In November, Bloam will run against Republican James Julius, an artificial intelligence company founder, to replace state Rep. Anita Astorino Kulik, D-Kennedy, who has held the position since 2017. Kulik announced last year that she would retire at the end of her term.

Julius, of McKees Rocks, was unopposed in the primary.

The 45th state House District covers part of Allegheny County, including Collier, Kennedy, Neville, Robinson and Stowe townships and the boroughs of Bridgeville, Carnegie, Coraopolis, McKees Rocks and Pennsbury Village.

Bloam’s victory comes following political controversy for her opponent, who came under fire last week after his campaign mailer sent out a mailer alleging Bloam was supported by “an EXTREME LEFT GROUP THAT ADVOCATES FOR TRANSGENDER ATHLETES in our sports.”

Catena issued an apology following the mailer. Bloam released a statement comparing Catena’s campaign tactics to “MAGA extremists.”

A majority of Allegheny County council members are actively attempting to remove Catena from the presidency over the incident.

Catena, of Carnegie, has served on Allegheny County Council since 2017 and became council president in 2020.

During his primary campaign, Catena said he was focused on issues including infrastructure and affordability.

“People want safer schools, they want better education, they want more funding for education, and the state needs to do better with that. There are so many issues,” Catena told TribLive on Friday.

Bloam leaned into her identity as a mother throughout her campaign, emphasizing policies and priorities aimed at supporting families and women.

“The top three priorities for the campaign are lowering costs for working families, fully funding our public schools and protecting our democracy from extremism,” Bloam told TribLive.

Bloam, an avid supporter for raising minimum wage and pro-choice rights defender, also pressed the issue of affordability in her campaign.

“Everything is so expensive right now, costs just keep rising. Gas seems to go up every single day, and I’m committed to policies that make our communities more affordable without tax increases, and this would include increasing access to quality healthcare and childcare,” Bloam said.