Beaver County Sheriff Tony Guy won his Republican primary race against Robinson springmaker Jesse James Vodvarka on Tuesday night in the 17th Congressional District.
Guy, 65, will face U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel, in the November election.
Deluzio, who was unopposed in the Democratic primary, is seeking a third term in Washington.
As of 10:45 p.m., with 99.6% of the district’s precincts reporting unofficial results, Guy had collected 52.2% of the votes cast compared to 45.7% for Vodvarka.
Guy could not immediately be reached for comment.
The 17th District includes all of Beaver County and part of Allegheny County, including portions of the North, West and South Hills and the Alle-Kiski Valley.
For Guy, the race was won in Beaver County. While Vodvarka earned about 58% of the 27,000-plus votes cast in Allegheny County, Guy managed to get 39% of the votes in Allegheny while collecting 88% of the roughly 9,900 votes cast in Beaver.
Guy, a former state trooper, has been sheriff of Beaver County for the past decade.
During the campaign, Guy said his top priorities if elected would be working to bring more jobs to Southwestern Pennsylvania, improve public safety, eliminate what he called unnecessary spending and “unleashing energy dominance.”
On the latter front, Guy pointed to a project in Beaver County’s Shippingport where developers are converting a former coal-fired power plant to a natural gas-powered plant and plan to build up to three data centers on the site in a multibillion-dollar project.
Vodvarka, 43, manages a family-owned manufacturing firm that makes springs and wire forms.
During the campaign, Vodvarka said he wanted to go to Washington to support the Trump administration’s trade policies.
He said he also wanted to limit members of Congress to serving three terms in office; end no-excuse, mail-in voting; require schools to teach students about the U.S. Constitution and American history starting in first grade; and ease the tax burden for certain groups, from eliminating property taxes for those 65 and older and waiving income taxes on those making under $40,000 a year.
Vodvarka had attempted to run for Congress in the past, but this was the first time he has made it onto the ballot.