May 18th PA Special Election, Tim Burns and Mark Critz In A Dead Heat

Today is the special election to replace Democrat John Murtha (who died in February) as U.S. Representative of Pennsylvanias 12th District. The two candidates are Republican businessman Tim Burns and Democrat ex-Murtha aide Mark Critz.

According to CQ Politics,

The Pennsylvania special is the only contest that will change the partisan composition of Congress and as such the outcome will be heavily spun by both parties and analyzed at length about what it portends — if anything — for the November elections.

Election-eve polls show businessman Tim Burns (R) and ex-Murtha aide Mark Critz (D) essentially in a dead heat, so officials in both parties were managing expectations in the final hours leading to today’s vote because they don’t know yet if they’ll be crowing about a victory or explaining away a loss.

This should be an exciting race with the Republicans having a good chance of taking over another seat in Congress!