Murtha rival wins GOP nod as write-in

SANDRA K. REABUCK, The Tribune-Democrat: (extract of article) U.S. Rep. John Murtha will have a Republican challenger on the November ballot after all. William Russell of Johnstown received enough votes in Cambria County alone to win the GOP nomination for the 12th Congressional District, an official tally shows. In Cambria’s official tabulation, Russell’s write-ins totaled 1,489 under various spellings of his name, including 1,256 with the correct spelling. A person staging a write-in campaign for Congress needs at least 1,000 votes to win a party’s nomination, said Fred Smith, Cambria election supervisor. Results in the other counties in the district still are being tabulated.

On Tuesday, Russell said he believes he’ll end up with 3,500 to 5,000 write-ins from all of the counties. Under state law, counties are to have their official tallies in to the state by May 12 – 20 days after the primary. “I want to thank all the people who worked to make this happen and to those who voted for me,” he said. To get the 1,489 votes in Cambria alone was a good omen for his campaign in the fall, Russell said. “People tell me that it was quite significant to get that many write-ins,” he said. The Murtha campaign did not return an e-mail request for comment.