Democrat Jeff Warren has unseated longtime Republican state Rep. Joe Emrick in Pennsylvania’s 137th District, according to unofficial election results reported Tuesday night. With 94% of Northampton County precincts counted by 11 p.m., Warren led Emrick 54% to 46%, flipping a seat the Republican incumbent had held since 2010.
Warren declared victory in a statement at 9:35 p.m., well before the final tally came in, according to lehighvalleylive.com. He said he was grateful voters trusted him to lead in Harrisburg and said he was excited to work with fellow legislators to bring change, per the outlet’s report.
The 137th District covers Nazareth, Tatamy, part of Hanover Township, part of Palmer Township, and Bethlehem, Lower Nazareth and Upper Nazareth townships, lehighvalleylive.com reported. PoliticsPA’s district preview gives a matching description, listing Bethlehem without a PART label and applying partial-coverage labels to Hanover and Palmer.
A Longtime Legislative Staffer Takes On a 16-Year Incumbent
Warren brought a long resume in local and state politics into the race. Lehighvalleylive.com described him as a Northampton County Council member who spent more than 13 years on the staff of state Sen. Lisa Boscola, a Democrat representing parts of Lehigh and Northampton counties. Lehigh Valley Public Media, however, referred to Warren as a Northampton County Commissioner rather than a council member in its own coverage of the race. Warren lives in Bethlehem Township, the outlet reported.
Emrick, for his part, worked as a teacher with the Lower Moreland School District before joining the state legislature, where he has served since 2010. His path to reelection had grown tougher in recent cycles: he defeated Democrat Anna Thomas by just 1,316 votes in 2024 and by 703 votes in 2022, according to The Morning Call. That same report put the 2024 margin at 3 percentage points.
Affordability and Data Centers Drove Warren's Campaign
Ahead of Election Day, Warren told The Morning Call that affordability, school funding, data centers and farmland protection topped his list of priorities. As of June 8, Emrick’s campaign reported $140,340 on hand compared with $105,286 for Warren, the outlet noted.
Voter registration trends had been shifting in Warren’s favor. Democrats held a slight edge in the district as of late September, 20,380 to 19,547, with independents making up most of the remaining 10,613 voters, per the same Morning Call account. PoliticsPA separately found Democrats holding a 1.6-percentage-point registration advantage in the district as of Oct. 5.
Part of a Broader Fight for the Statehouse
The 137th District race was one of roughly two dozen competitive Pennsylvania House contests this cycle, most clustered in suburbs and exurbs outside Allentown, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, according to Spotlight PA. All 203 seats in the state House, where Democrats held a 103-100 majority heading into Tuesday, were on the ballot as the full chamber came up for two-year terms.
Lehigh Valley state House and Senate seats were on the ballot Tuesday, with control of Harrisburg hanging in the balance. In the Lehigh Valley’s other marquee races, the Associated Press called the 18th District Senate contest for Boscola, who was seeking a sixth term and had 65.8% of the vote with 76% of precincts reporting by 11 p.m. The AP also called the 14th District Senate race for Nick Miller, who had 65% of the vote with 87% of precincts counted at that hour.
Results reported on election night remain unofficial. Pennsylvania’s state election returns site notes that county-level results are preliminary until counties complete certification.
