HARRISBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — After 33 years, Pennsylvania’s longest-serving state representative has lost reelection.

Rep. Greg Vitali (D-Delaware) fell in his party’s primary to Judy Trombetta, a Haverford Township Commissioner. Vitali said he thought he’d win the race, but complimented Trombetta for her credentials and successful campaign.

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“You know, in an odd sense, I’m relieved and happy,” Vitali said.

And he had a good run of 17 terms in office. During all of them, he was laser-focused on environmental policy. He once wrote that “climate change is the most serious long-term threat to this planet,” and he’s saddened he couldn’t get more colleagues to agree.

“Working on environmental policy in Harrisburg, it’s difficult. It’s like running into a brick wall over your head again and again,” Vitali said. “I mean, because the forces are just aligned against you.”

Vitali said labor often thwarted environmental policy issues with Democrats. The oil and gas industry did the same with Republicans, he said.

“It’s really frustrating,” Vitali added.

The lawmaker could also be frustrating, those who worked with him said.

“He was a person who didn’t always stay on the good side of leadership, and sometimes people were very irritated with him,” said Jan Jarrett, former president of PennFuture, an environmental advocacy organization based in Harrisburg.

And the ire was bipartisan, such as when he criticized his own Democratic leadership and Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) for abandoning the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

“He was not one to hold his tongue,” Jarrett said. “He was a person that would speak up when he thought something was wrong.”

Still, Jarrett described Vitali as “the honorable man in the city of Gomorrah.”

Vitali called himself frank, and he concedes fellow lawmakers of both parties won’t be sad to see him go. But he reminded them that he hasn’t left yet.

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“There’s a saying in running a race: You run through the tape,” he said. “And I think that’s the attitude I have. I want to just complete my term without people saying, ‘Oh, you just sort of gave up once you lost.’”

The record will show a Delco incumbent lost an election. It should also note environmental advocacy lost a champion.

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