A longtime GOP member of the state House from Northampton County has lost his reelection bid as voter anger against President Donald Trump led to Republican defeats nationwide in Tuesday’s midterm elections.
Just after midnight, state Rep. Joe Emrick was trailing Democratic challenger Jeff Warren by about 2,800 votes in the 137th District, according to unofficial tallies from the Associated Press.
With about 97% of the vote counted, Warren had 15,812 votes (54%) to Emrick’s 13,410 (45.9%), a difference of around 2,400 votes. Around 1:30 a.m., the Associated Press called the race for Warren.
Emrick is in his eighth term in the state House. Warren is a Northampton County commissioner and former Easton City Council member.
Democrats have set their sights on Emrick’s seat in recent elections, but he managed to fend off those challenges. In the last two elections, he defeated political newcomer Anna Thomas by 1,316 votes (3 percentage points) in 2024 and 703 votes (2 percentage points) in 2022.
The 137th District covers Nazareth, Tatamy, all of the townships of Bethlehem, Lower Nazareth and Upper Nazareth, and parts of Hanover (District 5) and Palmer (Central, North, Northeast, Northwest, Southwest and West).
This story will be updated.