{"id":320777,"date":"2026-11-04T05:50:07","date_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/320777\/"},"modified":"2026-11-04T05:50:07","modified_gmt":"2026-11-04T05:50:07","slug":"haddock-defeats-lombardo-in-118th-state-house-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/320777\/","title":{"rendered":"Haddock defeats Lombardo in 118th state House race"},"content":{"rendered":"

AVOCA \u2013 State Rep. Jim Haddock has defeated Luzerne County Council Member John Lombardo, winning his reelection bid for a third term.<\/p>\n

Lombardo contacted Haddock to concede a little after 9:30 p.m., both candidates confirmed.<\/p>\n

With all Lackawanna and Luzerne County precincts reporting in the 118th district reporting, Haddock had won 16,767 votes, or nearly 62% of the total cast, leading Lombardo, who received 10,427 votes.<\/p>\n

Dozens of supporters filling Boozer\u2019s Sports Bar in Avoca at an election-night watch party erupted in cheers when Haddock, a Democrat from Pittston Twp., arrived around 10 p.m. to deliver a victory speech.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t tell you how grateful I am to the people of the 118th district who stood behind me one more time and really catapulted us to the top,\u201d Haddock said. \u201cI owe you all a debt of gratitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lombardo, the Republican nominee in the race, held his election watch party at Dooley\u2019s Pub in Old Forge, with around two dozen attendees at his watch party at around 8:30 p.m.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to be able to continue serving on Luzerne County Council,\u201d Lombardo said to The Citizens\u2019 Voice on Tuesday night after his concession. \u201cIt\u2019ll be an honor to continue working for all the residents of Luzerne County.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haddock, a former mayor of Avoca who was first elected to the state House in 2022, centered much of his campaign on his experience.<\/p>\n

In his victory speech, Haddock thanked all the organizations that supported him, singling out the support he received from teachers and labor unions that supported him.<\/p>\n

\u201cMyself, the governor, the Democratic House works hard for education,\u201d Haddock said. \u201cWe work hard for our friends in unions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lombardo, a 33-year-old Pittston resident, is currently serving as a firefighter in the Pittston Fire Department and as a volunteer fire captain, something he often noted in his campaign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m somebody that, as a first responder, who doesn\u2019t look at his service in politics through the lens of being a Democrat or Republican,\u201d Lombardo said before results came in Tuesday. \u201cI want to serve you\u2026.<\/p>\n

\"State<\/p>\n

State Rep. Jim Haddock, D-118, Pittston Twp., celebrates his reelection at his election night watch party at Boozers Sports Bar in Avoca on Nov. 3, 2026. (CHRISTOPHER DOYLE\/STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n

\"Luzerne<\/p>\n

Luzerne County Council Member John Lombardo, a Pittston resident and the Republican nominee for the 118th state House district, at his election-night watch party on Nov. 3, 2026 with supporter Marcia Roney of Dupont. Lombardo conceded the race a little after 9:30 p.m. on Election Day (CHRISTOPHER DOYLE\/STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n

\"Luzerne<\/p>\n

Luzerne County Council Member John Lombardo, a Pittston resident and the Republican nominee for the 118th state House district, his election-night watch party on Nov. 3, 2026. Lombardo conceded the race a little after 9:30 p.m. on Election Day (CHRISTOPHER DOYLE\/STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n

\"State<\/p>\n

State Rep. Jim Haddock, D-118, Pittston Twp., celebrates his reelection at his election night watch party at Boozers Sports Bar in Avoca on Nov. 3, 2026. (CHRISTOPHER DOYLE\/STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

State Rep. Jim Haddock, D-118, Pittston Twp., celebrates his reelection at his election night watch party at Boozers Sports Bar in Avoca on Nov. 3, 2026. (CHRISTOPHER DOYLE\/STAFF PHOTO)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The race in the 118th House District, like many state and federal races throughout the country, centered on affordability. Both candidates said residents they spoke with when canvassing homes and speaking at events expressed anxieties over the cost of living and asked what could be done to lower prices.<\/p>\n

Haddock said that voters largely blamed inflation on federal dysfunction, citing the war with Iran that President Donald Trump launched earlier this year. He said he has worked in the General Assembly to offer tax breaks to people in need, such as seniors, widows, and working families.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work for working families to make things affordable,\u201d Haddock said.<\/p>\n

Lombardo said the reasons for his defeat were \u201cmulti-faceted,\u201d partly attributing it to opposition to President Donald Trump, whose approval ratings have plummeted nationwide, turning out some voters against all Republicans.<\/p>\n

He also said some powerful donors in the commonwealth withdrew support they committed his campaign after a Republican defeat in a special elections earlier this year, functionally abandoning the 118th district to the Democrats.<\/p>\n

Haddock raised over $85,000 in the last reporting cycle of the campaign and received almost $205,000 in in-kind contributions, principally from the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, according to campaign finance records. Lombardo received more than $39,000 in the last reporting period and noted he received just $5,531 in in-kind contributions, mostly from the House Republican Campaign Committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was one of the sacrificial lambs of this election cycle,\u201d Lombardo said. \u201cAnd I won\u2019t forget that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The victory of Haddock in the 118th district was part of a trend of Democratic victories across the commonwealth, with Democrats projected to expand their state House majority and Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti projected to defeat U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, R-Dallas Twp.<\/p>\n

\u201cLocally, we have put a check on our illustrious president,\u201d Haddock said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AVOCA \u2013 State Rep. Jim Haddock has defeated Luzerne County Council Member John Lombardo, winning his reelection bid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[836,182,803,139,28,50,178,180,179,802],"class_list":["post-320777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-election","tag-local-news","tag-luzerne-county","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-politics","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-top-stories-cvc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}