HARRISBURG. (AP) – Republicans are declaring victory in a special election for a vacant state Senate seat in northern PA. The GOP candidate, state Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver, led Democrat Patricia Lawton in preliminary returns from Tuesday’s special election by more than a two-to-one margin. Senate Republican leaders say Culver will be sworn in to the Senate in late February and bring the 50-seat chamber to a full complement with a 28-22 Republican majority. Culver is serving her seventh term in the state House from Northumberland County.

REP. LYNDA SCHLEGEL-CULVER