Glenn Thompson lands a seat in Washington

STATE COLLEGE - Mr. Thompson is going to Washington.

Glenn Thompson will be the first Centre County resident since the Civil War to represent the 5th District in Congress, easily beating Democratic challenger Mark McCracken to replace Rep. John Peterson, R-Pleasantville, who did not seek re-election after 12 years in Congress.

Thompson, a Republican, outdistanced McCracken, a Clearfield County commissioner, 57 to 41 percent in Tuesday's general election, in a 17-county district that has traditionally been represented in Washington by a Republican. Libertarian James Fryman received two percent of the vote. In a victory speech last night with his wife Penny and son Logan by his side, the Howard resident promised hundreds of supporters in the Ramada Inn and Conference Center to serve the residents in his district "every day" he's in Washington.

"There are about 660,000 people that I will be truly humbled to serve as their Congressman, and those are the people of the 17 counties in the 5th Congressional Disrtrict," he said. "I am looking forward to providing the service they deserve and the leadership to be able to work with them to fill their needs going forward.

Thompson said he will not make any "outlandish" promises, but he will put the citizens in the district above politics and never waver in his support of those who serve in the nation's military, including his son Logan.

Thompson thanked his challengers for keeping their campaigns on the issues.

"It was very clear we had our differences on the issues, but it was very clear both those gentlemen shared the same commitment I did... to serve the residents of this district," he said.

McCracken, 44, said he knew he was facing an uphill battle in the Republican-heavy district and believes Thompson and his campaign committee didn't make any mistakes.

"It's been a Republican seat for 30 years and it was going to take something monumental to take control," he said.

"It wasn't anything I did wrong or that there was anything wrong with the message," he said. "This is just consistent with the way the district voted over the last 30 years and they were not ready to change. Maybe the nation was ... but the district wasn't."

While he said, "never say never," when asked if he will run again in two years, McCracken said this was the year to run because it was an open seat and he will likely stay out of the next election.

"Unless something really changes in the district, I will not run. I've got a very busy job with the county commissioners," he said.

Thompson carried all of the counties, except for Elk County. McCracken lost in his home county of Clearfield 14,789 to 13,214. McCracken barely took Elk County 6,573 to 6,449. Clinton County went for Thompson 7,823 to 6,146.

Overall, unofficial tallies show Thompson with 150,024 votes, McCracken with 107,595, and Fryman, 5,904.