Democrat Ana Tiburcio, a last-minute party pick to run in the 22nd House District, won a special election on Tuesday with 67% of the vote, becoming the first Latino in the Lehigh Valley to become a state lawmaker.
Tiburcio tallied 1,474 votes versus 717 votes posted by her Republican challenger Robert E. Smith Jr., according to unofficial results posted by Lehigh County.
She will fill the seat left open when incumbent Democrat Josh Siegel resigned to become Lehigh County executive. The 22nd District includes all of East Allentown, parts of Center City Allentown and three wards in eastern Salisbury Township.
The race was marked by low turnout with 7% of the 32,737 registered voters casting ballots, unofficial results at 10 p.m. showed.
Going into the race, Democrats had more than a 2-1 voter registration edge with 16,812 voters or 53%.
Republicans had 6,654 voters or 21%. Voters registered as unaffiliated (independent) outnumbered Republicans with 7,176 voters or 22.6%. Another 1,057 voters or 3% belonged to other parties.
Tiburcio’s victory, coupled with a win Tuesday by Democrat Jen Mazzocco in Allegheny County’s 42nd District, guarantees that Democrats will retain control of the state House, regardless of what happens in the three other special elections scheduled in March and May.
The 42nd seat had also been held by Democrats. The two victories give the Democrats 102 members compared to 98 for Republicans. If Republicans win those other three districts, all of which had been held by GOP state representatives, Democrats will have the same 102-101 majority that existed last year.
Both Tiburcio and Smith have experience on the Allentown School Board. Tiburcio is a current member, having been elected in 2023 as the top vote getter. Smith served on the board for 16 years beginning in 2003 and was board president five times.
Tiburcio owns a tax preparation business and volunteers for Allentown Works, a federally funded program that supports job training and opportunities, and Love Your Block, a grant-funded neighborhood revitalization program.
She cited affordability, fair education and affordable housing as her top issues. “I’m here to fight for our families and to be the voice,” she said at a Feb. 12 candidate forum.
Tiburcio will serve until Nov. 30. Another election, featuring the May 19 primary and the Nov. 5 general election, will be held for the seat’s 2027-28 term. Tiburcio and Smith both said they plan to run in the primary as has Democrat Ce-Ce Gerlach, an Allentown City Council member who had complained about the Lehigh County Democratic Committee’s selection process for the race.
In winning, Tiburcio joins seven other state representatives of Latino or Hispanic descent, all of them Democrats. The others are Danilo Burgos (197th), Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz (129th), Jose Giral (180th), Manny Guzman Jr. (129th), Liz Hanbidge (61st), Ben Sanchez (153rd) and Lindsay Powell (21st). In the state Senate, Democrat James Malone (36th) has maternal grandparents from Spain and Mexico.
About 62% of the residents of the 22nd are Latino. The district was envisioned as a seat with a chance to elect a Latino when it was redrawn in 2022 to account for population changes and had no incumbent.
No Latino candidate emerged. Siegel went on to win in 2022, defeating Smith, and in 2024 when he had no challenger.
This is Tiburcio’s first bid for state office. She was a last-minute pick by her party after its first choice, Julian Guridy, an aide for state Sen. Nick Miller, bowed out when he learned he did not meet the state’s residency requirement for running for the post.
Tiburcio’s inexperience on a larger political stage was on display at the candidate forum, where at times she gave brief answers or said she didn’t know enough about the subject to discuss it.
