Russ Diamond wins contentious state House race in Lebanon County

(Annville) — Republican Russ Diamond has unofficially tallied 48 percent of the votes in Pennsylvania’s 102^nd state House District race, enough to clinch a spot in the statehouse he spent the past decade criticizing.

The Lebanon County race was among the Commonwealth’s most contentious this fall. But, the outcome heartened observers regardless of party affiliation.

Diamond was talking on the phone from his victory party at Anville’s Batdorf Restaurant to one of his three opponents — Jake Long after the Democrat conceded the race.

“And uh, football Sunday, OK?” he asked.

Diamond says the two have been friends for a long time.

But for the past several months, they and two others battled to replace state Representative Rosemarie Swanger.

Voters and campaign workers agree the race got nasty.

Lines were crossed. Unspoken rules were broken.

It might have been the final blow for Lebanon County’s already-weak Republican party.

Party leadership tried to force Diamond off the ballot after he won the primary, failed, and instead supported Independent Rob McAteer. Wanda Bechtold was a write-in candidate.

Diamond supporter Ron Harper says overtraining, of sorts, played into McAteer’s loss.

“The party pushes you should vote straight Republican, and now they had a conflict because the guy they wanted wasn’t on the Republican ticket. So, all these years of conditioning people really worked against them in this case,” he says. “It’s really about control for them.”

But county Republicans have said it’s about two things.

First, Diamond’s personal life — specifically, two ex-wives filing and later rescinding protective orders against him.

They also explained their stance against Diamond by citing his six failed campaigns since 2004 for school board, congress, governor, lieutenant governor and the state legislature.

Swanger says she wasn’t always supported by the county machine, but it didn’t hurt her in Harrisburg.

“It’s a little different once you’re there,” she says. Then you’re one of them.”

That’s the thing.

Diamond’s built his entire persona around being anything *but* one of them.

His involvement with CleanSweepPA publicly hammered and helped unseat state lawmakers – including Swanger’s predecessor – entangled in the legislature’s pay raise scandal from nearly a decade ago.

Diamond says his maverick status wont’ hurt him.

“I reached out to all the Republican nominees after the primary, and I heard back from so many state reps saying, ‘Hey, we hope you’re part of the team,” he says.

Diamond says the response leaves him looking forward to his new job in Harrisburg.