Republican Josh Parsons concedes to Democrat James Malone in 36th Senate race

• By Sarah Nicell/LNP | LancasterOnline

On Wednesday afternoon, Republican Josh Parsons conceded Lancaster County’s 36th Senate District race after Tuesday night’s results showed Democrat James Malone likely eked out a victory.

Parsons, chair of the county board of commissioners, trailed Malone by 482 votes as of Tuesday night, and the outstanding provisional ballots reported by the county elections office Wednesday were too few in number to overturn Malone’s win.

“Having reviewed the numbers from last night, including the fact that there are not enough provisional or other outstanding ballots to change the overall result, I have called Mayor Malone to congratulate him and wish him the best,” Parsons said in a text to a LNP | LancasterOnline reporter.

The current gap between the candidates – 0.89% of the 53,900 ballots cast – is too large to trigger the 0.5% automatic recount threshold required by Pennsylvania’s election code. Parsons could request one, though the cost would fall to taxpayers.

Chief county elections clerk Christa Miller confirmed that only 146 provisional ballots remain for consideration, and six overseas and military ballots could still arrive before the 5 p.m. deadline on April 1.

Malone, the mayor of East Petersburg, is the first Democratic state senatorial candidate elected in Lancaster County since 1889. He said Wednesday that despite all of the odds against him heading into Tuesday, he still expected a victory.

“Once they told us that they were running Parsons, I was sure that we could do it,” Malone said.

Malone and Lancaster County Democrats declared victory Tuesday night, and celebratory social media posts continued into the morning.

“It is unbelievable what we were able to accomplish last night, and it just shows that when we put resources in the hands of local committees, when we run on values and when we seize the moment, we can run everywhere,” Democratic state Rep. Ismail Smith-Wade-El said in a Facebook video with state Rep. Nikki Rivera, D-Lancaster, Wednesday morning.

The county board of elections will consider the remaining provisional ballots Friday morning, and Miller will discuss next steps to certify the election results then.

Tuesday’s election saw 29% voter turnout, with nearly 54,000 people voting in-person and by mail. That’s only 7% less than Lancaster County’s last municipal election in November 2023.

Reporter Jaxon White contributed to this story.