HARRISBURG, Pa. - A Republican candidate for a western Pennsylvania state Senate seat lost her latest legal challenge Tuesday after asking a federal judge to effectively overturn a close race she lost to the Democratic incumbent.U.S.
District Judge J. Nicholas Ranjan was under pressure to settle a fight that spilled onto the floor of the state Senate last week when majority Republicans refused to let Democratic state Sen.
Jim Brewster of Allegheny County be sworn in.Ranjan rejected the argument by Republican challenger Nicole Ziccarelli that Allegheny County was not justified in counting 311 mail-in ballots without a handwritten date.