One contest involved Tuesday in 43rd and 45th; legislative races offer a wider selection
By Kermit McFarland
Allegheny County is represented in the State Legislature by 27 members of the House and six members of the Senate.
House members are elected every two years but Senators serve four-year terms. This year, Allegheny County will elect only two Senators.
House members are elected from 13 districts – one to four from each district.
Two Senators to be named
At the Tuesday primary, both primaries will nominate senatorial candidates in the 43rd and 45th senatorial districts. The 43rd takes in the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th and 15th Wards of Pittsburgh. The 45th covers all of the wards and municipalities south of the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers except the 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th Wards of Pittsburgh.
The only contest for a senatorial nomination is the Republican primary in the 45th district. The candidates are Thomas Lewis Jones, Charles W. Beckman and David C. Davies.
Mr. Jones, 35, is a Brentwood attorney, solicitor for Castle Shannon, a former assistant city solicitor. Mr. Davies, 50, is secretary to the County Controller, lives in Bethel Township, and was a candidate for County Treasurer in 1943. Mr. Beckman, 52, is a Mount Oliver auto dealer, served two terms as burgess and was a candidate for Congress in 1943 and for County Treasurer in 1939.
Cox is unopposed
The incumbent, Senator John Fremont Cox (Munhall lawyer), is unopposed in the Democratic primary. He was the Democratic nominee for District Attorney last year. He is 40.
In the 43rd district, the only candidates are Senator Joseph M. Barr, 38, of Shadyside, who seeks renomination on the Democratic ticket, and Joseph J. Conway, 47, of Morningside, candidate for the Republican nomination. Mr. Barr is secretary to the Democratic County Committee; Mr. Conway is a civil engineer.
In the legislative primaries, most of the nominations are being contested.
Here is a summary of the contests in the first six districts:
This is composed of the 1st, 3rd and 5th Wards. Reps. Homer S. Brown, an attorney, and Daniel A. Verona are candidates for renomination on the Democratic ticket, opposed by John L. Clark, a writer for The Pittsburgh Courier. Unopposed Republican candidates are William Tucker, a waiter, and Lucius Davenport, a food checker.
The 2nd, 6th, 9th and 10th Wards of the city make up this district. Four candidates seek the two Republican nominations: Bernyce Lysle (an “adjuster in service work” and former schoolteacher), Harry L. Truxell (a mechanic), Rudy Weber (a salesman) and Alexander Dlugonski (an assistant service manager for an auto company).
Unopposed for renomination on the Democratic ticket are Reps. George J. Sarraf (a physician) and Thomas P. Mooney (a glassworker), both of whom have been legislators five terms.
This district, electing one legislator, is composed of the 4th and 15th Wards. The Republican nomination is being contested by John H. Carr (a clerk and former alderman), Paul E. Doelfel (a wireman, formerly employed in the sheriff’s office) and Michael R. Chasser (pharmacist for the State Welfare Department).
Democratic Rep. Edward A. Schuster is unopposed for renomination.
The 4th is the only legislative district in Pittsburgh represented by a Republican, real estate dealer O. B. Hannon. Mr. Hannon, who has served one term, is opposed in the primary by Harry Berger Ackermann (former legislator) and Edward W. Brinling (a painting contractor).
On the Democratic side, the nomination is contested by Michael J. Holland (a city fireman) and former Mayor William N. McNair, who has been endorsed by the organization. The district is composed of the 7th, 8th and 11th Wards.
Made up of the 12th, 13th and 14th Wards, this district elects one legislator. Seeking renomination for a third term is Democratic Rep. John R. Bentley, an attorney. He is opposed by Julius Zangrille, a plumber put in the race by Charles A. Papale, 12th Ward Democratic boss, who has split with the organization over patronage.
The Republican nomination is sought by Charles M. Christler (lawyer and former legislator), Thomas J. Jones (14th Ward constable), William F. White (restaurant operator), Samuel Avins (attorney) and Kenneth H. Davies (14th Ward alderman).
Each party will nominate three candidates in this district. Four Democrats and nine Republicans seek these nominations. Because there has been no legislative reapportionment in 40 or 50 years, this district has been chopped up by annexations to the city, and takes in the first nine precincts of the 16th Ward, the 17th, all except parts of two precincts in the 18th, the 19th and most of the 20th and 28th.
The three Democratic incumbents face opposition only from Stanley Poremski, a county maintenance man. The present representatives are Thomas J. Kirley (police lieutenant), John J. Baker (water assessor), and Louis Leonard (a personnel manager and former steelworkers’ union official).
Running for the three Republican nominations are Nelson T. Miller (public school teacher), William J. Crowley Jr. (a tool room attendant), Paul A. Schullo (secretary at a shipbuilding company), John A. Manzione (insurance dealer), Frank Petrolio (a deputy sheriff), Harry R. Hooton (chiropractor), Basil Onyshkow (an attorney), John A. Weiland (insurance salesman), and Martin P. Burke (buyer for a grocery concern).