Based on unofficial vote counts that don’t include write-ins, Gregory fell behind in Tuesday’s Republican primary to former pastor and radio station operator Scott Barger, whose campaign focused on a failed arrangement Gregory made last year with a Democrat that allegedly cost Republicans a chance to pass a voter ID requirement.

Unofficial Blair County results show Barger tallied 5,396 votes compared to Gregory’s 4,434. In Huntingdon County, the unofficial tally was Barger, 252, and Gregory, 215. The counting of mail-in and military ballots has yet to be completed.

“(In politics) what you think the future holds can change all the sudden,” Gregory said after most of his supporters had cleared out of a rented room at the Duncansville VFW. “I told myself whatever happens (tonight) I’m not going to be sad.”

His time as a pastor and his upbringing in a family that ran a succession of small businesses should equip him well to serve as a state representative, Barger said at his upbeat gathering at The Casino at Lakemont Park.

State Rep. Jim Gregory, R-Hollidaysburg, projects election results from his laptop computer during his election night gathering at Duncansville V.F.W. Post 8724. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

As a pastor, he was a “gatherer of people,” able to understand complicated issues and to articulate positions, and as a person familiar with business, he knows about the need to keep expenses low, to earn income and to pay the bills, he said.

As a potential lawmaker, pending the outcome of the general election in the heavily Republican

80th District, he plans to look for opportunities for reasonable compromise when necessary and to stand on principle when that is called for, he said.

Barger’s campaign took advantage of Gregory’s compromising in a risky situation that backfired, a situation that voters in the 80th District had no trouble understanding as a problem, he said.

It happened when the departures of a couple Democratic incumbents gave the Republicans a slim majority that was expected to be short-lived.

A volunteer walks among secured ballot boxes from Blair County’s 93 precincts that were delivered to Hollidaysburg’s highway yard after the polls were closed on Tuesday. Mirror photo by Rachel Foor

Gregory made a deal with Democratic Speaker Mark Rozzi that meant Rozzi would de-register as a Democrat and govern a tied House as an independent speaker — so that both could realize a long-held goal of undoing the statute of limitations on sexual assault.

Rozzi, however, didn’t follow through, which cost the Republicans their fleeting chance at their goal of enacting a law requiring that voters show identification before casting a ballot, Barger said.

Gregory might have intended his move as a heady political maneuver, but his constituents could see it as simply a bad idea, one that constituents could “sink their teeth into,” according to Barger.

Along with other votes that were not befitting a conservative, that deal amounted to a “betrayal,” according to an ad in last weekend’s Mirror, paid for by the Blair County Public Accountability PAC.

The deal turned out to be a mistake, but he forgave Rozzi within weeks, and Rozzi apologized, Gregory said.

Respecting that personal interaction, he refrained from hammering Rozzi in order to protect himself from the kind of blowback that ultimately resulted in his loss Tuesday, Gregory said.

He doesn’t regret that restraint, because that interaction with Rozzi — the grace he felt compelled to extend to him — was more important than losing his seat, Gregory said.

“I can’t live with resentments,” he said. “I hope that example can help others recognize how much better life is when we forgive.”

Regardless, he has “etched” his name in the history of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, like the names of hockey players who win the Stanley Cup are engraved on that trophy, he told his supporters, who had been glum, but who followed his concession speech with hugs and tears.

He’s proud of his fight against sex abuse in the Catholic Church and against the Game Commission’s idea of drastically culling the deer herd in Blair and Bedford counties, he said.

Barger ran a strong campaign, he added.

“I’m hoping and praying for the 80th District that you will see that what I had a chance to do, to improve Blair County, will be taken to the next level (by Barger),” he said.

Barger first considered running on the request of leaders who were concerned by the Rozzi affair, Barger said.

He didn’t announce until January, after he recognized “a path to victory,” he said.

His campaign succeeded in enlisting well-known names, including former State Rep. John Eichelberger, former State Rep. John McGinnis and former Blair County District Attorneys Bill Haberstroh and Dave Gorman.

The campaign succeeded also because of lots of knocking on doors and attending meetings, coupled with the easy-to-understand message, Barger said.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.

Unofficial voting results

The unofficial primary election results for Blair County show Scott Barger, with 5,396 votes, topping incumbent Jim Gregory, with 4,434 votes, for the 80th District seat. The 80th District also includes Huntingdon County, where Barger recorded 252 votes to Gregory’s 215, according to unofficial results.

The unofficial primary election results for Blair County, with 93 of 93 precincts reporting, are:

Democrat

President

Joseph R. Biden Jr. 3,461

Dean Phillips 462

United States Senator

Vote for 1

Robert P. Casey Jr. 3,563

Attorney General

Vote for 1

Jack Stollsteimer 334

Eugene DePasquale 2,284

Joe Khan 661

Keir Bradford-Grey 391

Jared Solomon 349

Auditor General

Vote for 1

Malcolm Kenyatta 1,897

Mark Pinsley 2,014

State Treasurer

Vote for 1

Ryan Bizzarro 1,152

Erin McClelland 2,851

Representative in Congress

13th Congressional District

Vote for 1

Beth Farnham 3,786

Republican

President

Nikki R. Haley 1,851

Donald J. Trump 13,903

United States Senator

Vote for 1

Dave McCormick 14,502

Attorney General

Vote for 1

Dave Sunday 10,642

Craig Williams 3,650

Auditor General

Vote for 1

Tim DeFoor 14,069

State Treasurer

Vote for 1

Stacy Garrity 14,267

Representative in Congress

13th Congressional District

Vote for 1

John Joyce 15,118

Representative in the General Assembly

79th District

Vote for 1

Lou Schmitt 5,886

Representative in the General Assembly

80th District

Vote for 1

Scott Barger 5,396

Jim Gregory 4,434

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