Pennsylvania State Rep. Mike Zabel (D) announced on March 8 that he would resign from the legislature on March 16. Earlier this month, three women—State Rep. Abby Major (R), Zabel’s former campaign manager, and a lobbyist—each accused Zabel of sexually harassing them in separate incidents over the past several years.
In a series of text messages to the Associated Press after announcing his resignation, Zabel wrote, “Allegations of this nature are impossible to litigate in a public forum. It was always my intention to go through the Ethics Committee process and defend myself there. At this point, though, I am unwilling to put my loved ones through any more of this.”
After Zabel’s resignation, the partisan control of the Pennsylvania House will be 101 Democrats and 100 Republicans, with two vacancies. The other open district was last represented by Lynda Schlegel Culver (R), who won a special election to the state Senate on Jan. 31. State House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D) had set the special election for Schlegel Culver’s district for May 16th, which is the date of Pennsylvania’s statewide judicial primary. Steve Ulrich of Politics PA wrote that “The March 16 effective date of [Zabel’s]…resignation provides McClinton with the minimum 60 days needed to call for a special election for May 16.”
