Critz defending W.Pa. congressional seat yet again

** HOLD FOR STORY BY JOE MANDAK** In this photo from October 10, 2012, Rep. Mark Critz, D-Pa., left, and republican candidate Keith Rothfus debate at Penn State Beaver campus in Beaver, Pa. Critz is fighting against Rothfus, a candidate strongly backed by the national GOP, to keep the seat in a redrawn western Pennsylvania district that still has a majority of registered Democrats, but which nonetheless tends to vote Republican.

PITTSBURGH — Democrat U.S. Rep. Mark Critz has spent much of his two-plus years in Congress fighting to keep the seat he took over after his former boss, the powerful John Murtha, died in office in 2010.

After winning a special election and another for a full term that year, Critz had to beat another Democrat in this year's primary after Republican-controlled redistricting combined their turf.

Now Critz is fighting to keep the seat in a redrawn 12th District that tends to vote Republican despite containing a slim majority of registered Democrats.

His opponent is Keith Rothfus, a corporate attorney backed by the national party and conservative groups. Their campaign is filling Pittsburgh-area TV stations with ads touting each candidate's conservative credentials, and their differences on health care and free trade.

Next Up In U.S. and world

Fed raises interest rates by 0.5%, the highest rise since 2000

Here are the 14 inductees for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Why was President Biden talking about Utah’s 2002 Winter Games at the White House?

CDC reinstates mask recommendation for planes, trains

While U.S. hits new job quitting record, this man set his own record — 84 years at the same company

The U.S. housing market is historically overvalued. Moody’s says these cities may see prices drop up to 10%