HARRISBURG -- State House Democratic leader H. William DeWeese said today he's confident that Democrats will control the House by a slim 102-101 margin when the new Legislature takes office Jan. 2.

He based his prediction on the outcome of a House race in Chester County, which was won by the Democratic candidate today.

If the unofficial results in the 156th District race in Chester County are made final, and if there are no successful court challenges by Republicans, it would be the first time that Democrats have run the House since 1994.

Chester County officials today tallied about 300 absentee ballots that had been uncounted since the night of Nov. 7 and determined that the Republican candidate in the 156th District, Shannon Royer, lost to Democratic challenger Barbara Smith, by a mere 23 votes, said Mr. DeWeese, who is in line to become the next House speaker.

"I am satisfied that the vote count in Chester County was rigorously done and done with exactitude,'' Mr. DeWeese told reporters at the Capitol. "I laud those officials for doing their job with rectitude. I am confident tht we will launch on Jan. 2 with 102 Democratic votes. I will be a candidate for speaker.''

Ms. Smith had 11,614 votes compared to Mr. Royer's 11,591. There were still 11 provisional ballots left to tally but not enough to change the outcome. Democrats said those 11 votes were from Democratic-registered voters and were being challenged by Republicans.

Mr. DeWeese said he sees no basis for a court challenge to the results by the GOP. Mr. DeWeese said one of his first tasks as speaker will be to work with Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell for property tax relief for middle income homeowners. Mr. DeWeese suggested an increase in the sales tax to 6.5 percent or 7 percent as his favored way to raise the revenue needed to lower property taxes. "I think a lot of people would embrace that,'' he said.

Before the Chester County absentee ballots were counted today, Mr. Royer had been leading Ms. Smith by 19 votes, and Republican officials had thought he would hang on to victory.

Earlier today, in another contested House race in Chester County, GOP candidate Duane Milne defeated Democrat Anne Crowley in the 167th House District. That put the outcome at 101-101, a tie that was broken by Ms. Smith's victory for the Democrats.

If the Democratic victory holds up -- and Republicans haven't ruled out court challenges -- it means that Philadelphia Republican John Perzel would no longer be speaker. He would likely be replaced by Mr. DeWeese of Waynesburg, who held the speaker's post in 1993-94 before the GOP took over in early 1995.

In the Nov. 7 election, state Democrats notably improved their standing for the 2007-08 session. They had trailed the GOP by a margin of 109-94 in the 2005-06 session, which officially ends Thursday. Democrats had high hopes of winning control of the state House this year, given some voters' disaffection with President Bush and the war in Iraq. Democrats nationally took control of both chambers of the U.S. Congress.

Republicans will continue to control the state Senate by a 29-21 margin in the next session.

More details in tomorrow's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.