With a heavier than usual turnout Tuesday, primary election voters nominated candidates to succeed a retiring Beaver County state senator and a state legislator who is pursing a Senate seat.

Voters also nominated an incumbent Democratic legislator and the Republican who will be his opponent in November. Here's a recap of those races:

The contest to take the place of retiring Sen. Gerald LaValle will feature a young man and an Elder.

The young man is Sean Ramaley, 32, a state representative from Economy who is leaving his 16th District House seat to step up to the Senate. He won the Democratic nomination, beating Jason Petrella, of Monaca.

The Elder is actually not terribly old, either. Elder Vogel Jr., 51, a New Sewickley farmer, won the Republican nomination, defeating Jeff Harris, of New Sewickley.

He now faces the uphill battle faced by all Republicans running for state office in Beaver County. Jim Marshall did it in 2006, knocking off House Democratic Whip Mike Veon, but he was helped greatly by the fact that Veon was the point person for the hated legislative pay raise of 2005, and was the one lawmaker to vote against rescinding it.

But Mr. Vogel is not daunted; he thinks Beaver County Democrats tend to be fairly conservative, and also thinks that an increasingly cynical voting public may be ready to embrace what he offers.

"I want to restore character and integrity to the office," he said. And, he believes that people can see those qualities embodied in his life as a farmer, working land that has been in his family for a century and a half.

"A lot of people I talked to [Tuesday] said they were encouraged to have somebody honest and hard-working to vote for," Mr. Vogel said. "A number said they were just happy to be able to vote for a farmer."

Besides, he said, farmers have to have hope or they wouldn't be farmers.

"Every spring you plant your corn crop," he said. "If you didn't think it was going to grow, you wouldn't plant it."

Mr. Vogel will, of course, need more than down-home sayings to win in the fall: He wants to emphasize job creation, health care and infrastructure needs in the campaign, and expects to hone his message further as he goes.

Mr. Ramaley, meanwhile, survived a close race against Mr. Petrella, a political newcomer and a relative unknown. The state representative captured 53 percent of the vote.

One possible reason could be that there is little overlap between Mr. Ramaley's House District, which extends from the Ambridge area into Allegheny County as far east as Ross, and his prospective Senate District, which includes most of Beaver County and about the southern third of Lawrence County.

It might also be partly due to the late-breaking revelation that he had records subpoenaed in an investigation into campaign contributions made by a Poconos-region casino developer. There are allegations that the developer used other lawmaker's to funnel contributions to Mr. Veon while he was still in office.

Mr. Ramaley could not be reached for comment.

Mr. Vogel said he was aware of the reports, but said he couldn't comment until more information comes out. He said it's entirely possible that Mr. Ramaley's records will show he had nothing to do with any contribution scheme.

"For me to sit here and try to conjure up something would be ridiculous," he said.

-- Brian David

State Rep. Vince Biancucci said Wednesday that he believes the faith has been restored between himself and his constituents.

Two years ago, Mr. Biancucci -- a Democrat from Center -- squeezed out an 864-vote victory over Domenic Leone, a print shop owner from Hopewell. A third candidate got more than 1,300 votes, meaning Mr. Biancucci got less than 50 percent of the total votes.

It was quite a different story Tuesday night. Mr. Biancucci got almost 62 percent of the votes in a head-to-head rematch with Mr. Leone.

"I'm grateful that the people of the district regained their confidence in me," Mr. Biancucci said.

The 2006 election was, of course, colored by the legislative pay raise of 2005, which whipped voters into an anti-incumbent frenzy. Mr. Biancucci did not vote for the pay raise and did not accept the extra money lawmakers were given before the raise was rescinded.

But he also thinks he did a better job this time of getting his message out early, staying positive, running on his record and letting voters think for themselves.

"I was confident that if people looked at my record, looked at the ways I have served the district, they would support me," he said.

He plans more of the same for a general-election contest with Republican Beaver councilman Jim Christiana. The district is heavily Democratic, but Mr. Biancucci wants to keep his message in front of people.

"Good things are happening in Beaver County," he said. "They may not be happening at the rate we want them to, but they're happening."

Mr. Biancucci stressed his ongoing work on brownfields development during the primary campaign, along with his desire to keep at issues like health car and property tax reform. There has been talk of an ethanol plant on a brownfield site in Aliquippa.

He also stressed the teamwork that goes on among state and local officials. "I want to keep working together to make Beaver County a better place to live and work," he said.

Mr. Biancucci said the one disappointment he experienced in the campaign was the negative air he saw in Hopewell. "There's a certain element there that believes that if you are destructive you will get ahead," he said.

-- Brian David

The Harrisburg veteran overwhelmed the political newcomer for the Democratic nomination in the 16th state House race.

By a 3-2 margin, Rob Matzie, an aide to retiring state Sen. Gerald LaValle, defeated Donald Despines, a Norfolk Southern railroad engineer at the Conway Yard.

Mr. Matzie said his victory reflected the faith voters placed in his experience not only as a 13-year legislative aide but as onetime mayor in Ambridge. Ten or so years spent as a sports and talk show broadcaster on WMBA Radio in Ambridge and Aliquippa also helped.

"We stayed on message from Day One. We never wavered, always stayed positive," he said yesterday. "I think that was really understood by the voters."

Meanwhile, Mr. Despines was disappointed but not disillusioned, attributing the outcome to his competitor's backing from Democratic party organizations in both counties.

"He didn't outwork me, I can tell you that," he said, but "he had two parties behind him, you can't sneeze at that, you really can't. That was probably the difference."

Precinct-level organization was essential in the far-flung 16th, Mr. Matzie said, which resembles a crazy quilt of 13 towns in Allegheny and Beaver counties: Crescent, Leet, parts of Franklin Park and Ross, Bell Acres, Bellevue and Leetsdale in Allegheny; and in Beaver County, Aliquippa, Harmony, Ambridge, Baden, Conway and parts of Economy.

"One of the first things people in Ross told me is they have five legislators -- five. Half of them don't know who their representative is," Mr. Matzie said.

"It's not fair to Ross, it really isn't. They really cut up the district in 2000," he said, surmising that a more logical configuration could emerge from the next U.S. Census in 2010.

Both candidates are Democrats who are lifelong residents of Beaver County, Mr. Matzie in Ambridge and Mr. Despines in Economy. Roughly 50 percent more votes were cast in Beaver than in Allegheny.

There was no GOP candidate and fewer than 50 write-in votes, virtually assuring Mr. Matzie of victory in November.

Mr. Matzie, 39, held a commanding lead in both counties through the night, though the race initially seemed more competitive in the Beaver County precincts.

Mr. Despines, 30, held out hope that he would close the gap once the Beaver County results outpaced those being tallied in Allegheny, but that was not the case. In fact, the margin of victory in each county wound up being about the same.

Still, Mr. Despines thanked his 5,200-plus supporters who left him itching for a rematch.

"I guarantee you when I started this in mid-January people didn't even think I'd be in the running. In two years," he said, "all I can say is look out."

-- David Guo