It was an early night in the race for District 42 seat in the state House of Representatives.

Freshman incumbent Matt Smith of Mt. Lebanon, 36, took the election with roughly 65 percent of the vote over challenger Jim Blazeck, according to unofficial results.

"By 9:30, 10 o'clock it was obvious Matt had won. I called him and congratulated him, then I just went home after that," said Mr. Blazeck, 56, of Mt. Lebanon.

Members of the Republican Party had gathered at an Italian restaurant after the polls closed Tuesday. A laptop with updated results projected the figures on a big screen, but the news wasn't good.

By contrast, there was a good deal of cheering down the street from the Obama headquarters in Mt. Lebanon.

Stationed throughout a large pub, Mr. Smith's supporters watched the national returns on television.

Shortly before 10 p.m. and his re-election secure, he stood on a chair and addressed the crowd.

"This is a great night for our team, for Barack Obama, the whole ticket," he said, his wife, Eileen, and young daughter, Delaney, nearby.

"We are going to change America, change Pennsylvania," added Mr. Smith, who has been a keen proponent of transparency in government and cutting the legislative budget.

For Mr. Blazeck, an engineer, it was work as usual yesterday. He arrived by 7 a.m. at his job.

He said he hasn't ruled out the possibility of running for office again. His previous experience was four years on the Mt. Lebanon school board, with a campaign that cost less than $1,000.

Recruited by the party to run against Mr. Smith late in the game, he discovered there were some big differences.

"The [financial] numbers for this are just so big, you don't get your head around that when you just start out," Mr. Blazeck said.

Filing deadline for candidacy was Feb. 12; he was approached just weeks before and scrambled to acquire the necessary signatures.

"I needed $20,000 by then and was already so far behind the eight-ball. It's difficult to imagine any different outcome than the one that occurred."

The best thing about his first foray into big-time politics, he said, "was getting to work with the people in the party.