Despite controversy, accusations of corruption and calls for voters to chuck him from office, state Rep. Bill DeWeese, D-Waynesburg, proved again last week that he is a survivor.

Mr. DeWeese, state House majority leader, defeated Republican challenger Greg Hopkins for the second time in as many elections.

As in 2006, Mr. DeWeese, 58, lost his native Greene County to Mr. Hopkins, but his majority vote totals in Fayette and Washington counties carried him to victory again.

Unofficial results show Mr. DeWeese with 12,523 votes to Mr. Hopkins' 10,413 votes.

Voters in the 50th Legislative District apparently were unswayed by Mr. DeWeese's link to a scandal involving taxpayer-funded bonuses that some say were paid to Democratic House staff members for political work.

Twelve people, including Mr. DeWeese's former chief of staff Mike Manzo, have been charged in the scandal. Mr. Manzo implicated Mr. DeWeese in the scheme, but the 32-year incumbent said he was unaware of the nature of the bonuses.

Mr. Hopkins, 36, a former Arena Football League player from Nineveh, Greene County, maintained Mr. DeWeese knew, or should have known, about the bonuses. He questioned Mr. DeWeese's integrity and honesty in television and radio commercials.

Mr. DeWeese, who sponsored a number of negative ads against Mr. Hopkins, said Tuesday his opponent was wrong to run an "ugly, filthy, dirty campaign," inferring that he was corrupt.

Mr. DeWeese said he was investigated for nearly two years and that investigators are now targeting state Republican House and Senate members.

But Mr. Hopkins said his opponent was never cleared of wrongdoing and that he was simply pointing to material that was part of the public record. He said he's unsure if he will challenge Mr. DeWeese again.

"We're proud of the campaign and what we accomplished," Mr. Hopkins said. "It's in the courts. He hasn't been cleared of anything -- it's still under investigation."

The two men fought another tough battle two years ago, when Mr. Hopkins nearly toppled Mr. DeWeese over anger about the 2005 pay raise.

Though some slammed doors in his face, voters forgave Mr. DeWeese, one of the engineers of the later-rescinded raises.

"The issue in that district was very simple and direct," said Dr. Joseph DiSarro, chairman of the political science department at Washington and Jefferson College.

"The issue there was seniority and bringing state aid into the district. Voters are realistic and in the 50th District, they voted their economic interest, they weren't really concerned with ethical interests."

The economic downturn probably helped Mr. DeWeese, Dr. DiSarro said, and Mr. DeWeese said he thought union support helped put him over the top.

"I could never have won this without the [United Mine Workers of America]," Mr. DeWeese said. "They knocked on nearly 10,000 doors."

Top among his priorities in the next legislative session, he said, will be deep mine safety, clean coal technology, property tax relief and finding a way to generate state revenue from the hundreds of new natural gas wells being drilled in Greene County.

"My shoulder will be to the wheel," he said.