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Real estate attorney sets sights on Pa. Senate seat

2 min read
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A North Strabane Township attorney is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 46th District seat in the state Senate.

James Craig, 29, has declared his bid to represent the district, which represents most of Washington County, all of Greene and a strip of southern Beaver.

Craig, who graduated from McGuffey High School in 2007, completed law school at the University of Pittsburgh in 2014, according to a campaign biography. State records show he was admitted to the bar that year.

He owns a real estate law practice, Close to Home Settlement Services LLC.

In a statement circulated by his campaign, Craig vowed to fight “to improve our public education system, create jobs and training programs that lead to sustainable employment, and provide relief from the crushing tax burden placed on property owners by drastically changing how we fund our public schools and passing legislation that eliminates property taxes on our senior citizens.”

His wife, Melissa, is a family mental health counselor.

Incumbent Camera Bartolotta, a Republican from Monongahela, has held the seat since 2015.

The primaries will be held May 15.

Craig plans to hold a free “campaign kickoff” event at Washington Brewery, 28 E. Maiden St., from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m. Monday.

In discussing his reasons for running, Craig also pointed to his own family’s struggles with poverty and opioid addiction.

He said his mother died of an overdose of prescription painkillers in 2014 and that fentanyl-laced heroin claimed his brother’s life in 2016.

“Having learned firsthand about our dangerous opioid epidemic and the enormous toll it takes on the family and community, I am committed to taking immediate and decisive action to end the opioid crisis,” he said.

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