Tom Houghton

In 2002, Houghton was elected to the London Grove Township Board of Supervisors.[4] He served as chairman of that body for several years.[3]

Houghton first ran for the 13th district seat in 2006. He was defeated by Republican incumbent Art Hershey by 1,800 votes.[5]

On November 4, 2008, he was elected to the State House, succeeding Hershey, who had declined to run for reelection. He defeated his main opponent, John Lawrence, by a margin of 47.5% to 46.4%.[6]

Houghton's original opponent, Curtis Mason, was forced to drop out of the race. In the end, he narrowly defeated his opponent in a count that stretched into the morning following election day.

In the 2010 election, Houghton was defeated by over 2,000 (over 10%) votes by his opponent from two years prior, John Lawrence.

Houghton served on the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, as well as the Children and Youth, Environmental Resources and Energy and the Local Government Committees. He was also appointed to the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee by the Speaker of the House.[3]

Houghton originally announced his intention to challenge Republican State Senate Majority Leader Dominic Pileggi in 2012. However, due to redistricting, Houghton's home was drawn out of Pileggi's 9th District seat, and moved into the 19th District, currently represented by Democrat Andy Dinniman. Houghton subsequently announced his intention to challenge Dinniman in the Democratic primary.[7] Houghton ran for Congress in 2014, challenging Republican incumbent Joe Pitts in Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district.[8][9]