Two years after a narrow loss in the Republican primary, Dave Nissley scored a dominating victory Tuesday in the 100th House District, defeating a candidate backed by the incumbent, state Rep. Bryan Cutler of Peach Bottom.
On Tuesday, Nissley captured a majority of votes in nearly every voting precinct in the district, which spans Lancaster County’s southern end up to White Horse in the eastern side of the county. Overall, he secured 3,733 votes, or 56% — up 10 percentage points from his performance in 2024.
In 2024, Nissley won seven of the district’s 20 precincts. But on Tuesday he won all but three precincts; Osborne won two, Drumore and East Drumore, and the candidates tied in one – Providence Township’s West precinct.
The Republican Committee of Lancaster County did not endorse Nissley, 53, or his opponent, Kelly Osborne, a retired state trooper in Strasburg Township. To some party insiders, Osborne appeared to have a big advantage in the race — the support of Cutler, a 10-term House veteran who has been a dominant force in GOP politics in the county’s southern half for two decades.
Cutler sent letters across the district urging voters to back Osborne, 55, who currently serves as a Lampeter-Strasburg school board member.
But Cutler’s endorsement only gave Osborne a leg up in the Drumore area, including the incumbent’s home precinct where he was stationed for much of Election Day. There, Osborne won 65% of the vote.
In her own home precinct in Strasburg Township, however, she carried just 43% of the vote. In comparison, Nissley got 64% of the vote in his home precinct in Sadsbury Township.
Osborne did not respond to a request for comment about precinct-level results, though she conceded the race Wednesday in a statement and congratulated Nissley.
“I am deeply grateful to every volunteer, supporter, friend, and voter who stood beside me throughout this campaign. This experience has strengthened my love for our community and my belief that public service matters,” she said. “Though the election has ended, my commitment to our district, our conservative values, and the people who call this community home will continue.”
‘Engaged’ volunteers
Of his win, Nissley said he took important lessons away from the 2024 campaign.
Name recognition, he said, played an important part in the results, though he attributed much of his success to grassroots campaigning by an army of volunteers who supported him in 2024. He focused efforts on bringing in volunteers who were “actively engaged” in their communities to rely on the trust they have built with their neighbors.
“All politics are local,” Nissley said. “The way that shows up in an actual campaign is your best team members are your hard-working team members who have an influence in their respective domains.”
A group of around 50 people gathered at the Twin Brook Retreat in Gap Tuesday night to celebrate Nissley’s victory, including family members and elected officials from other parts of the county. Nissley said the majority of attendees, if not all, were volunteers on his campaign.
He said the campaign ramped up door-knocking efforts in those precincts he performed the worst in 2024, namely Fulton Township, where Cutler had trounced him with 71% of the vote. The door-to-door strategy appeared to pay off this year — 51% of Fulton Township voters voted Nissley on Tuesday.
Salisbury Township, which abuts Sadsbury, proved to be Nissley’s best performing area: He earned 74% and 71% of the votes in the township’s two voting precincts.
State Rep. Dave Zimmerman, who represents the neighboring 99th House District, greeted voters at township polling places to help Nissley’s campaign. Salisbury Township formerly was included in the 99th, so Zimmerman was able to pitch Nissley to his own former supporters.
County Commissioner Josh Parsons also supported Nissley, donating to his campaign and speaking at fundraisers for him alongside state Reps. David Rowe, R-Union, and Mike Jones, R-York, giving him another leg up.
Outside influence
Scott Frantz, the Solanco-area GOP committee chairman, said mailers sent by groups outside of Lancaster County could have influenced Tuesday’s results. Some voters, he said, just don’t have the time or ability to read up on all of the candidates or issues in the race and could be very influenced by political mailers.
Two political action committees — Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania and Make Liberty Win — paid for mailers sent to district Republicans touting Nissley, calling him a “Second Amendment champion” and a “true patriot.”
While Nissley said he was not in communication with the PACs, he’s positive they helped out with his win.
“It was reassuring to see some of those extra mailers in the weeks leading up to the election,” he said.
Barrett Young, chair of Make Liberty Win, said the PAC sent out six rounds of mailers, with recipients receiving follow up text messages and live calls to create momentum for Nissley. The mailers used eye-catching colors and weird images, like a bear, to stand out more. The hope, Young said, was to ensure voters remembered Nissley’s name when they went to the polls.
Make Liberty Win PAC calls Dave Nissley, a Republican candidate for the 100th House District, a “true patriot” in a campaign mailer.
“People will always prefer the devil they know versus the devil they don’t know,” he said.
Frantz, who lost his own race for reelection to the committee, supported Osborne, saying her experience as a former trooper and a current school board member made her more qualified for the job. “Kelly ran a decent campaign,” he said.
Several outside, conservative groups that supported Nissley two years ago did not play a significant role in this year’s race, including Berks County Patriots and the PA Patriots Coalition. Some Osborne supporters on Tuesday said they were concerned Nissley leaned too far right, but Nissley said he didn’t deliberately distance himself from the groups.
Instead, Nissley said the 2024 race against Cutler was driven by different dynamics. Those groups, he noted, were out to defeat Cutler, not to support him.
Some far-right activists became disgruntled with Cutler in the aftermath of the 2020 presidential election, when President Donald Trump asked Cutler, then the state House speaker, to use his authority to help flip Pennsylvania’s electoral votes from Joe Biden to Trump.
“(For those groups), it was a referendum against Bryan Cutler, and here’s Dave Nissley running against him,” Nissley said.
