Leslie Rossi, creator of Trump House, holds 2-1 margin in 59th District special election

Unofficial returns Wednesday showed Republican Leslie Rossi holding a 2-1 lead in the special election to fill a vacancy in the 59th legislative district, even as the final count for four of 41 precincts in Westmoreland County remained unreported.

Unofficial returns from the district that spans 42 precincts in eastern Westmoreland County and another 10 in western Somerset showed Rossi with 10,486 votes to 5,128 for Democrat Mariah Fisher. Libertarian Robb Luther was a distant third with 391 votes.

The election to fill the vacancy created by the Jan. 2 death of state Rep. Mike Reese, a rising GOP star just elected to a seventh term, marked the first time voters in district appear set to send a woman to the state House.

Fisher, 39, a Ligonier council member, faced an uphill battle. Republicans outnumber Democrats in the district and voters have elected Republicans to fill the seat for more than four decades.

Rossi, 50, a mother of eight, came onto the political scene in 2016 when she created the Trump House in Unity. Last year, she continued her role at the red, white and blue landmark on Route 982, near Youngstown, where she helped to register voters and promote Donald Trump’s reelection campaign with the thousands of visitors who trekked to the house with the giant cutout of Trump outside. She also served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention.

She works with her husband in her family’s development business, renovating homes in the Latrobe area.

She ran a self-funded campaign, reporting spending $42,500 as of May 3.