The race for Pennsylvania’s 11th congressional seat was one of the most closely watched this past election cycle. Lou Barletta, the mayor of Hazleton, was ahead in a number of polls right up to election day. He was predicted to defeat long-time incumbent Rep. Paul Kanjorski, a result that would have made Barletta one of the only Republicans to defeat a Democratic incumbent. But in a last minute upset, Kanjorski was swept back into office with a 52 percent majority, or about 10,000 votes. What happened?

Barletta, who had run against Kanjorski in 2002 and lost handily, had made a name for himself in the interim by fighting illegal immigration in his small, working-class city. In 2006, Barletta’s city council passed an ordinance barring landlords from renting to illegal immigrants or employers from hiring them. The ordinance was blocked in a federal court before it could be enforced, but Barletta’s vigorous and public defense of the policy gained him national attention.

Immigration has faded as an issue in Northeast Pennsylvania as it has almost everywhere else, but in this region economic anxieties about immigration had been more immediate. Latinos actually were moving into the area, and the steady supply of labor may have contributed to keeping wages down.

The sudden economic crisis a few weeks before the election was clearly a turning point in the Congressional race. Kanjorski, who sits on the House Financial Services Committee, was able to make a case for experience in dealing with fiscal matters. Despite taking donations over the years from the companies that were responsible for the sub prime mortgage crisis, the Democrat began to appear more useful than the less experienced Lou Barletta.

Barletta himself blames his defeat on the popularity Barack Obama, who beat Republican John McCain in Pennsylvania by almost 10 points. While Kanjorski lost in three of the five counties he represents, massive turnout for Obama, especially in Scranton, the district’s largest city, carried Kanjorski back into office via coattails. In one county, according to the Kanjorski lost in three of the five counties he represents, massive turnout for Obama, especially in Scranton, the district’s largest city, carried Kanjorski back into office via coattails. In one county, according to the Times-Leader, 60 percent of votes for Kanjorski were straight-party votes.

This explanation is true, but a deeper look offers more interesting indications about the future of Northeast Pennsylvania and regions like it. The Standard-Speaker reports high turnout among Latinos, the fastest-growing segment of the population. Latinos in Pennsylvania voted for Obama by an almost 3 to 1 ratio.

Amilcar Arroyo, editor of Hazleton’s Spanish-language newspaper, told News 21 last summer that he considers himself a Republican, and he and Barletta were friendly with each other despite the illegal immigration controversy. But Latino voters saw Barletta as a one-issue candidate, Arroyo said, and that issue was in stark opposition to their interests. As Arroyo said in an email after the election, “The result of his speeches about his only issue woke up the Latinos and they went to vote for Kanjorski.”

Latino voters did not hand Kanjorski the election. (They make up only 4 percent of the Pennsylvania electorate, and probably not much more even in this area.) But that they did vote for a Democratic president and against a candidate perceived as anti-immigration suggests that Barletta might want to remake his image should he run again in 2010. With immigrants voting, the anti-immigration strategy will no longer have surefire populist appeal.

Regardless of what happens with immigration, keep an eye on Lou Barletta. As he told the Times-Leader, “One thing for sure, Lou Barletta will not fade quietly into the night.”

(AP Photos)