FILE – Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg, Pa., on April 4, 2022. Pennsylvania voters on Tuesday, Nov. 8, will send dozens of new representatives and senators to the Legislature, thanks to a slew of retirements and new district maps that were revamped by the state’s redistricting commission. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Republicans are declaring victory in a special election for a vacant state Senate seat in a heavily Republican district in northern Pennsylvania. The Republican candidate, state Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver, led Democrat Patricia Lawton in preliminary returns from Tuesday’s special election by more than a two-to-one margin. Senate Republican leaders say Culver will be sworn in to the Senate in late February and bring the 50-seat chamber to a full complement with a 28-22 Republican majority. Culver is serving her seventh term in the state House of Representatives from Northumberland County. The Senate seat covers Columbia, Montour, Northumberland and Snyder counties, and part of Luzerne County. Her term would last until Nov. 30, 2024.