A preliminary count of provisional ballots Friday in the race for Pennsylvania’s 41st House District put Democrat Brad Chambers ahead of incumbent Republican Brett Miller.
When polls closed on Election Night, Miller held a 41-vote advantage over Chambers, 14,225 to 14,184.
After adding 139 provisional votes to the tally Friday, Chambers led the contest 14,289 to 14,259.
Seven provisional ballots were challenged, and 14 overseas or military ballots are outstanding and have until Tuesday to arrive to be counted.
Chambers’ 30-vote margin appears to be insurmountable, meaning Democrats will add a third House seat in Lancaster County and grow their state House majority to at least 112.
Two members of the Ziegler family have stepped away from Columbia’s government bodies within weeks of each other, leaving one vacancy on the Columbia Borough School Board and, pending a vote, another on Borough Council.
School Board
Thomas G. Ziegler’s resignation from the school board was approved and took effect October 9. He was appointed to the board in December 2025, according to the district’s website. His brief letter to the board gave no reason for leaving.
Thomas G. Ziegler
The school board must try to fill its vacancy within 30 days to comply with state law, according to the board’s website. (Letters of interest for the school board seat were due on Thursday, October 29.) The board plans to interview interested community members at a committee meeting Thursday, November 5.
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Borough Council
Thomas J. Ziegler
Councilman Thomas J. Ziegler, his son, has also resigned — from borough council — Columbia Spy reported October 29. Ziegler, a Republican, won a council seat in the November 4, 2025, municipal election and was sworn in January 5, 2026.
Council is scheduled to vote on the resignation Thursday, November 5, according to council’s workshop agenda. Council members then have 30 days to appoint a replacement by resolution at a public meeting.
An appointee must be a registered voter in the borough and must have lived in the borough continuously for at least a year immediately before the appointment. For more information, contact borough hall at 308 Locust Street, or call 717-684-2467.
Democrat Brad Chambers has garnered national attention in his second attempt to unseat Brett Miller, the six-term Republican incumbent representing Pennsylvania’s 41st House District.
Chambers, a labor administrator from Columbia, picked up an endorsement from Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the spring and got a nod from national party leaders who labeled the legislative race a “target” because of high hopes the seat would turn blue.
The 35-year-old has also secured campaign donations from across the country, including a $1,500 contribution from the CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, Thomas Rothman. As of Oct. 19, Chambers had raised more than three times as much money as Miller.
Columbia Borough Councilman Thomas “Tom” Ziegler has resigned from council — less than a year after taking office — Columbia Spy learned today from a borough official.
Ziegler, a Republican, won a seat in the municipal election on November 4, 2025, receiving 1,094 votes. He was sworn in at council’s organizational meeting on January 5, 2026, with District Justice Miles Bixler administering the oath of office.
On council, Ziegler served as the Public Safety Lead. He is a retired West Hempfield police detective.
The reason for Ziegler’s resignation was not immediately available. It was also unclear when the resignation takes effect or how council will fill the vacancy.
This is a developing story, and this article will be updated as more information becomes available.
At Tuesday’s Borough Council meeting, residents praised Police Chief Holly Arndt, pressed for answers about the thousands of dollars in coins stored in the police evidence room, and criticized the lack of communication between the police department and borough government.
Thompson: . . . an understaffed department with inadequate administrative support, no policy and procedure, and serious gaps in legal guidance.
Much of the discussion centered on Arndt’s October 13 statements to council. Resident Robert Thompson said Arndt described an understaffed department with inadequate administrative support, no policy and procedure, and serious gaps in legal guidance. He said she also flagged parking revenue stored in the evidence room and a police checking account that dropped off the borough’s books in 2021.
Thompson said the account dated to the period when Jack Brommer was police chief and Leo Lutz was mayor. Arndt, he said, told council she would not use the account until it was audited. “And thank God for her good judgment,” he said.
Thompson asked each council member to commit on the record to oppose retaliation against Arndt, and urged council to give her “the authority, the staffing, the professional support needed to address the problems she reported.” He said state law places the police department under the mayor’s direction. He added that the manager’s office “carries its own duty to provide responsible police leadership and I believe budgetary oversight.” He called for Lutz’s resignation.
Evidence-room coins
Sweigart: “Coins collected for the borough belong in the borough bank account, not an evidence locker.”
Jesse Sweigart, editor of the Columbia Chronicle, said Arndt told him 21 bags of parking-enforcement coins were in the evidence room. He estimated each held about $1,000.
“Coins collected for the borough belong in the borough bank account, not an evidence locker,” Sweigart said. He also said Arndt took over a police bank account “with no record of where it came from and what it was used for,” and requested an audit that he said had not occurred.
Sweigart said released records show police radios that don’t work, a license plate reader shut off after its subscription lapsed, and body-camera storage 92 percent full. He said Arndt wrote that the signed copy of her own contract was held by the borough manager and never given to her. He added that Brommer served as both police chief and interim manager for eight months.
“To be fair, none of this proves anyone stole anything,” Sweigart said, “but it shows money and records that no one outside of the building has checked.” He called on council to refer the coins and the police account to the Lancaster County District Attorney.
Doutrich: “We must have a lot of money if we can let it sit around like that. It could be in the bank maybe working for us.”
Resident Frank Doutrich asked whether the coins were still at the station. Council President Eric Kauffman said they were, adding that parking enforcement collects the coins, but the bank does not accept them, so the borough arranged for an armored-car company to pick them up. “Loomis said it’s out of their norm to do that but they are scheduling a truck,” Kauffman said, and that Arndt is aware of the situation.
“We must have a lot of money if we can let it sit around like that,” Doutrich said. “It could be in the bank maybe working for us.”
Communication and policy
Robinson: The police station and borough building are literally connected, but “they don’t communicate.”
Resident Rob Robinson said the police station and borough building are literally connected, but “they don’t communicate.” He said police staff told him there are “underlying problems within the community’s leaders.”
Robinson said he has called police more than 20 times about noisy neighbors, and others have called 10 to 12 times. A second-in-command at the department told him to keep calling, he said. Councilman Ethan Byers explained that repeat calls create the record needed for the borough’s three-strikes disruptive-conduct process, in which police reports go to the codes department, which writes to the landlord.
Frederick: Things “may not have been done perfectly to ensure that there is a smooth transition into the new police chief.”
Resident Scott Frederick said he had supported Brommer “as of the PD.” He said he later learned Brommer “was a little lax” with police policies, and that things “may not have been done perfectly to ensure that there is a smooth transition into the new police chief.”
Another resident, Keith Williams, apologized for saying at the October 13 meeting that no officers had shown up to a call on October 12. “Yes, they were,” he said.
Complaints of inaction
Mascia: “None of the police would take a police report.”
Resident Julie Lynn Mascia said police have not responded to a long-running dispute involving a protection-from-abuse order. “The police won’t investigate anything,” she said, and “none of the police would take a police report.” She also said she had gone to a detective repeatedly without result. She said she has evidence against three officers but did not name them.
Lutz and Arndt were not present at the meeting. Kauffman said Lutz was hunting and Arndt was on vacation.
