Democratic incumbent state Rep. Frank Burns, D-Johnstown, appears to be heading into his eighth term in office after unofficial election results showed him leading Republican challenger Renae Billow, 14,060 votes (54%) to Billow’s 11,757 (45.54%).

Although Cambria County unofficial election results were showing Burns had fallen behind by 520 votes earlier Tuesday night, those numbers didn’t include absentee and mail-in ballot totals.

With 100% of the precincts reporting in-person votes, Burns, with 10,189 votes, was trailing Billow, who had 10,709 votes.

Mail-in ballots, which were leaning largely toward Democrats, put Burns ahead of Billow early this morning.

This was Billow’s first run for an elected position.