John Jenkins, the Republican candidate challenging State Representative Christine Tartaglione, spoke to AL DÍA News moments before the polls closed on election day.

On voter turnout

"It's been busier than in the last couple elections. I think is better than is been, especially in primaries, but not nearly as big as presidential election."

Jenkins voted at Mayfair Elementary School at 7:15 in the morning. He was around the 29th person to sign in, he said, and reported a good amount of people ahead.

On running for office

"It was different. I’ve been moving around and moving around in different places, meeting different people. I hope to continue and learn more about this and figure out exactly what it is that I want to do. And continue to be involved in the political process," Jenkins said. "Maybe not as candidate for a while but to just get involve in politics more. Is been enjoyable, it's been fun. I just have to make sure I  professionalize it more."

Why he is not super optimistic about winning

"Basically, what I am thinking is that the district is very heavily Democrat just like the rest of Philadelphia and to think that [...] I am trying to pull as many voters as I can but it's a large district," Jenkins said. "If Democrat machines do half a good job or even a bad job it still would be a tough race. There are not enough Republicans in the city and I don’t see too many people crossing party lines."

His take on his party

"The Republican party has been great in Philadelphia. John Taylor as chairman and Jodi Fleece as the director — they’ve done a great job. They’ve been really good candidates all over the place."

On his opponent

"[Tartaglione] is an established veteran senator and I guess incumbency really plays a role. I know in this neighborhood, where she’s represented for a number of years, she is not around and she has never been around. So I hope to see some changes about that," Jenkins said. "This is Philadelphia and people vote for their party. Sen. Tartaglione has a brother-in-law who is a very good ward leader. He still has a lot of pull and he can still pull people out of the house to vote. It's a political family, and she knows what she is doing. They got a nice machine and I understand that."

"My message for her would be, I’ve heard good things about her in the past, and I hope that she is able to take the new parts of her district and treat them just as well as she has treated other parts of her district. She doesn’t have to stay in the southern part of the district all the time. She should come up North and visit us once in a while — not just on election day."