A Lower Paxton Township Democrat is vying for write-in votes in the race for the state's 15th Senate District, an open seat with incumbent Sen. Jeff Piccola deciding not to seek re-election.

Alvin Q. Taylor, 58, lost his race for a ballot position to fellow Democrat Rob Teplitz in the April primary. But Taylor said the 261-vote spread shows he's a contender.

Teplitz took 7,509 votes from York and Dauphin counties, compared to Taylor's 7,248 votes.

Taylor said he launched the write-in campaign because he feels Teplitz and John McNally, a Harrisburg attorney who won the Republican primary, are "party puppets" who wouldn't represent the people as well as he would.

A former chaplain, Taylor said he works as a consultant to religious organizations and runs a counseling service for veterans.

Taylor's top priority as a legislator would be increasing funding for education, which he said has suffered under Gov. Tom Corbett.

He said education revenue could grow through creation of dedicated funding streams, such as a lottery program through which scratch-off ticket proceeds would go to schools.

Taylor would be in favor of taxing extraction of natural gas from the state's Marcellus Shale formation; he would distribute proceeds equally to all counties instead of favoring areas where drilling is being conducted, he said.

He would work with the federal government to implement the Affordable Care Act, which he said is necessary to help middle class Pennsylvanians stay in the middle class.

Other areas of interest include protecting the environment and enhancing services for veterans, he said.

- Reach Christina Kauffman at ckauffman@yorkdispatch.com.