Voters in the 46th District sent Democrat Jesse White to the state House in 2006, and in the past two years he has proved that he understands why they elected him and what they want him to do.

Mr. White, a 30-year-old lawyer from Cecil, entered the Capitol in a surge of 55 new members, many of them selected in the fallout over legislators' short-lived 2005 attempt to raise their pay in the middle of a July night.

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Incumbent Democrat Jesse White and Republican challenger Frank Yuvan talk about their campaigns for the 46th District seat in the state House of Representatives.

• Jesse White
• Frank Yuvan

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He puts his accomplishments in two categories: changes made in Harrisburg and those implemented in his district, which includes McDonald, Oakdale and South Fayette in Allegheny County; 18 municipalities in northern and western Washington County; and Hanover and Frankfort Springs in Beaver County.

He correctly points out that the freshman class of 2006 was a driving force for changes that included abolishing late-night sessions and making legislative votes available online. He voted in favor of the Pennsylvania Access to Basic Care plan, which would have extended health coverage to thousands of citizens, and says he will push the measure again if re-elected because it failed in the Senate after adoption by the House.

At home, Mr. White opened three small district offices rather than one large one to make it easier for people who need state services to get them, a smart step in the 400-square-mile district. He keeps his constituents informed by writing a blog and contributing a column to a community newspaper.

Mr. White was out ahead of many Democratic colleagues in August when he called for House Majority Leader Bill DeWeese to step down from leadership, and he favors the use of state programs to encourage smart development and job creation. While we part company with Mr. White on some issues -- his opposition to gun-control measures, his support for term limits on lawmakers and his position that all property taxes can be replaced by other state levies -- his Republican challenger offers little in the way of realistic remedies.

Frank Yuvan, 26, of Canton owns a comic-book store in Washington, Pa., and works at martial arts schools in that city and in McMurray. Earnest and direct, he shares Mr. White's views on guns but has very different ideas about where state government should be spending money.

He believes that too much goes to incentives for businesses, which he repeatedly described as "corporate welfare" during a joint interview with Mr. White and Post-Gazette editorial board members. For example, Mr. Yuvan says he would have opposed the state providing $30 million to PNC Financial Services Group to support construction of the $200 million Three PNC Plaza project now being built Downtown, even if that might have risked job losses had the bank moved employees elsewhere.

He believes eliminating such economic development spending, as well as fat in the state's budget, will save enough money to pay for state roads and bridges and to fund education at a higher rate so property taxes can be reduced. We think that's beyond unlikely.

Voters in the district sent a clear thinker to Harrisburg two years ago, and Mr. White's support for further reform is genuine and unapologetic, evidenced by a story he shared during the interview. He said a fellow legislator, unhappy with some of the changes, told him, "This place just isn't nearly as much fun as it used to be."

Legislators aren't sent to Harrisburg to have fun, and Mr. White understands that. Because he is willing to get down to business, Jesse White deserves the Post-Gazette's endorsement for a second term.