SUNBURY — Antonio Michetti will again seek to unseat 14-term incumbent Merle Phillips as state representative for the 108th Legislative District on Nov. 4.

Michetti, a 28-year-old Democrat from Jackson Township, Northumberland County, ran against the 79-year-old Phillips in 2006, earning only 25 percent of the vote.

But Michetti says he wasn’t discouraged by the lopsided loss.

“I was actually energized,” he said. “There was 20 percent out there looking for change. We’re going to build on that and hopefully come out the majority in this election.”

Michetti is an attorney with the law offices of Dluge and Michetti in Elysburg. He graduated from Line Mountain High School in 1997 and maintains a registered nursing license, working in the past for the Select Specialty Hospital at Geisinger Medical Center and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia.

Both Michetti and Phillips said recently they would make economic development and job growth priorities if elected.

Michetti said improving the region’s infrastructure and promoting alternative energy resources would help stimulate the economy and create jobs, while Phillips said businesses in Pennsylvania are overregulated.

Phillips also said he’s looking to make the five-county area — Northumberland, Montour, Union, Snyder and Columbia counties — part of the state’s Heritage Park program, which provides money to the region to promote tourism.

Both candidates are eager to revive the Central Susquehanna Valley Thruway Project and oppose the tolling of Interstate 80, advocating instead the leasing of the Pennsylvania Turnpike as a source of alternative revenue for infrastructure improvement.

Phillips and Michetti also encouraged tighter spending and across-the-board budget cuts to reduce the state deficit for next year.

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