John Peterson is the incumbent Republican candidate for the 5th District of the U.S. Congress.

Peterson served in the U.S. Army and served on his hometown of Titusville's Borough Council before he was elected into the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1977.

For 12 years, he was a member of the Pennsylvania Senate, where he was a chairman for the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee. He also is on the Republican Policy Committee.

While serving in the legislature, he created Higher Education Councils, which allow students to take courses in their communities through participating universities and enables them to obtain degrees ranging from GEDs to MBAs.

For his work to develop home health care, Peterson was named the 1998 Legislator of the Year by the Pennsylvania Association of Home Health Agencies.

Peterson is also a Penn State graduate.

Tom Martin is the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Congress in the state's 5th District. Martin likes to spread the catch phrase, "A just government respects the rights of all people equally, grants special favors to none."

Martin, who said he believes Social Security and the federal debt are the country's worst problems, is running on an economically-oriented platform. Martin said he believes in a smaller government with less regulation. Martin said the two major parties are and allowing the federal treasury status to reach junk status. He said third-party candidates have to go through extra steps to get on the ballot and intends, if elected, to work toward enforcing the equality laws that are already in state legislation.

Martin said he stands for an end to the war on drugs, which he believes violates the U.S. Constitution. Martin graduated from North Allegheny High School in the suburbs of Pittsburgh in 1976 and Penn State with a bachelor's degree in biology in 1981.