ALLENTOWN, Pa. – A changing district landscape and familiar candidates are what can be found in the 134th District state House race between Democrat Peter Schweyer and Republican Brent Labenberg.
It will be the first time Schweyer has faced a general election opponent since he first won a state House seat in the 22nd District in 2014. Redistricting now places his home in the 134th district.
- Incumbent Peter Schweyer and Emmaus Borough Council President Brent Labenberg, two candidates with name recognition, are seeking the seat in the newly redrawn 134th state House district
- The district encompasses parts of South Allentown, parts of Salisbury Township and the borough of Emmaus
- The candidates agree on key issues such as the need for public education funding, but differ on others, including abortion and the minimum wage
The district encompasses parts of South Allentown, parts of Salisbury Township and all of Emmaus.
Schweyer was born and raised in Center City Allentown and is a former city councilman, including a stint as council president. He formerly worked at Sacred Heart Hospital as director of community and government affairs.
Labenberg is president of Emmaus Borough Council, on which he has spent more than 24 years. He said he is a fifth-generation Emmaus resident.
He retired as a chef at the Phoebe Home, and also is a local disc jockey, adopting the persona of DJ Dutch, and provides music for local events.
He's also a Navy veteran.
Labenberg said he will serve for only four years if elected, and supports term limits for state legislators.
The two candidates are making their final pushes toward getting voters on their side in the district. Both have name recognition in different parts of the district, which incorporates and leaves out parts of the old 22nd and 134th districts.
“It’s crunch time and I’m still hitting doors every day,” Labenberg said via email. He said he has stopped at more than 4,500 homes.
Labenberg said his priorities are to “take care of what we have,” that being infrastructure such as roads and bridges, as well as schools, nursing homes, police and parks.
“Anything the state funds, fund it properly before we spend another cent on a new program because the state is not doing a very good job,” he said.
Focus on education
Schweyer said his priorities remain education funding and affordability of things such as child care, health care and access to quality, good paying jobs. He said he is incredibly proud of his efforts to increase funding that helped Allentown School District recoup cuts to staffing that occurred before he was elected.
“My entire career I've focused on education funding; that is something that impacts every community,” Schweyer said, highlighting how Allentown, Salisbury and East Penn all are growing districts.
“All three of them are at a disadvantage because of the lack of the implementation of the fair funding formula. So having conversations with folks at their doors about the need to make sure that our school districts get their fair share of state funding is something that matters, regardless of which one of the three towns that I hope to be representing.”
He said the overwhelming majority of children in Pennsylvania attend traditional public schools, and problem solving needs to start there.
“Education has always been my biggest priority, because that's how we change generational poverty," he said. "That's how we help empower an individual to be able to reach their full potential and, more importantly, live the kind of happy and healthy lifestyles that we all should be striving for, for our kids.”
Labenberg also supports increased state funding for public schools, saying it may help relieve some property tax burden and would relieve expenses for schools in areas such as special education, testing and other expensive requirements.
While he said that, as a parent, you have choices among public, private, charter, cyber and home school options, many parents don’t have some of those choices as an option for their child.
“I'm not 100% in favor of vouchers at this point,” Labenberg said. “There's 50 states in this country. And we can look at each state and see what's working and what's not working.”
Labenberg also said he supports promoting trade skills.
“If there was one bill I could pass, it would be a bill requiring financial literacy to graduate high school,” he said via email. “19 states require this. Requiring students to learn about mortgages or car loans, compound interest, budgeting, understanding how retirement accounts work, etc., is probably the most important lesson they can learn.”
A civil campaign
A debate held in October by the Lehigh Valley League of Women Voters was, in contrast to many that have taken place in recent years, very civil between the candidates. That reflects both of the candidates’ emphasis on working across divides.
“If there are 99 things we disagree on, I want to find the one thing we agree on,” Labenberg said in an email. “I don’t believe in negative campaigning. I have nothing bad to say about my opponent ... that’s the voter’s job to do.”
Schweyer said, “All anybody would need to do is take a look at the press releases where [state] Sen.[Pat] Browne and myself are setting out jointly all over the place is proof positive that the ability to do the job can only be done if you're able to work with folks who may have a different letter behind your last name."
Schweyer still is able to be effective to his constituents despite being in the legislature's minority party, he said, because of his ability to work across the aisle in that way.
“If there are 99 things we disagree on, I want to find the one thing we agree on. I don’t believe in negative campaigning. I have nothing bad to say about my opponent...that’s the voter’s job to do.”Candidate Brent Labenberg, Emmaus borough council president
At that debate, Schweyer said he supports a minimum wage increase to $15 an hour, and that with reduced social entitlements, it asks a lot of Pennsylvanians to live on or attempt to save up money on the current minimum rate of $7.25.
“We are the only state in this region of the United States that has not raised its minimum wage,” Schweyer said. “The 'leftist bastion' of Ohio, which is not a leftist bastion by any stretch of imagination, has a higher minimum wage than Pennsylvania does. It is shameful.”
Labenberg said the minimum wage is a “non-issue” because of large national retail pushing up their minimum wage and the presence of labor demand.
“You find me one person that’s paying somebody $7.25," he said. "There's nobody doing it. In the Borough of Emmaus, we can't find workers for under $10 an hour. And we have wage inflation right now. The reason we have wage inflation is because the box stores are creating our own minimum wage.”
He said he believes a $15/hour minimum wage would eliminate jobs for teenagers or senior citizens.
Abortion, identity issues
In regard to abortion issues, Schweyer said he's “100% in favor of a woman's right to choose,” influenced by his time working at a hospital and the need for a person’s medical decisions to be between them and their physician.
His voting record as a legislator reflects his support of abortion access.
Labenberg said in a statement to the blog Armchair Lehigh Valley that he supports restricting abortion with the exception for the physical health of the mother, but also supports the availability of over-the-counter birth control, such as the Plan B pill.
He also supports the proposed state constitutional amendment that would make it illegal for taxpayer funds to go toward an abortion. Pennsylvania currently provides no taxpayer funding for abortion procedures.
In regard to issues focused on the LGTBQ community, something that still sees debate in school boards and in Harrisburg, both candidates supported efforts against discrimination.
“I don't understand why it's still an issue,” Schweyer said. “The fact that my kids have friends who are who are all over the the gender identity and sexual orientation map puts my kids in a competitive advantage as people moving forward because they understand that they have an empathy that they that they wouldn't have pretending that these other folks don't exist.”
“Education has always been my biggest priority, because that's how we change generational poverty. That's how we help empower an individual to be able to reach their full potential, and more importantly, live the kind of happy and healthy lifestyles that we all should be striving for, for our kids.”State Rep. Peter Schweyer (D-Lehigh)
Labanberg said he supports the Fairness Act, which would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation or gender identities, aside from certain exemptions to religious providers.
Safety and more
Both candidates say that public safety, another big issue in the election cycle, requires a multifaceted approach.
Labenberg said during the debate that while violent criminals need to be put in jail, there needs to be more opportunity for people facing mental health issues or struggles with addiction to address that.
“There is not enough funding for that, and I truly believe we need to take care of this issue because there are people seeking help and there's just not enough people to get it, and we need to have more funding for mental health.”
Schweyer highlighted the reduction in the number of homicides over time in Allentown since he became a public official, and said in addition to efforts by law enforcement officers, there needs to be firearm considerations.
“Maintaining good relationships with our police department, maintaining good relationships with community organizations, are two things that I can do now,” Schweyer said. "And my hope is that moving forward we're going to be able to make sure that we close the gun show loophole and make sure that people can't legally sell AR-15s on the back of their trunk like they can right now without a background check.”
Both candidates said they want to increase availability of housing, and said affordability is an issue.
“We need to increase the income level to qualify for rent, rebates and house property tax rebates,” Labenberg said. “It hasn't been increased in a long time. And ... once it's set, it needs to be set to inflation, so that increases every year. The rates are so low that very few people qualify.
"There's so many people on Social Security that are struggling to keep their house. I've heard that so many times and it's sad to hear,” he said.
Schweyer highlighted efforts he has made as a public official with Sen. Pat Browne to secure housing units in Allentown and said many different solutions are needed to address what leads to homelessness.
In regard to inflation, both candidates admitted during the debate there was little that could be done at the state level to truly address causes of inflation.
Voters in the 134th District have until Election Day on Nov. 8 to cast their vote in-person or via mail.
