ALLENTOWN, Pa. — The two Republican candidates for Lehigh County executive have spent less than $8,000 on their primary campaigns while their Democratic opponent has stockpiled more than 20 times that for the race, according to campaign finance filings.
As of May 5, former Allentown Police Chief Roger MacLean and former Allentown School Board member Mike Welsh have led frugal primary races.
Should the spending hold in the next few weeks, it would be the least expensive contested executive primary in recent memory.Election campaign records
Should the spending hold in the next few weeks, it would be the least expensive contested executive primary in recent memory.
County documents show MacLean has spent $6,321 on his campaign, most of which went toward a mailer sent out in late April.
He's raised $11,825 toward his campaign, about half of which has come from political action committees.
Govern PAC, a federal committee associated with former U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, donated $5,000 toward his cause.
A $1,000 donation came from former Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin's old campaign committee; MacLean worked for Martin after retiring from the Allentown Police Department.
Other donors include David Jaindl, president of Jaindl Farms ($500), and attorney Angelo Almonti ($500).
Welsh had spent even less, racking up $1,542 in expenses. As of the report date, he had not sent out a mailer, though his $7,619 of cash on hand would cover a late mailer ahead of Tuesday's primary.
Welsh has taken no money from political action committees to date; about half of his money came from donors contributing $250 or less.
His more significant donors include former Allentown mayoral candidate John Lovett ($3,000) and attorney Robert Daday Jr. ($500).
Lone Democrat
Welsh has been slightly outspent by Democrat Josh Siegel, who is uncontested in his primary.
Siegel, a state representative, has amassed $180,176 in his war chest. He raised nearly $31,000 of that in the opening months of 2025, his report shows.
Siegel's most recent fundraising has mostly come from political action committees and deep-pocketed donors.
His supporters include dentist Kamal Haddad ($5,000), developer Mark Jaindl ($5,000), incumbent Executive Phil Armstrong ($1,000), Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure ($1,000), state Rep. Peter Schweyer ($1,000) and the Pennsylvania Apartment Association ($1,000).
Spending in the Lehigh County executive race has fluctuated wildly in the past decade.Lehigh county campaign records
Spending in the Lehigh County executive race has fluctuated wildly in the past decade.
Former Lehigh County Commissioner Lisa Scheller and her then-husband Wayne Woodman poured tens of thousands of dollars into county contests in the 2010s, creating a financial arms race in county politics.
Its peak came in the 2013 executive race, which saw Democrat Tom Muller and Republicans Scott Ott and Dean Browning burn through a record $478,248.
Spending doesn't always correllate with victory, however.
Republican Brad Osborne outspent Democrat Phil Armstrong by more than $102,000 in the 2017 race, but still lost by about 6 percentage points.
Four years later, Armstrong spent about the same amount of money as his first campaign — about $52,000 each time — on his way to defeating Republican Glenn Eckhart, who spent $25,952 on his campaign.
The COVID-19 pandemic limited traditional campaigning that year, however.
By comparison, the contested Democratic primary for Northampton County executive has seen the candidates spend more than $100,000 combined in their race.
