Tiburcio, Gerlach focus on housing, tax policy in Democratic primary for 22nd House seat

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Months of political jockeying will come to a head Tuesday when Democratic voters choose state Rep. Ana Tiburcio or city Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach to represent the party this November in the race for the 22nd state House District.

Political drama has surrounded the 22nd District since Josh Siegel resigned as state representative in December to become Lehigh County executive, forcing a special election.

Gerlach sought the party's nomination in that race, but local Democrat leaders rallied behind Julian Guridy, only to see him back out at the last minute because of residency issues.

Instead, state and local Democrats hand-picked Tiburcio for the nomination, even though she had not previously expressed interest in the position before.

Tiburcio defeated Republican Robert Smith Jr. in the February special election, preserving Democrats' one-seat majority in the state House.

Now, she's campaigning for a full two-year term of her own, but Tiburcio will need to fend off Gerlach in the May 19 primary for the opportunity.

Meanwhile, Smith is running unopposed in the Republican primary.

The 22nd District represents the city's East Allentown neighborhood and parts of its Center City neighborhood as well as part of Salisbury Township.

Pennsylvania voter data shows that registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 2.5-to-1 margin, making it the most partisan House district in the Lehigh Valley.

Census data shows the district also is the poorest in the region, making access to state resources a pressing issue.

Ce-Ce Gerlach

Gerlach has been a prominent local voice for progressive causes since entering the Lehigh Valley's political scene in 2011.

Her penchant for grassroots campaigns helped her win two terms on Allentown School Board, and she's halfway through her second term on city council.

She built her 2021 campaign for mayor around an "economic justice" platform meant to shrink the wealth gap between the city's white and minority residents, but lost the four-way Democratic primary by 3.2 percentage points to Matt Tuerk.

Gerlach's mayoral campaign took a blow after then-Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin charged her with endangering the welfare of a child and failure to report.

While working as a social worker for Valley Youth House, Gerlach left a runaway teenager at a homeless camp without notifying police or authorities as required by state law.

Martin eventually dropped the more serious child endangerment charge after determining that Gerlach notified her supervisor, who considered her response appropriate.

Gerlach entered a first-time offenders program for the failure to report charge, and her record was expunged in 2024.

The Gerlach campaign has been proactive in discussing the case. She's noted that charges emerged months later in the closing weeks of the mayoral campaign and that no one else was charged.

She never pleaded guilty to a crime and only entered ARD because she could not afford to drag out the case further, she said.

"I know I did my job the way I was trained to do my job," Gerlach said in a video. "I know my supervisor did the exact same thing, and I know that if I were in that situation again, I would have to do the same thing just as my supervisor did."

Gerlach's 14-year record in public office has shown she has the track record of standing up for the working class by fighting to ensure corporations and Pennsylvania's wealthiest residents pay their fair share, she said.

That fight includes closing the "Delaware loophole," which lets businesses operating in Pennsylvania deduce their corporate tax bill by paying royalties to subsidiaries in Delaware for the company's own logos and patents.

Democratic lawmakers say the loophole is depriving Pennsylvania of billions of dollars of tax revenue that could go toward critical needs in the Keystone State.

Similarly, Gerlach said she would push tax assets and sources of passive income and create a tiered income tax system.

The current system puts too heavy a strain on the lower income families and lets the rich get richer, she said.

"We need to tax their wealth," Gerlach said. "Those funds will then be used to fund schools, housing. The money is there; we just have to go get it."

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has found the state Constitution mandates a flat tax, but Gerlach argued her record shows she's capable of building coalitions capable of overcoming long odds in both government and as an advocate.

While the state Democratic Party denied her the nomination in the special election, she pointed to support she's drawn from Siegel, Lehigh County Commissioner Jon Irons and the Working Class Party, among others.

"To me, this is not partisan issue,"Gerlach said. "This is a working-class issue."

She added that she's drawn support from Republican voters in the district who feel they're not working on a level playing field.

"They know the taxing system is not working for them," she said. "It’s a matter of having those conversations with people across the aisle — with people."

In addition to restructuring its taxes, the state needs to put more to ensure affordable housing is available to its residents, Gerlach said.

She has talked about her own experiences with homelessness, and said she would support inclusive zoning laws in Pennsylvania.

The policy, which already is in place in New Jersey, requires developers to set aside a share of any residential units they build to sell at below market rates.

"People need help," she said. "Having a safe, affordable place to live is fundamental. It is a human right."

At the same time, lawmakers ought to step up and create more tools that help people stay in their homes, Gerlach said.

She said that includes bolstering state grants that help homeowners maintain aging properties and creating programs that provide tenants with legal representation for eviction cases.

Studies have found that people with lawyers at their eviction hearings are forced out far less often, giving people the stability they need to earn money to pay back their landlords and take care of their families.

Ana Tiburio

A New York City native, Tiburcio had been an active volunteer in Allentown neighborhoods for 30 years.

Her reputation in the community helped propel her onto Allentown School Board in 2023, the first time she ran for public office.

When Guridy dropped out of the special election days before Democrats needed to name a candidate, local party leaders including state Reps. Michael Schlossberg and Peter Schweyer approached her about the opening.

Tiburcio struggled to define her campaign early on, saying during a February debate that she would need to look into matters such as public transportation, policies to ease cost burdens on working families or how her opinions aligned with the Democratic Party's.

But since arriving in Harrisburg, Tiburcio said she's tried to absorb everything she can from other lawmakers and staff about potential solutions to challenges the 22nd District voters face.

She's now building her campaign around three pillars — education, affordable housing and greater resources for people re-entering the community after prison time.

The last issue is personal for her — her son is serving a lengthy prison sentence.

While he has participated in job training programs available through the Department of Corrections, programming is limited, she said.

Even when people complete their sentences, they often find their criminal records limit job opportunities, she said.

Something as simple as being back on a public street after years behind bars can be stressful, preventing people from re-engaging with the workforce, she said.

Tiburcio said lawmakers need to do more to ensure there are resources available to people trying to make an honest living and that they and their families are aware of the programs available to them.

Too often, she said, state representatives are separated from their constituents, but Tiburcio vowed to remain engaged in the community and continuing outreach so people can connect with the assistance that's available.

"At the end of the day, we’re all humans," she said. "They made a mistake, but that doesn’t mean they want to have that follow them for the rest of their lives."

Since entering the race in January, Tiburcio has made supporting education a top priority.

She introduced a bill as its prime sponsor for the first time in April, proposing that the state direct teacher certification fees to funding a program that helps school districts recruit and retain teachers.

The recruitment program, created in 2022, never was funded.

That program could help schools address the teacher shortage, and Tiburcio said she is looking for more ways to get funding to school districts across the state.

While Pennsylvania under Gov. Josh Shapiro has committed more funding to basic education, Tiburcio said she'd like to see more resources made available to schools across the commonwealth, and Allentown in particular.

Allentown School District, among the largest in Pennsylvania, has historically been underfunded.

"I believe we are taking baby steps," Tiburcio said. "We’re getting better at certain things, and of course we need more funding."

As for public housing, Tiburcio said that she has been engaging experts in Harrisburg and the community, including a roundtable discussion at Overlook Park, one of the Allentown Housing Authority's developments.

While she's exploring small ways to create savings such as lowering the cost for a credit check, she said lawmakers should explore creating tax incentives for developers to build new affordable housing units.

The district already is home to one of Pennsylvania's biggest development incentives — the Neighborhood Improvement Zone.

The zone, a 128-acre area, includes parts of Center City and the waterfront along the Lehigh River, lets developers use some state and local taxes to pay off debt they incur improving properties in the zone.

While designation has generated billions of dollars in development, critics like Gerlach argue it's leading to gentrification and not benefiting members of the community.

Tiburcio said the zone has been a net positive for the community but more investments need to be made.

State and local officials need to do more to help attract and retain small businesses in the spaces that developers have created in the downtown, she said.

"I think it should be a connection between state and local officials," Tiburcio said. "Who can we call or what can we apply for? This is the same conversation we can have as a community."