Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

The Democrats have been vocal about leading an about-face on a number of township issues, including the expansion of the Bethlehem Landfill and resident access to the Hellertown Area Library.

Northampton County held a swearing-in ceremony for recently elected council members, others on Tuesday.

Gavin Holihan took the oath of office Tuesday morning as Lehigh County's new district attorney. He said he'll divert resources away from penny-ante issues to focus on battling violent crime.

The 20-year-old is a youth director with Promise Neighborhoods of Lehigh Valley. She graduated from William Allen High School in 2021 and won election to the school board in the November general election.

The Pennsylvania Department of State is starting a new office to help train county election workers, Pa. Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt said. It also plans to update its guidance for logic and accuracy testing that could have caught issues with the Northampton County voting machines.

In a letter to Gov. Josh Shapiro, state Rep. Milou Mackenzie asked the Department of State to provide Northampton County with instructions on how to avoid more Election Day mistakes with their voting machines.

Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure on Friday named a human resources department manager as his acting director of administration. She joined the county in May 2022.

Take a look at stories that ran throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

Mark Pinsley announced Friday, Dec. 1, that he will run for auditor general in 2024. The position oversees financial and performance audits of Pennsylvania state government.

County Executive Lamont McClure reiterated Thursday he will not step down after the county experienced widespread problems with its voting machines on Election Day. Despite the problems, the county's Election Commission certified the results last week.

Three Hispanic candidates are on the Republican ticket for Lehigh County commissioner.

Harsh words and pointed fingers are common during election season, but the barbs traded in the Northampton County Executive’s race might be a little sharper than most.

Steve Lynch, candidate for Northampton County executive, used the vaccine mandate issue at Gracedale to address a crowd on Oct. 25, 2021, one week before the election.

The five-member Legislative Reapportionment Commission has been waiting for a final, cleaned-up package of census data since the summer.

A recently filed federal lawsuit claims dispatchers at local 911 call centers drank alcohol, slept, and watched movies on the clock.

President Joe Biden is trying to drum up support for a several trillion-dollar infrastructure spending plan that's being negotiated in Congress. The effort included returning to his boyhood home of Scranton.

Voters in Allentown will have the chance to remove English as the city’s “official” language in the upcoming election.

Mike Doyle, who has represented western Pennsylvania in Congress for more than a quarter-century and became the dean of Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation, announced Monday that he will not run again for re-election. As WESA was first to report early this morning, the move comes as the incumbent faced a challenge from the left next year and — if he won — the prospect of being in the minority party in the U.S. House.

The Pennsylvania Department of State oversees the commonwealth’s elections. The agency is led by Veronica Degraffenreid, who assumed the role of acting secretary of state on Feb. 8.

Touting census data that shows a strong uptick in Pennsylvania’s non-White population, representatives from some of Pennsylvania’s communities of color say new political boundaries should give them a chance for stronger representation in Harrisburg.

The two candidates, Republican Tim Ramos and Democrat Matt Tuerk faced off in a debate Thursday night on PBS39 and WLVR.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro made his long-awaited campaign for governor official in Pittsburgh Wednesday morning, solidifying his status as the Democrats’ almost-certain nominee in a state where the party has little margin for error.