Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

National politics often makes headlines, but former Bethlehem mayor Bob Donchez says municipal government impacts its residents more. This week on Political Pulse, host Tom Shortell dives into what goes on inside local government with Donchez.

Organizations such as colleges, local governments and non-profits are encouraged to apply for funding under Congress's Community Project Funding program. The Lehigh Valley has secured tens of millions in funding through federal discretionary spending in recent years.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie visited Ward Transport & Logistics Corp. in Easton, where he got feedback about federal regulations on truck drivers and concerns about Pennsylvania's emission standards.

Justin Simmons, the former Republican state representative, was among three people who filed nomination papers last week to seek the party's nomination in the May 20 primary election.

Democratic VIPs including U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, DNC Chair Ken Martin and former U.S. Rep. Susan Wild attended the town hall at Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Thursday night. The evening came with a rebuke to attendees from the church pastor.

At a virtual town hall Thursday, U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, said he did not support cuts to Medicare or Social Security, called for peace in Ukraine, and gently pushed back on how the Trump administration handled cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Organizers with the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, Democratic National Congressional Committee and several other groups invited U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie to a town hall event Thursday over proposed Medicaid cuts. Instead, the first-term Republican will hold his own telephone town hall.

Philip Ginder, 74, who served on the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners for 24 years, was appointed on Wednesday to fill the vacancy created when Commissioner Robert Piligian resigned in February.

Candidates for Northampton County Council, Allentown City Council, Allentown mayor and Parkland School Board are being challenged in court for allegedly failing to meet legal requirements to appear on the May ballot.

A Lehigh County judge ruled in favor of LoriAnn Fehnel, a Republican candidate for Whitehall Township Commissioner, who challenged that candidate Betsey H. Charles's nominating petition is invalid and should be set aside.

Democrat J. William Reynolds will be the next mayor of Bethlehem according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s election. He appears to have defeated Republican John Kachmar 63 to 36 percent.

At the Lehigh County Government Center, the hub for election results in Lehigh County, there wasn’t as much foot traffic inside the actual polling room on the main floor.

Candidates reach out to potential voters by going door-to-door and hosting listening sessions.

Conflict and tension have ramped up at school board meetings amid the coronavirus pandemic.

J. William Reynolds and John Kachmar clashed on spending, taxes and what to do with the city's share of American Rescue Plan funding.

The Republican candidate for Lehigh County executive, Glenn Eckhart, says there is no point in asking current Executive and Democratic candidate Phil Armstrong to resign right now over the recent federal lawsuit in which Armstrong is named.

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.