Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

WLVR’s Brad Klein spoke with reporter Ryan Gaylor, who covers Northampton County for WLVR and LehighValleyNews.com, about the combative atmosphere during the debate.

In a televised debate moderated by LehighValleyNews.com, Democratic incumbent Terry Houck and Democratic challenger Stephen Baratta clashed over the death penalty, oversight of the office and cash bail.

Northampton County District Attorney Terry Houck, running for a second term, has said his office reduced crime by 25% since he took office. State statistics tell a more complicated story.

Democratic Sen. Bob Casey will seek a fourth term in office, bringing the power of incumbency and unmatched name recognition in Pennsylvania politics to his party’s defense of a seat in a critical presidential battleground state.

The three-term Democratic representative spoke with Lehigh Valley residents Tuesday at Lehigh University during her second in-person town hall of the year.

Republicans intend to portray Rep. Susan Wild as soft on crime after she voted not to block a Washington D.C. law that would have lessened sentences for people convicted of some crimes.

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman has left Walter Reed National Military Medical Center after six weeks of inpatient treatment for clinical depression, with plans to return to the Senate in mid-April.

Easton Mayor Sal Panto highlighted the Confluence, an $80 million mixed-use development he's spearheaded, during a campaign event Friday. The project's groundbreaking has been pushed back to Fall 2023.

Former educator Mike Millo is running for the Parkland School Board again after withdrawing from the race in 2020. He said his legislative priorities are listening to resident concerns, fiscal responsibility and transparency.

Incumbent Terry Houck and challenger Stephen Baratta each made their case to voters in a contentious town hall. Houck is in the final year of his first term. Baratta retired after 25 years as a county judge to run for the top prosecutor job.

Fundraising reports filed Thursday night by the presidential campaigns look a lot like recent public opinion polls. They show President Obama with a slight advantage in monthly fundraising last month — while Republican Mitt Romney has the edge by some other measures.

In the coming weeks, candidates will bombard your mailboxes with ads. It may seem old-fashioned, but the consultants who devise direct-mail campaigns have become sophisticated about knowing whom to reach and what to say.

President Obama says he hasn't given up on overhauling immigration law despite opposition from Republicans in Congress. Obama faced some tough questions during a forum on Univision including what would be different if he won four more years in the White House.

The former Massachusetts governor has been unofficially running for president for the better part of five years, and in that time, he has been asked about immigration over and over. Now some of Mitt Romney's rivals are arguing that his answers to the question have been inconsistent.

When it comes to abortion, the former governor of Massachusetts appears to have changed his position, from being in favor of abortion rights to being opposed. But now some are asking if Romney ever supported abortion rights at all? Backers of abortion rights don't think so.

From health care to climate change to immigration, GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has found himself at odds with conservatives over the years. But will Republican voters overlook those issues if they think he can beat President Obama?

Thursday in Pittsburgh, Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney appeared to shift his position on climate change. Speaking at the Consol Energy Center, he said, "My view is that we don't know what's causing climate change on this planet." In his book No Apology and in earlier public appearances, Romney has said that he believes climate change is occurring — and that humans are a contributing factor. At a campaign appearance in New Hampshire back in August, Romney emphasized questions about the extent of the human role. But his remarks in Pittsburgh represent a clear shirt toward a skeptical position on the causes of climate change.

Recent polls have shown that while most Latinos still support President Obama's re-election, that support is waning. But while Republicans in Las Vegas see an opening to persuade Nevada Latinos to their party, they're having trouble exploiting it.