Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

Lehigh Country Controller Mark Pinsley criticized President Donald Trump and U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie for gutting the social safety net and Democratic leaders for failing to offer effective resistance.

Mark Pinsley is the fourth Democrat to challenge Republican incumbent Ryan Mackenzie in the Lehigh Valley's battleground district in the 2026 midterm.

Ed Zucal lost the Democratic primary by more than 60 percentage points but earned almost 500 write-in votes from Allentown Republicans to carry the contest into November.

This week on Political Pulse, host Tom Shortell and political scientist Chris Borick discuss how President Trump is attempting to redefine citizenship, including challenges to century-old legal findings.

The Lehigh Valley’s James Lawson Freedom School is a six-week summer program that uses a multicultural literacy curriculum and an intergenerational teaching model.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, said Congress should intervene if the Trump administration fails to release details of the investigation into Jeffrey Epstein. The sex offender and financier's death in custody in 2019 has sparked years of speculation and conspiracy theories.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, the Lehigh Valley's first-term Republican lawmaker, will hold his second telephone town hall Wednesday evening. It comes after Congress passed the controversial One Big Beautiful Bill and amid turmoil over the Jeffrey Epstein fallout.

Last month's campaign finance report shows Roger MacLean had just $2,666 on hand, compared with the $200,403 that Josh Siegel had in the bank.

The rescission bill affects public media and foreign aid and now heads back to the U.S. House, which previously passed a different version of the funding cuts. President Donald Trump must sign the legislation before midnight Friday to eliminate the previously approved funding.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie is sitting on $1.19 million in his campaign coffers. Meanwhile, Democratic hopefuls Ryan Crosswell, Lamont McClure and Carol Obando-Derstine raised a combined $616,675 toward their own campaigns in the past three months.

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.