Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

Four incumbents could have much higher pay rates when they start new terms next year than when they won re-election Tuesday night, according to unofficial results.

In Southern Lehigh School District, 10 candidates faced off for five seats on the nine-member school board.

Republicans needed to win two of the four seats up for grabs on the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners Tuesday to regain the majority.

The unofficial but complete results for the 2023 Parkland School Board election results are in: the Democratic slate, made of mostly incumbents, has swept all six seats.

Unofficial results showed Democratic incumbent Mark Pinsley leading Republican challenger Robert Smith Jr. by more than 6,200 votes with nearly all precincts reporting. Pinsley has made headlines for his unconventional audits through his first four years in office.

Buglio, a Democrat from South Whitehall Township, has served as coroner since being appointed by the county commissioners in April 2022.

In the wake of countywide issues with voting machines, officials said, one precinct's judge of elections in Bethlehem was removed from his post for refusing to follow the county's directives.

Parker’s moderate message resonated with voters.

Several county and municipal races in the Lehigh Valley were uncontested in the general election. That includes two of the highest-profile jobs in Lehigh and Northampton counties, as well as elected city representatives in Easton and Allentown.

Some voters in Lehigh County said they came out to make their vote count in the school board elections. Others said they wanted to see what candidates would do for the community.

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 slashing of federal funding coupled with the state's budget impasse has set back Second Harvest Food Bank and the families in need it serves across the counties of Lehigh, Northampton, Monroe, Wayne, Pike and Carbon, organizers say.

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.

Thursday marked five years since U.S. Rep. John Lewis' death from stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He was 80 years old.

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.