Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

Northampton County officials said extra voting machines were delivered to help alleviate the crush at the Banana Factory in South Bethlehem. It was an extreme example of a scene playing out on Election Day across the Lehigh Valley as voters waited hours in line to cast their ballots.

Pulling the big red lever in a mechanical voting machine started the voting booth process and closed the curtain behind you. It was as dramatic to my young mind as the vast curtain before a theater's stage.

The Lehigh County Board of Elections will hold a hearing Friday morning to determine the status of 519 mail-in ballot applications of former residents now living abroad. Under federal law, they are entitled to vote in federal elections under their last address, but state Sen. Jarrett Coleman said the county neglected to register them in a voter database.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, greeted voters at one Lehigh Valley polling place on Election Day. Johnson said his visit signified how critically important the Lehigh Valley's 7th Congressional District is to the balance of power in the U.S. House.

On the ground in Pennsylvania on Election Day: The state's political landscape has shifted dramatically since the last election. Student journalists are on the ground throughout the day as people vote.

Check out our rundown of candidates in the most contested races and what to expect to get up to speed for the election on Nov. 5, 2024.

Thousands of supporters rallied at Memorial Hall at Muhlenberg College as Vice President Kamala Harris visited the Lehigh Valley on the final day of the 2024 presidential campaign. Polls indicate her race for the White House against former President Donald Trump is too close to call.

Former New Orleans Mayor Mitchell Landrieu, a co-chair of the Harris-Walz campaign, says a comedian's comments at a Donald Trump rally in New York City was a turning point in the 2024 presidential campaign.

Thousands came to Memorial Hall at Muhlenberg College on Monday as Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally on the final day of the 2024 presidential campaign.

Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate for president, is holding a rally at Muhlenberg College in Allentown on the final day of the presidential campaign. Election Day is Tuesday.

Federal immigration officials on Friday issued their first statement since arresting 17 people at the Five10 Flats on June 11. Mayor J. Williams Reynolds this week described the arrests as "an American tragedy."

Political Pulse host Tom Shortell talks with Fabian Fellmann, a U.S. correspondent for a Swiss daily newspaper, about what brought him to the Lehigh Valley.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, got an earful from a constituent Saturday after he accused protesters of feeding a charged political environment that's led to assassinations.

Emrick Boulevard in Bethlehem Township hosted the first of four rallies organized in the Lehigh Valley to coincide with a military parade in Washington, D.C., on Trump's 79th birthday. At least one physical confrontation occurred.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie voted in line with the Republican majority to strip more than $1 billion of federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting over the next two years.

Ryan Crosswell, a recent arrival in the Lehigh Valley, is the third Democrat to get in line to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District. The seat should be one of the most contested U.S. House races in the 2026 midterms.

For some candidates looking to hold office in Northampton County whose primary races ended with a tie, electoral fate rests with ping pong balls.

Political Pulse host Tom Shortell and political scientist Chris Borick discuss the implications of the Republican tax and spending package recently passed in the US House.

More than 120 people showed up for the weekly "Mondays with Mackenzie" demonstration outside one of the congressman's offices on Monday. It was the first of the protests since he cast an essential vote for President Donald Trump's signature policy bill.

Trump said he reached the decision after a “thorough review” of Jared Isaacman’s “prior associations" but did not elaborate. Said Isaacman: "I’ll always be grateful for this opportunity and cheering on our President and NASA as they lead us on the greatest adventure in human history.”

The Jewish League for Peace-Lehigh Valley will hold a Havdalah ceremony at the Bethlehem Rose Garden on Saturday, grieving for those lost in Gaza and calling for change to prevent further death and destruction.

The Allentown high school was recognized for registering students to vote and enlisting them to serve as poll workers.