Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

Ben Stemrich announced his bid Friday, joining three other candidates — Jeremy Binder, Luis Acevedo and Cristian Pungo — in the contest for four open seats.

Federal agents were at Northampton County Prison on Friday morning to apprehend an inmate upon his release. The man was alleged to be in the country illegally. The level of cooperation between ICE agents and the county has come under attack by U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.

Phil Armstrong highlighted a long list of accomplishments and laid out a few more plans for his last year in office Thursday night.

Mayor J. William Reynolds announced Thursday he's running for a chance at another term at mayor. Reynolds, a Democrat, said that while he's excited for another shot at the job, the successes of the past four years have been a group effort.

Lehigh County relies on hundreds of millions in state and federal funding to provide services to residents. The fate of that funding is unclear as President Donald Trump and Elon Musk target federal funding.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, has four office locations, including two in Lehigh County. Bilingual services are available in the new Center City Allentown location that opened this week.

House Republicans want to slash federal spending by $2 trillion and are eying cuts and restrictions to the $880 billion Medicaid program. Demonstrators say they'll keep applying pressure to U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, to oppose such plans.

Cristian Pungo said he’s ready to jump in and help the city address some difficult challenges, including its lack of affordable housing and infrastructure that needs investment.

Easton City Councilwoman Taiba Sultana has announced she will be running for a seat in council again, citing her work fighting for marginalized voices and minority rights.

Longtime Eastonian Sharbel Koorie has announced his candidacy for Easton City Council's District 2 seat.

Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff played off an enthusiastic crowd at Dieruff High School to promote his wife Kamala Harris' presidential campaign.

State Rep. Ryan Mackenzie and U.S. Rep. Susan Wild tangled over Medicare, foreign affairs and Social Security during an hourlong debate Friday at WFMZ's Salisbury Township studio.

Dozens of individuals from a variety of organizing groups assembled in Allentown Thursday to rally for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, motivating the crowd to join in the fight.

Debra Biro, Melanie Heilman, Steve Lynch and Richard Morea face charges of harassment following a raucous Northampton County Republican Committee meeting involving pornographic images.

The visit will be Doug Emhoff's second to Allentown as second gentleman. He visited the region in May 2021 to promote the Biden administration's infrastructure plan.

This week on Political Pulse, Chris and Tom move away from talk of the presidential race and shift gears to focus on statehouse races.

Pennsylvania's 137th House District, based around Bethlehem Township and the Nazareth area, is one of the biggest toss-up legislative districts in the state. Democratic challenger Anna Thomas is embroiled in a rematch with Republican incumbent state Rep. Joe Emrick.

Following a Commonwealth Court ruling Friday, Pennsylvania counties cannot throw out mail-in votes over incorrect envelope dates.

The Northampton County Elections Office said it has gotten several reports of county voters receiving text messages from "AllVote.com." It's at least the second text-based scam in the Lehigh Valley that county officials are aware of.

State and local lawmakers on Thursday talked up a $25 million program to install solar power at Pennsylvania schools. That program could be implemented at Allentown public schools.

Elected officials are taking steps to adjust development laws that some see as unfair, but they face an uphill battle. (Fourth of 5 parts)

In this episode, Chris and Tom talk about the general election and the sprint to November now that the presidential race is officially between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris.