Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

Take a look at stories that ran throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

Mark Pinsley announced Friday, Dec. 1, that he will run for auditor general in 2024. The position oversees financial and performance audits of Pennsylvania state government.

County Executive Lamont McClure reiterated Thursday he will not step down after the county experienced widespread problems with its voting machines on Election Day. Despite the problems, the county's Election Commission certified the results last week.

Republican Kat Copeland is hoping her experience as a federal and local prosecutor will help her become Pennsylvania's next attorney general.

County Executive Lamont McClure on Friday accepted the resignation of Charles Dertinger, his director of administration and a longtime political ally. As director of administration, Dertinger oversaw the county elections division, which came under scrutiny in the wake of widespread voting machine problems in the Nov. 7 election.

The Northampton County Republican Committee's legal team is in discussions with the Pennsylvania Republican Committee's legal team on how to proceed toward decertifying the county's election machines.

By a 4-1 vote, the Northampton County Election Commission certified the Nov. 7 election results, despite widespread problems with its voting machines.

A federal court has directed Pennsylvania counties to accept mail ballots that a voter has failed to date or misdated, a long-awaited decision that could affect thousands of ballots in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.

The debate will be held in Kirby Sports Center on the Easton campus. Additional details, including the format and moderators, will be announced as they are identified, college officials said.

Widespread errors in Northampton County's voting machines need to be investigated before results from Nov. 7 are certified, according to the chair of the Northampton County Republican Committee.

Lafayette College was selected by the Commission on Presidential Debates to host the nation's only vice presidential debate this year. The commission has called off that debate and three presidential ones that it had expected to organize.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pennsylvania, is slated to appear at Saturday's Rally the Valley for Women's Choice in Bethlehem. It's part of a five-day campaign tour the three-term incumbent is launching this week in his race against Republican challenger David McCormick.

Two police officers are speaking out against the "bloodbath" they witnessed during the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. On Wednesday, they campaigned for the Biden-Harris campaign throughout Pennsylvania — a key battleground state in the upcoming election.

Protesters advocating for Palestinians hosted a dinner of "rubble and blood" outside the Americus Hotel in Allentown to challenge Democrats to change their policies related to Israel on Friday.

Jurors convicted the former president on all 34 counts after deliberating for nearly 10 hours over two days. They found he falsified business records in a scheme to illegally influence the 2016 presidential election.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick participated in a "fireside chat" Wednesday in Nazareth with former U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. The event was hosted by the Northampton County chapter of Moms for Liberty.

For the second time in three months, the Mackenzie campaign has demanded U.S. Rep. Susan Wild apologize for what it described as offensive remarks. The latest skirmish came after Wild challenged U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson's support for first responders.

U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., predicted Lehigh Valley congressional candidate Ryan Mackenzie would carry Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District as part of a wider Republican sweep of Congress and the White House in November.

U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Republican congressional candidate Ryan Mackenzie will visit the Cetronia Ambulance Corps in South Whitehall Township on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have arranged for their own debates with CNN, ABC and CBS, cutting out the nonpartisan Commission on Presidential Debates. The commission had selected Lafayette College to host its vice presidential debate in September.

U.S. Rep. Susan Wild said plans to consolidate the Lehigh Valley's mail processing center appear to have been pushed back. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy backed off a controversial cost-savings effort after receiving pushback from a bipartisan contingent of the U.S. Senate.

Join Megan Frank at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. every Friday for Insights with LehighValleyNews.com on WLVR. This week, Megan is joined by Ryan Gaylor and Tom Shortell.