Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

U.S. Rep. Susan Wild supported a plan Wednesday to temporarily suspend the debt ceiling. If an agreement is not reached in the next week, the U.S. could devastate the global economy by defaulting on its debt.

All primary results in Lehigh and Northampton counties are now official after election workers ran audits and validated totals over the past two weeks.

Allentown saw almost 500 crashes where a pedestrian was hurt in the past five years, eight of which killed people. Federal funding is contributing $312,000 for a study to improve road safety.

City Council members Ce-Ce Gerlach, Santo Napoli and Candida Affa finished as the top three vote-getters in more than a third of Allentown's precincts in their bids for re-election.

Gavin Holihan, the Democratic and Republican nominee for Lehigh County district attorney, said he hopes to find resources to assist underserved families so at-risk kids today don't become victims or defendants a decade from now.

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

Republican William Rowe, a write-in candidate for the Bethlehem-area seat on Northampton County Council, will advance to the November election.

Meanwhile, Lehigh County Sheriff Joe Hannah and district attorney candidate Gavin Holihan locked up both primaries in their races.

Members of Northampton County Council's government committee suggested changes to the county home rule charter, including a commission that could rewrite it altogether.

Voter turnout was about 23.74% among Democrats and Republicans in Northampton County — only slightly better than Lehigh County’s 22.5% voter turnout rate.

An incorrect set of instructions was included with mail-in and absentee ballots mailed to Lehigh County voters on Oct. 9. The error with the first ballot mailing has been corrected for subsequent mailings.

League of Women Voters Lehigh County held a candidate forum for Parkland School Board candidates. The slate running on the Republican ticket did not attend.

Check out this guide on all the contested school board races in the Lehigh Valley in the upcoming election.

Four seats are up for election on Hellertown Borough Council this fall. Three of those candidates already serve on council.

Check out this roundup of all the contested municipal and county races for Lehigh and Northampton counties heading into the Nov. 7 general election.

Limiting the influx of warehouses into Lower Nazareth Township is the key issue for all three candidates for Lower Nazareth Township Board of Supervisors.

A heated race has emerged at the East Penn School Board, with five spots up for grabs and only two incumbents running. Questions of national political issues and influence have surrounded the race, as accusations of extremism have been directed towards candidates based on connections and donations.

Six of the nine seats on the Parkland School Board are up for election. Two opposing candidate groups will face off on Nov. 7.

Current Upper Milford Board of Supervisors Chairwoman Joyce Moore is up for re-election, with a challenge from the current head of the recreation commission Angela Ashbrook.

Open space usage and preservation, zoning and the environment are the major concerns of all three candidates in the race for two open seats on the Upper Nazareth Township Board of Supervisors.

The general election for the Alburtis borough council is a near mirror-image of its Republican primary race, with five current council members running for four open seats on the council.

The Bethlehem NAACP hosted candidates for Bethlehem City Council, Bethlehem Area School District and Northampton County judge on Thursday evening.