Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

Justin Simmons, the former Republican state representative, was among three people who filed nomination papers last week to seek the party's nomination in the May 20 primary election.

Democratic VIPs including U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin, DNC Chair Ken Martin and former U.S. Rep. Susan Wild attended the town hall at Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on Thursday night. The evening came with a rebuke to attendees from the church pastor.

At a virtual town hall Thursday, U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, said he did not support cuts to Medicare or Social Security, called for peace in Ukraine, and gently pushed back on how the Trump administration handled cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Organizers with the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, Democratic National Congressional Committee and several other groups invited U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie to a town hall event Thursday over proposed Medicaid cuts. Instead, the first-term Republican will hold his own telephone town hall.

Philip Ginder, 74, who served on the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners for 24 years, was appointed on Wednesday to fill the vacancy created when Commissioner Robert Piligian resigned in February.

Candidates for Northampton County Council, Allentown City Council, Allentown mayor and Parkland School Board are being challenged in court for allegedly failing to meet legal requirements to appear on the May ballot.

A Lehigh County judge ruled in favor of LoriAnn Fehnel, a Republican candidate for Whitehall Township Commissioner, who challenged that candidate Betsey H. Charles's nominating petition is invalid and should be set aside.

City officials voted in favor of raising the next council president’s salary from $7,600 to $11,400 a year and council members’ annual pay from $7,100 to $10,650. However, City Council decided against salary increases for the next mayor and controller.

This week on Political Pulse, host Tom Shortell speaks with Celeste Dee, owner of Lehigh Valley-based Advantage Political Strategies. The two talk about judicial campaigns.

The vacancy on the Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners will be filled at a meeting on Wednesday night. The board interviewed three candidates on Monday night.

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.