Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

Join Megan Frank every Friday at 9:30am and 6:30pm for Insights with LehighValleyNews.com on WLVR. This week, Brittany Sweeney takes her place, joined by politics reporter Tom Shortell and Easton reporter Brian Myszkowski.

Democratic Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania is conceding his reelection bid to Republican David McCormick. The concession came Thursday, more than two weeks after Election Day. A statewide recount is showing no signs of closing the gap and Casey's campaign has suffered repeated blows in court.

Northampton County Court of Common Pleas President Judge Dally heard arguments Thursday in a lawsuit challenging the validity of about 200 provisional ballots. Similar cases are playing out across the state.

U.S. Rep. Susan Wild said the House Ethics Committee is split in deliberations over how to handle an investigations into former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz on allegations of sexual misconduct. President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Gaetz to lead the Justice Department.

The Lehigh County Board of Elections voted 3-0 to certify 191,158 ballots Wednesday afternoon. Fights over how to count contested provisional ballots are already popping up in the neck-and-neck U.S. Senate race between Bob Casey and David McCormick.

Northampton County's elections commission voted in a multi-day hearing to count provisional ballots missing certain signatures. Their decision has been challenged in county court.

Allentown City Councilman Ed Zucal officially kicked off his campaign for mayor Tuesday at Fairgrounds Hotel.

This week on Political Pulse, Tom Shortell and Chris Borick talk about political campaign budgets and funding, comparing this year's election cycle to those past.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court order Monday is a win for David McCormick and a loss for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey as the campaigns prepare for a statewide recount and press counties for favorable ballot-counting decisions.

Allentown City Council President Cynthia Mota will face Councilman Ed Zucal and Mayor Matt Tuerk in the 2025 Democratic primary.

Voters with no religious affiliation supported Democratic candidates and abortion rights by staggering percentages in the 2022 midterm elections. And the religiously unaffiliated are growing.

Less than a month after the critical midterm election, Democratic and Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania state House are contesting which party can run the body, a dispute that could determine who has the power to call special elections to fill pending vacancies, and shape who lawmakers pick to lead the chamber on Jan. 3.

Three weeks after the end of voting, challenges to certify midterm election results are playing out in just two states, Arizona and Pennsylvania, where Democrats won the marquee races for governor and Senate.

Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro Wednesday detailed how he’ll assume power from Gov. Tom Wolf, who will helm the AG’s office, and some of his goals for his first year in office.

When John Fetterman goes to Washington in January as one of the Senate’s new members, he’ll bring along his style from Pennsylvania. It's one that extends from his own personal and very casual dress code to hanging marijuana flags outside his current office in the state Capitol.

Officials in a northeastern Pennsylvania county where paper shortages caused Election Day ballot problems are deadlocked on whether to report official vote tallies to the state.

Rep. Mike Schlossberg credited GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano — and Mastriano's extreme positions — with turning the state House blue for the first time in a decade.

Lehigh County Sheriff Joe Hanna announced Tuesday he will seek a third term in the 2023 election cycle.

Daniel Buglio will run for Lehigh County coroner, a job he was appointed to this spring.

As part of what will be a routine effort to verify Pennsylvania’s election results, the Department of State has asked counties to perform what’s known as a risk-limiting audit.

Democrats won a suburban Philadelphia state House race Friday, giving them barely enough seats to take the chamber majority after 12 years.

Democrats have won control of the Pennsylvania state House for the first time in more than a decade, but it’s still unclear exactly how big their margin over Republicans will be.