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.

Both candidates attended the count in person.

His speech Tuesday at the AFL-CIO convention in Philadelphia was an attempt to reset the debate on the economy.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a request to halt a federal appeals court ruling that the votes be counted.

Browne, of Allentown, says he is proud of his work on the state Senate Appropriations Committee.

A state court recently ordered the ballots to be tallied. Still other justices disagree on the matter.

Lehigh County was expected to certify primary election results on June 1 but will now wait.

None of the results of Lehigh County's November election have yet to be certified.

The Pa. Department of State has offered some guidance, officials say.

The ruling could impact the race between Lehigh County judicial candidates Republican David Ritter and Democrat Zachary Cohen.

"...Now I feel welcome. I feel wanted," Santiago said.

State lawmaker expresses frustration with the history of missteps by the county elections office.

State Sen. Pat Browne trails Coleman by 30 votes out of more than 30,000 reportedly cast.