BETHLEHEM, Pa. — For those familiar with the history of the state House of Representatives 22nd District in the Lehigh Valley, the mess that the race to fill the next term has become may not be a surprise.
Voters will go to the polls on May 19 to choose the Democratic candidate for the seat — picking between incumbent Ana Tiburcio and Allentown City Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach.
Tiburcio won the seat in a special election Feb. 24, defeating Republican Robert Smith Jr. to serve the remaining term of Josh Siegel, who last year won an election for Lehigh County Executive.
Smith also is the unopposed Republican candidate for the primary, and presumably will face the Democratic primary winner in the November general election.
The district represents Allentown’s Center City and East Side neighborhoods, and part of Salisbury Township.
Knowing the history of the 22nd House District in the Lehigh Valley, along with the players involved throughout the years, the only two things that are certain.
The Allentown Latino community continues to seek fair representation.
And Democratic political powerbrokers are more interested in maintaining their power, influence and control in the district.
One only has to go through the history of how Latinos have fared in a system that seems to give party powerbrokers more power than the voters in the district.
History of a 'Latino' seat
The relevant history of the seat starts in 2014 — when, after redistricting based on the 2010 Census, the state relocated the 22nd House District seat from Allegheny County to the Lehigh Valley.
That new seat included a 50% Latino population and was considered by many a Latino District — giving many in the growing Latino community a sense of hope they finally might elect the first Latino from the Lehigh Valley to serve as a state representative in Harrisburg.
That especially was true given that it was an open seat, with no incumbent to overcome.
Latino leaders eagerly came together to identify and support a Latino candidate to seek the Democratic nomination for the seat.
Tatiana Tooley, a local community organizer and advocate, quickly emerged as a qualified and viable candidate.
With the support of many Latino leaders, she announced her candidacy, and many in the Latino community felt optimistic she would win the seat.
Instead, Allentown Democratic political powerbrokers at the time had a different plan for the seat.
Those powerbrokers included former state Rep. Jennifer Mann and her proteges, Allentown Councilman Peter Schweyer and state Rep. Michael Schlossberg; and Mayor Ed Pawlowski and his campaign manager, Mike Fleck.
Soon after Tooley announced her candidacy, Schweyer announced his bid for the new seat.
Many in the Latino community believed the Democratic political powerbrokers were more interested in growing their power and influence than they were about supporting diversity and fair representation.
With overwhelming support from the Democratic powerbrokers, Schweyer defeated Tooley in the Democratic primary and also defeated his Republican opponent in the general election to win the 22nd House seat.
During his first term as state representative (2015-16), Schweyer joined forces with Pawlowski, Fleck and Schlossberg to form a political action committee to fund a slate of candidates and increase their political power and influence.
A new Latino candidate
Schweyer ran unopposed for the seat in 2016 and 2018.
But in 2020, Enid Santiago, a community advocate and co-founder of a community based non-profit organization, challenged him.
Santiago ran a very active and well-organized social media and community outreach campaign during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her campaign energized the Latino community, which contributed to a high voter turnout.
Santiago and many in the Latino community were upset when the primary election results favored the incumbent by 55 votes.
Santiago challenged the results, and during an investigation, a Lehigh County judge of elections admitted she tampered with voter ballots about 30 times.
Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin charged her with two misdemeanor election code violations and she resigned, but it didn’t change the election results.
Schweyer was re-elected in the general election.
Redistricting based on the 2020 census again became a major issue in the 22nd House District.
Many in the Latino community were upset when an initial legislative redistricting map moved both Schweyer and Santiago out of the 22nd House District and into the 134th House District (a less-diverse district that includes part of Salisbury Township).
In 2022, Schweyer beat Santiago in the primary and was elected state representative for the 134th state House District in an uncontested general election.
No Latino candidates
As a result of redistricting, the 22nd House seat again became an open seat.
When a proposed redistricting map moved Fountain Hill into the district, a reporter reached out to me and asked whether I would run for election for the 22nd House seat if the final redistricting map included Fountain Hill.
I told the reporter that I would run. But when the final legislative redistricting map for the 22nd House seat was released, it didn’t include Fountain Hill.
Victor Martinez, owner of La Mega radio station and prominent Latino leader, who had testified before the Legislative Reapportionment Commission advocating for fair legislative districts, was troubled by the new legislative map.
Martinez observed that though the commission had identified the 22nd House District as an “opportunity” district with a 53% Latino population, Enid Santiago and Jose Rosado, both formidable candidates, were kept out of the redrawn district.
In 2022, Allentown City Councilman Joshua Siegel declared his candidacy for the 22nd House seat.
With the support of democratic political powerbrokers, Siegel beat Saeed Georges in the Democratic primary and won an uncontested general election.
There were no Latino candidates.
A special election
In 2024, Siegel ran for re-election, was unopposed in the primary and general elections, and won another two-year term.
But less than a year into his second term, Siegel ran for Lehigh County Executive and won. A special election to replace Siegel was scheduled for Feb. 24, 2026.
The Democratic powerbrokers — Siegel, Schweyer, Schlossberg and state Sen. Nick Miller — nominated and supported Julian Guridy, a constituent services representative for Miller, to complete Siegel’s term.
Everyone in the Latino community to whom I talked spoke well of Guridy, but many were troubled by the plan and those who crafted it.
The primary concern was that Latino leaders were not included, and other potential Latino candidates were not considered.
The Lehigh County Democratic party accepted applications from prospective candidates and scheduled a Jan. 3 meeting to interview them. The meeting was not open to the public.
Guridy, who already had announced he would be a Democratic candidate in the 2026 primary for a full two-year term, was overwhelmingly nominated by the committee for the special election.
But the next week, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party Executive Committee announced Guridy withdrew from the special election “due to personal reasons.”
Days later, Guridy acknowledged to a reporter that he withdrew because he didn’t meet residency requirements.
That calls into question the vetting process by Democratic powerbrokers who crafted and supported his nomination.
Did Siegel, Schweyer, Schlossberg and Miller know that Guridy did not meet the residency requirement when they supported his candidacy?
If they did and moved him forward anyway, their actions were reckless and dishonest at best.
If they didn't, they were irresponsible and negligent in the vetting process.
Either way, in my opinion, they did Guridy a great disservice.
They also owe the residents of the 22nd House District an answer.
First Latino to hold the seat
Upon Guridy dropping out of the special election, the Lehigh County Democrats selected Allentown School Board member Ana Tiburcio to replace Guridy on the ballot.
By doing so, they bypassed Allentown City Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach, who had applied for the Democratic nomination and was not selected.
Gerlach also had announced her candidacy for a full two-year term in the May primary.
Things became even more unstable for the Democrats after a debate between Tirbucio and Robert Smith Jr., the Republican nominee for the special election.
State party leaders announced that “The PA HDCC is fully committed to supporting Ana,” but her poor performance during the debate caused many to view her as unprepared, uninformed and unqualified for the position.
The debate disaster also called into question the level of support and preparation she received from the Democratic powerbrokers.
In fact, after the debate disaster, Siegel withdrew his support for Tiburcio and flip-flopped over to camp Ce-Ce.
Siegel’s abandoning of Tirbucio was called out directly on social media by his former state House colleague, Rep. Manny Guzman, D-Berks County.
“This is why people have so little trust in politicians,” Guzman wrote. “The Lehigh County Executive was a big part of selection of Ana Tirbucio candidacy. He was actively involved
"Now he throws her under the bus and endorses her opponent to try and clean his hands of the mess he made.
“What he won’t tell you is how badly he spoke of Councilwoman Gerlach to myself and other colleagues calling her crazy and a lunatic …
"If you felt this way the entire time, Josh, why didn’t you support Gerlach during the committee nomination process? … Thanks for using Ana, Josh!”
Tirbucio defeated Smith in the special election and was sworn in on March 23 as the first Latina from the Lehigh Valley to be elected to the state House.
The deciding factor
Tirbucio’s quest to be elected to a full, two-year term briefly faced a challenge when two residents of the district, Jessica Lee Ortiz and Paulette Hunter, filed a joint challenge to signatures on Tirbucio’s petitions in an effort to keep Tirbucio off of the May primary election ballot.
However, Ortiz and Hunter withdrew their challenge prior to a hearing, clearing the way for Tirbucio to be on the ballot.
Now that the Democratic political powerbrokers have split, the stage is set for the showdown between Camp Ana, including Schweyer, Schlossberg and Miller, vs. Camp Ce-Ce, including Siegel and Latino community leader and advocate Enid Santiago.
Having already made history, will Tirbucio go on to defeat Gerlach in the May primary, then win a full two-year term in the general election?
Or will she be defeated by Gerlach, making Tirbucio a 10-month fill-in state representative?
Is it possible, as some speculate, that the Latino community would be better served by a more independent non-Latina than they would be by a Latina with close ties to the Democratic political powerbrokers?
I believe how the Allentown Latino community answers that question will be the deciding factor in who wins the 22nd House seat.
José Rosado is an author, retired school principal and former mayor of Fountain Hill, where he resides.