BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh Valley’s 137th House District has seen a lot of changes and it could see more by the end of midterm elections.
Redistricting has shifted the area that 12-year Republican incumbent Joe Emrick represents from a largely Republican stronghold to one of the most evenly split districts in Pennsylvania.
Emrick faces Democrat Anna Thomas, a former Bethlehem Area School Board member.
- The boundaries of the 137th House District have changed with redistricting after the 2020 Census
- The redrawn lines include the Bethlehem and Nazareth area school districts, shifting from their base in the Bangor Area School District
- Republican incumbent Joe Emrick faces Democratic challenger Anna Thomas
Previous district lines encompassed most of the Bangor Area School District. Redrawn lines based on 2020 Census results mean the district now covers most of the Bethlehem Area and Nazareth Area school districts.
That gives the district an almost entirely new set of constituents, with the district now covering about 62,573 residents.
Anna Thomas
Thomas said she has knocked on more than 7,700 doors and is pushing to get to 8,000 by Election Day.
“In that range of doors I’ve talked to everyone,” Thomas said. “Hardened conservatives to the very progressive folks in our district. I would say I am someone who is extremely middle of the road.”
Thomas was born and raised in Bethlehem Township and said she long has been called to public service.
She said she remembers being in first grade when state Rep. Steve Samuelson visited her class at Spring Garden Elementary School. Thomas said her teacher looked at her and said "‘that could be [you].”
Thomas said she is the only candidate in the race who was born in and is from the district.
Thomas graduated from Freedom High School in Bethlehem Township and received a degree in chemistry at Wellesley College and a master's in public administration from the University of Pennsylvania.
Joe Emrick
Emrick did not respond to requests for an interview.
While signs for Emrick have been spotted around the Lehigh Valley, he does not appear to have a campaign website, recent campaign social media posts or to have given recent interviews on his campaign views.
Before being elected to the Legislature, Emrick was a high school economics and American government teacher in the Lower Moreland Township School District in Montgomery County.
He graduated from Bangor Area High School and is a Lycoming College graduate.
Education
Thomas said that during her campaigning, she has come across many people — Democrats, Republicans and Independents, — who are concerned about schools and funding for education.
She said she wants to tackle how the Bethlehem Area, Nazareth Area and Easton Area school districts receive less funding than districts such as Parkland and East Penn. Thomas said she wants to ensure state funding is fairly allocated to 137th District schools.
She said Bethlehem Area schools are still underfunded, despite additional funding received from the state’s 2022-23 budget.
In July, Emrick voted to approve the 2023 state budget, which allotted more than $500 million in additional funding to grades K-12. It also included an additional $100 million in special education funding and $80 million for early childhood education.
Emrick also voted for the Fair Funding Formula (HB 1552) in 2016 which provided student-weighted education funding.
Emrick has voted to ban transgender girls from playing on school sports teams (HB 972). The bill was vetoed by Gov. Tom Wolf in 2022.
Elections
Thomas said she wants to work across bipartisan lines. She said she sees the larger political climate play out in the 137th District.
“One philosophical issue at this point [that] is indicative of the larger climate is that sometimes there are people who don't want to talk to you when you find out what party you are [in],” she said. “I think that is something that is a pervasive problem across the country at this point. People don't want to work with one another.”
Thomas said that in the Lehigh Valley, she has seen many “purple” households – where one parent is a Democrat and the other a Republican. She said she strongly believes that collaboration is a must and is possible.
She added that she thinks there should be campaign financing reform in Pennsylvania, where now there is no cap on campaign donations. She said she also wants open primaries to give independent voters a say in those elections.
In 2019, Emrick voted on a bill that would remove the option for straight-party voting. The legislation was vetoed by Wolf.
Economy
Thomas said she wants to raise the minimum wage and consider ways to make the Lehigh Valley more enticing for young people to not only live but work in the area.
“If we’re [in] this place where people are waking up in the morning and they’re driving into New York for their jobs, what can we do as a state that makes people wake up in the morning and drive to Allentown or Bethlehem?” she said.
Thomas added that the Lehigh Valley is just a stone’s throw from major metropolitan areas, and she said she wants to support small businesses and startups. Thomas said that is what will bring jobs to the Lehigh Valley.
Emrick has written a bill (HB407) that has received bipartisan support and was enacted into law that eliminates property tax penalties for those who have not received a property tax bill during the first year of property ownership.
Abortion
Thomas said she supports abortion access and stated on her website that she will defend the right of Pennsylvanians to make family-planning decisions.
In 2019, Emrick voted yes to a bill that would prohibit abortions on the diagnosis of Down syndrome. The bill was vetoed by Wolf.
Emrick also voted yes to a bill in 2017, later also vetoed by Wolf, that would ban abortions after 20 weeks unless a physician in writing deems it necessary to prevent death or irreversible injury to those pregnant. The bill would have also banned dilation and evacuation abortion procedures.
