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.

Jason Boulette, a Democrat who's served a year on Wind Gap Borough Council, said housing prices and open space are among his top priorities if elected to an at-large seat on Northampton County Council.

Northampton County elections officials recommended against buying more machines to combat long lines, and asked state legislators to let them work ahead on opening mail-in ballots.

Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District race between Susan Wild and Ryan Mackenzie was the 10th most expensive in the nation. A staggering $334 million was spent on Pennsylvania's U.S. Senate race, campaign filings show.

Join Megan Frank at 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. every Friday for Insights with LehighValleyNews.com on WLVR. This week, she's joined by Allentown reporter Jason Addy and Northampton County reporter Ryan Gaylor.

Jared Isaacman, a tech billionaire who lives in the Lehigh Valley and conducted the first private spacewalk, was nominated by President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday to lead NASA.

This week on Political Pulse, Chris Borick and Tom Shortell talk about local off-year elections and how their impacts are often more personal than the results of presidential elections, despite having lower voter turnout.

Lehigh and Northampton county officials participated in a risk-limiting audit that confirmed the results in the state treasurer race. That audit came in addition to a statewide statistical audit.

The Lehigh Valley's LGBTQ community is looking for ways to move forward in the wake of election campaigns that used sharp rhetoric, leaders say.

Local LGBTQ activists have fears following rhetoric by President-elect Donald Trump and many conservatives during the election season and at Trump's Allentown rally.

Nadeem Qaddum, the husband of Easton City Councilwoman Taiba Sultana, will run for one of five at-large seats on Northampton County Council in the 2025 election.

Democrats in Pennsylvania lost its 19 presidential electoral votes, a U.S. Senate seat, three other statewide races, and two congressional seats.

What can we expect from a second Donald Trump presidency? This week on Political Pulse, Tom Shortell and Chris Borick talk about Trump's plans for his second term.