Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

President Donald Trump campaigned on immigration enforcement and recent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations have gained national and local attention. This week on Political Pulse, host Tom Shortell and political scientist Chris Borick look into the public's reaction to these raids.

Larry O’Donnell, a 15-year borough resident, was appointed to fill a council vacancy through the end of the year.

The U.S. Senate could vote on the proposed One Big Beautiful Bill Act this week. If passed, millions of Americans would lose access to Medicaid and SNAP benefits in order to fund border security and tax cuts to wealthy Americans.

The emergence of the gig economy has altered the American workforce and created questions about what benefits and protections independent contractors should have under federal law. U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, discussed that during the roundtable.

Bill Bachenberg is a major supporter of President Trump and co-owner of Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in North Whitehall Township. A former board member, he recently became president of the National Rifle Association.

Federal immigration officials on Friday issued their first statement since arresting 17 people at the Five10 Flats on June 11. Mayor J. Williams Reynolds this week described the arrests as "an American tragedy."

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Lehigh Valley, got an earful from a constituent Saturday after he accused protesters of feeding a charged political environment that's led to assassinations.

Emrick Boulevard in Bethlehem Township hosted the first of four rallies organized in the Lehigh Valley to coincide with a military parade in Washington, D.C., on Trump's 79th birthday. At least one physical confrontation occurred.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie voted in line with the Republican majority to strip more than $1 billion of federal funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting over the next two years.

Ryan Crosswell, a recent arrival in the Lehigh Valley, is the third Democrat to get in line to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District. The seat should be one of the most contested U.S. House races in the 2026 midterms.

Three Hispanic candidates are on the Republican ticket for Lehigh County commissioner.

Harsh words and pointed fingers are common during election season, but the barbs traded in the Northampton County Executive’s race might be a little sharper than most.

Steve Lynch, candidate for Northampton County executive, used the vaccine mandate issue at Gracedale to address a crowd on Oct. 25, 2021, one week before the election.

The five-member Legislative Reapportionment Commission has been waiting for a final, cleaned-up package of census data since the summer.

A recently filed federal lawsuit claims dispatchers at local 911 call centers drank alcohol, slept, and watched movies on the clock.

President Joe Biden is trying to drum up support for a several trillion-dollar infrastructure spending plan that's being negotiated in Congress. The effort included returning to his boyhood home of Scranton.

Voters in Allentown will have the chance to remove English as the city’s “official” language in the upcoming election.

Mike Doyle, who has represented western Pennsylvania in Congress for more than a quarter-century and became the dean of Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation, announced Monday that he will not run again for re-election. As WESA was first to report early this morning, the move comes as the incumbent faced a challenge from the left next year and — if he won — the prospect of being in the minority party in the U.S. House.

The Pennsylvania Department of State oversees the commonwealth’s elections. The agency is led by Veronica Degraffenreid, who assumed the role of acting secretary of state on Feb. 8.

Touting census data that shows a strong uptick in Pennsylvania’s non-White population, representatives from some of Pennsylvania’s communities of color say new political boundaries should give them a chance for stronger representation in Harrisburg.

The two candidates, Republican Tim Ramos and Democrat Matt Tuerk faced off in a debate Thursday night on PBS39 and WLVR.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro made his long-awaited campaign for governor official in Pittsburgh Wednesday morning, solidifying his status as the Democrats’ almost-certain nominee in a state where the party has little margin for error.