Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

On this week's episode of Political Pulse, Tom Shortell and Chris Borick talk about President Donald Trump's second term. Has he started it off on a strong foot? In Trump's first month in office, Borick said, approval numbers seem to be pointing down.

Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure says he'll run for Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District seat in 2026, seeking to bring the seat back under Democratic control.

Mark Pinsley also plans to publish a series of “plain-language reports” about how billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to cut the federal government will affect local municipalities, services and programs.

Patrick Palmer was less than two dozen votes short of winning one of four Democratic nominations for council in 2021.

If you’ve ever thought about running for local office, you’ve probably had one big question above all: How do I get my campaign up and running? Tom Shortell and Sam Chen have the answers in this week's Political Pulse.

Santos became the youngest person ever elected to Allentown City Council when she won election in 2021. She'll join four other candidates in the primary election on May 20, 2025.

The federally funded Neighborhood Health Centers of the Lehigh Valley served about 10,000 people last year across its five locations across the region.

Ben Stemrich announced his bid Friday, joining three other candidates — Jeremy Binder, Luis Acevedo and Cristian Pungo — in the contest for four open seats.

Federal agents were at Northampton County Prison on Friday morning to apprehend an inmate upon his release. The man was alleged to be in the country illegally. The level of cooperation between ICE agents and the county has come under attack by U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie.

Phil Armstrong highlighted a long list of accomplishments and laid out a few more plans for his last year in office Thursday night.

The U.S. Supreme Court denied a quick, pre-election review on Wednesday to a new Republican appeal on mail-in ballots in Pennsylvania. The GOP sought to exclude votes received after Election Day. But the matter isn’t completely settled yet.

Voter registration for the presidential election topped nine million this year in PA, an all-time high.

President Donald Trump is scheduled to hold a rally this morning in Allentown as part of a trio of stops today across the state as candidates head into a pitched battle for the swing state’s 20 electoral votes.

WLVR’s Community Correspondent Genesis Ortega spoke with Jose Rosado, the first Latino to be elected mayor in the history of Pennsylvania - in Fountain Hill. He says that getting even a third of registered Latinos to the polls could swing the election -- but that political parties need to do more to reach those voters.

Mail-in voters have until election day to cast their ballot, Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar is recommending voters do not wait, and where possible avoid using the mail.

Voter registration totals have reached a record high in Pennsylvania - and officials say they’re expecting record turnout on election day as well.

Nearly nine million voters have registered so far to cast their ballots in November, in person and by mail. But Pennsylvania officials say they’re still concerned about getting every vote counted on Election Day.

U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) is accusing the Trump Administration of hampering postal service deliveries. Casey says he has evidence of large containers of priority mail meant for the Lehigh Valley have been sitting for weeks in a Scranton postal facility.

Matt Tuerk is running for Mayor of Allentown 2021. He made the announcement via Facebook Live Tuesday afternoon.

American financial turmoil was front and center in the first debate between the Lehigh Valley’s candidates for the 7th congressional district.

Two Democratic state lawmakers want to punish any Pennsylvania electoral college member who votes contrary to the popular vote in the presidential election.

With the election just around the corner, Lehigh Valley activists are ramping up their work. As WLVR’s Ben Stemrich reports, they gathered at a block party in Bethlehem over the weekend to talk strategy.