Lehigh Valley Politics and Election News

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie helped secure $1.6 million in earmarks toward a new Alburtis Fire Station. The existing structure is too small to serve a modern fire department.

On this week's episode of Political Pulse, host Tom Shortell and political scientist Chris Borick dissect the Democratic sweep in elections across the country and the Lehigh Valley last week.

The House passed a bill Wednesday night to end the nation's longest government shutdown, sending the measure to President Donald Trump for his signature after a historic 43-day funding lapse that saw federal workers go without multiple paychecks, travelers stranded at airports and people lining up at food banks to get a meal for their families.

Billions of dollars for Pennsylvania’s public schools and social services will soon start flowing after months of delay, as lawmakers on Wednesday approved a $50 billion spending plan to break the state’s budget impasse.

The historic 40-day federal shutdown could be coming to an end after eight members of the Democratic caucus broke ranks on a procedural vote Sunday.

Gov. Josh Shapiro says Pennsylvania's utility companies have stepped up to shelter low-income households this winter. The customers are usually covered by LIHEAP, but the federal assistance program has experienced delays due to the federal government shutdown.

“If my vote is the deciding vote … let me save you the suspense: No va pa sa. It’s not happening,” Councilwoman Cynthia Mota said during her Election Night speech last week.

State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, R-Lehigh/Bucks, introduced the bill in 2023 after a student brought a knife to Schnecksville Elementary School. Parents didn't learn of the incident until a week later.

Three Democrats will join the Lower Macungie Township Board of Commissioners in January. The trio appear to have become the first Democrats to be elected to the township governing body in more than a half century.

The winners, based on unofficial results, are Democratic candidates: Kimberly Jaramillo, Luis Melecio, Josh Rager and Chris Sykora — who ran together on a slate.

The new year arrives with a new political calendar, including amendments to the Pennsylvania Constitution, local municipal races and school board elections filling the 2023 ballot.

The clean up and the questions begin in the the aftermath of the weekend's violent assault on Brazil's Congress.

Jeff Warren, a former city council member who also served on Hanover Township's board of supervisors, is running to represent District 3 on Northampton County Council.

In the Pennsylvania Capitol, no other issue defines the legislative career of newly minted state House Speaker Mark Rozzi more than helping survivors of decades-old sexual abuse.

Some are hopeful the chamber will finally pass rule changes aimed at giving all lawmakers a say in making policy, but there’s reason to be skeptical.

Al Schmidt’s appointment to the role will make Pennsylvania one of the few states where the state’s governor and chief election officer are of different parties.

"It causes me a lot of concern about how anything gets done. Is this just going to be two years of paralysis, which is a horrifying thought," said Wild, a Democrat who is still waiting to be sworn into her third full term representing the Lehigh Valley.

The two Pennsylvania Republicans are key figures in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to the House Jan. 6 Committee.

A Democrat who promised to govern as an independent was elected speaker of the narrowly divided Pennsylvania House of Representatives on Tuesday on the strength of about a dozen GOP votes.

California GOP Rep. Kevin McCarthy is in a fight to secure the needed votes to become speaker of the House.

The new lawmakers from the Lehigh Valley joined more than 50 other new faces who were ceremonially sworn in to the General Assembly in Harrisburg.

More than a dozen conservative Republicans rebelled against Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, preventing a House speaker from being elected on the first two rounds of votes.