Notable Pa. primary winners

Challengers set in key congressional races

• Ed Mahon
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Ed Mahon comes to Spotlight PA from PA Post, where he covered state politics and policy, produced radio stories that were broadcast on public media stations throughout the state and on NPR’s national newscasts, and co-wrote a weekday newsletter. Prior to joining PA Post, Ed worked for six years as an investigative and political reporter for the York Daily Record, part of the USA Today Network. His reporting on failures in Pennsylvania’s system for protecting domestic abuse victims was a finalist in the national 2018 Livingston Awards for Young Journalists in the local reporting category. He was also part of a team whose coverage of the criminal justice system, including the aggressive use of civil asset forfeiture by York County prosecutors, received the 2018 G. Richard Dew Award for Journalistic Service from the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association. Before joining the York Daily Record, Ed covered K-12 education at the Centre Daily Times in State College and worked as a stringer for suburban sections of The Philadelphia Inquirer. He grew up in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.

 Kate Landis / PA Post

Workers at the Mount Joy Borough Municipal Office greet a voter on June 2, 2020.

Kate Landis / PA Post

Workers at the Mount Joy Borough Municipal Office greet a voter on June 2, 2020. (Kate Landis / PA Post)

We are starting to see more results come in from Tuesday’s primary — the first Pennsylvania primary or election under a new law that allows no-excuse mail-in ballots.

Here’s a look at what we know now.

General Assembly

State Sen. Daylin Leach, a Montgomery County Democrat, trails Democratic challenger Amanda Cappelletti. The race was largely seen as a referendum on the incumbent. WHYY’s Katie Meyer explained the harassment allegations Leach faced for his behavior as lawmaker, as well as an allegation that in 1991 he pressured  a 17-year-old into performing oral sex on him.

The Associated Press projects that state Sen. Larry Farnese, a Philadelphia Democrat, lost to democratic socialist Nikil Saval. Jonah Engel Bromwich, a reporter for The New York Times, recently took a deep look at Saval’s campaign, writing that a “victory would be part of a pattern of leftist talkers and thinkers successfully turning ideas into action.”

Meanwhile, state Rep. Brian Sims, another Philadelphia Democrat, trails  challenger Marisa Shaaban, but mail-in ballots make the race too close to call. Sims gained national attention for what NBC News called an “epic rant” about secrecy surrounding a GOP legislator’s COVID-19 diagnosis.

In Pittsburgh, Democratic state Rep. Summer Lee, the first black woman elected to the legislature from southwestern Pa., successfully fended of a challenger, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.

“Thank u to THOUSANDS who contributed,” she wrote on Twitter. “But there’s no ‘victory’ while our ppl are being brutalized & tear gassed. While covid takes it’s (toll). While Black lives are under assault. Just work 2do.”

Auditor General

In a six-person race for the Democratic nomination, Pittsburgh Controller Michael Lamb leads the pack, followed by Nina Ahmad, a former Philadelphia deputy mayor. Lamb is the uncle of Congressman Conor Lamb, a Democrat who gained national attention for his upset win in 2018.

Republican Timothy DeFoor, the Dauphin County controller, was uncontested.

Congressional races

Philly suburbs: U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Bucks County Republican, fended off a challenger who tried to cast the incumbent as a  “liberal traitor to the GOP,” writes Chris Brennan for The Philadelphia Inquirer. The question now is whether national Democrats will make the district a priority in the fall as they did in 2018 (when Fitzpatrick held on.) Democrat Christina Finello will challenge him in November. She is an Ivyland Council member and a former Bucks County solicitor and human services executive, the Bucks County Courier Times reports.

Southcentral Pa.: Auditor General Eugene DePasquale leads Tom Brier, a 28-year-old attorney from Harrisburg, PennLive reports. But the race remains too close to call. The winner will challenge U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a York County Republican and Freedom Caucus member. The Cook Political Reports rates the November race a toss up.

Northeastern Pa.: In a six-way Republican race, former Trump administration appointee Jim Bognet came out on top, besting Teddy Daniels and four other candidates. Bognet will face  U.S. Congressman Matt Cartwright, a Lackawanna County Democrat. The Cook Political Reports rates the November race a toss up.

Lehigh Valley: Lisa Scheller won the GOP nomination to face U.S. Rep. Susan Wild in the 7th District, The Morning Call reports. Scheller is a recovering addict who opened a coffee shop in Tamaqua as a safe space for people in recovery. WITF’s Brett Sholtis profiled her and the shop back in 2018.

Best of the rest

Kimberly Paynter / WHYY

The statue of former Philadelphia mayor and chief of police Frank Rizzo was removed from the city’s Municipal Services Building early Wednesday morning amid civic unrest around the killings of unarmed black men in the U.S. (Kimberly Paynter / WHYY)

• Statue of limitations: The removal of the Frank Rizzo statue in Philadelphia is a big deal. Rizzo, a former Philadelphia mayor and police commissioner who once told people to “vote white,” died in 1991. WHYY’s Maria Pulcinella  provides some context here. “The Frank Rizzo statue represented bigotry, hatred, and oppression for too many people, for too long,” Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney wrote in an Instagram post. “It is finally gone.‬” The overnight removal reminds me of when Penn State removed the Joe Paterno statue from outside the football stadium, following the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal. Both were done after much debate and without advance notice.

• The prospects for increased police oversight: Spotlight PA’s Cynthia Fernandez looks at the efforts to change the state’s use of force laws, create a publicly available database with information about police misconduct, and establish an oversight board to certify and discipline officers. Many of the changes need approval from Republicans who control the General Assembly, although House Democratic Whip Jordan Harris (D-Philadelphia) said the governor could make some on his own, including by creating a deputy inspector general to focus on preventing police brutality, waste, fraud and abuse.

• Editor’s note: The Philadelphia Inquirer was sharply criticized by journalists of color for a headline that appeared over a piece by the paper’s architecture critic, Inga Saffron. “We should not have printed it. We’re sorry, and regret that we did. We also know that an apology on its own is not sufficient,” writes Inquirer Executive Editor Stan Wischnowski.

• A resignation in Erie: City leaders have received criticism for not disciplining or identifying an officer who was seen on video kicking a protester, who was sitting in the street with her hands over her face. (The city says it is conducting an internal investigation.) During a City Council meeting yesterday, some residents also questioned the city’s description of events. And GoErie.com reports that an Erie School Board member has resigned from the LGBTQ+ Advisory Council over the mayor’s handling of the issue.

Further reading:

• From the governor: He’s extended his disaster emergency declaration, scheduled to expire today, for another 90 days. Wolf earlier said he planned to do so but he noted he had the option to terminate it early.

• PA Post: After the protest is over: Reading town hall lifts Black voices in wake of #GeorgeFloyd

• WESA: Peduto Calls For Independent Investigations Of Police Use Of Force At East Liberty Protest

• Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Protesters’ arrests spotlight scrutiny of Allegheny County’s bail system

• WHYY: Philadelphia protesters want police to condemn white men ‘protecting’ Fishtown with baseball bats

• PA Post: Pa. House committee hearing presents dire picture for state tourism industry