Two of the three candidates in the special election for the vacant 161st District Pennsylvania House Seat have accepted invitations to appear at the only public forum scheduled for the contest.
Committed to attend are Republican write-in candidate Lisa Esler of Aston and Democrat Leanne Krueger-Braneky of Swarthmore.
Paul Mullen, who had been supporting Democrats until the county Republicans tapped him as their candidate a few short weeks ago, has not responded as of this writing.
The event is sponsored by Delco Debates and will be 2 to 4 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 2 at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Ave.
Candidates will make opening statements then accept questions from the audience. They will then make a closing statement.
Ms. Krueger-Braneky describes herself as a businesswoman and was the Democratic candidate in the race for the seat last fall losing to Republican Joe Hackett by 2,696 votes. Hackett’s resignation, April 30, prompted the need for a special election.
Ms. Krueger-Braneky is endorsed by United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1776, which represents the Pennsylvania state stores; the Education Voters Action Fund, which seeks more tax money for school employees; and Delaware County United for Sensible Gun Policy, a gun control group.
Mrs. Esler is a Penn Delco school director and an optician. She is endorsed by the Associated Builders and Contractors. She has declared herself to be a strong supporter of the Second Amendment. She believes state stores should be privatized and feels that the state will be bankrupted if the pension systems for school and state employees are not changed. She notes that education spending has consistently increased and could be reduced by eliminating unfunded mandates which do not improve outcomes for students and hurts the taxpayer with ever-increasing property taxes.
It should be interesting.