Category: Election 2026

Pennsylvania Election Paranoia

By Bob Small

Both major parties are planning for major Election Day irregularities.

Before we conclude its not just the Party of Hunter and his father doing this, the following quote “We’ve invested heavily in staff throughout the Commonwealth who have been recruiting and training poll workers and monitors since before the primary election,” is from PA GOP Party Spokesperson James Markley.

However, the DNC has created “Democracy Protectors” which sounds like the new Marvel political franchise. They are drumming up fear of ICE agents or “insurrectionists” or ???!!

Democratic National Committee Chair Vice Chair Jane Kleeb opines that “We know that the threat is real” so that is why “we have an Intelligence Unit”, composed of former government intelligence agents. Hopefully, it’s not a “Stupidity Unit,” but we digress.

Since this is about Pennsylvania, we need to mention the following groups discussed in this article; the Philadelphia-based Committee of Seventy, Common Cause Pennsylvania, Faiths United to Save Democracy, League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, and Project Halo. Surely one of these groups can bring coffee and donuts for everyone serving in the polling locations.

This article also listed 20- some National groups, which you’ll have to seek on your own.

Yet another group Serve as a Pennsylvania Election Protection Legal Monitor will be there to “ensure every Pennsylvania Voter is able to vote” , despite any attempts at “voter intimidation and suppression”. From either side, of course.

The ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) has been creating “Voter Ambassadors”. They, along with their partners Common Cause who have five major duties, including “flagging misinformation” and various forms of networking.

They also serve who sit and drive tose

who may need “a ride to the polls, dropbox, or election office”, among other places. This group is called “Promote the Vote”.

This Bill confirms that “law enforcement officers are prohibited from being within 100 feet of a polling location on Election Day.”

Hope there’s enough parking at your local polling location.

See also

Election Protection – Common Cause Pennsylvania

Voter Protection

Paranoia Around Election Day

By Bob Small

Paranoia strikes deep

Into your life it will creep

from

For What it’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield

So we were having our small but hardy band of the Swarthmore GOP Committee meeting on Oct 13^, on the second floor of Swarthmore Borough Hall. We noticed we were without chairs, so we went to the first floor where we borrowed the chairs that had miraculously ended up on the first floor. We discovered “The Delco Dems Election Protection Training” going on. That led to my trying to discern why the Delco Dems need “election protection” in the first place.

According to the Delco Dems they are now doing some of these sessions virtually! Out of an abundance of caution, no doubt. They are doing these sessions to ensure every vote is counted.

In an article carried by SpotlightPa it is noted that “no police officer … shall be within one hundred feet of a polling place”

A proposal by State Rep. Malcolm Kenyetta (D-Philadelphia) would replace “police officer” with “law enforcement officer”. This will probably not be passed before the election.

Lastly, a Department of Homeland Security Official, one Heather Honey (love that name!), said “there will be no ICE presence at polling locations for this election.”

LWV (aka League of Women Voters not League of Women Vultures as someone had alleged)along with ACLU Pennsylvania and Common Cause Pennsylvania have also started to ride the “Election Protection” train.

If you visit, Philly Election Protection Training w/Popular Democracy, you’ll see that the term “non-partisan” is used. We suspect they mean both old and new Democrats. We challenge you to find any mention of an independent or, heaven forfend, a Republican organization. Forget any Green, Libertarian, or SWP representation.

In Swarthmore, for instance, the minority Republicans are more likely to be the victims of attempted “intimidation” rather than the majority Democrats.

But there’s a narrative that the Legacy media wants us to believe, so….

Alternatives for PA Governor

By Bob Small

If you saw Pennsylvania’s Oct. 8 gubernatorial debate, you pretty much know the choices being offered by the two major parties. If you missed it, it’s available on YouTube among other venues.

If you decided on either Tracy Garrity or Josh Shapiro, you can stop reading.

If you want to see what the alternative parties or independents have to offer, stay tuned.

And staying tuned leads us to s Ken Krawchuk of the Libertarians who is the only other candidate on the ballot.

His website is here: www.kenk4pa.com

Ken is a graduate of St. Joe’s in Physics, the Abington Citizen’s Police Academy, and a long-time member of Toastmasters. He and his wife have three daughters and four grandchildren,

In the issues section, he lists 10 points, and devotes six pages to data centers.

He points out that most of the decisions around data centers are controlled by the Municipalities Planning Code created almost 60 years ago. He feels that the final decision should always be decided by the affected towns.

Full disclosure: We have known Ken for almost two decades and, while we disagree on many policy issues, we wish he would have a realistic chance to be Governor.

For other Candidates, we go to politics1.com, which lists some of the more prominent ones, if you can say write-in candidates are prominent.

Full Disclosure again. We spent years trying to work with the Pennsylvania Green Party. For my part, I decided, due to the upper leadership — the local Greens were some of the best people I’ve known – to leave to retain my sanity.

Hopefully, I succeeded.

Whenever we, or any other Pennsylvania political party, went signature gathering, we included both the Gubernatorial and Lieutenant Governor candidate on the same Petition!

However, the 2026 Green Petition Drive had each candidate on separate petitions!

So the Pennsylvania Green Party candidates will not appear on the ballot because while the lieutenant governor candidate had the required2,500 signatures, a judge ruled he could not appear on the ballot himself.

Going any further will make my head explode!

The SWP (Socialist Worker Party) which describes itself as the “Peace” Party has nominated one “Tony Lane” as its candidate. See SWP campaign kicks off in new Pittsburgh headquarters. T

SWP has other PA. Write-in Campaigns, according to Politics1.com.

Lastly, there is Independent James Moore who has some good ideas on his over written website.

See also Write-in candidate for Pennsylvania governor on …

District 12 Defeat And Complacent Republicans

By Bob Small

We’re approaching the time when portents are seen in every primary, as though each one is “casting the runes”. (Just saw “The Winter’s Tale at Swarthmore Player’s Club second stage).

The last Democrat elected in Pennsylvania House District 12 was Patricia Carone in 1998. This is not a portent of upcoming elections, more like time for a change in one District. To quote the article, from neighboring Rep .Aaron Bernstine.

“Special elections aren’t typically indicative of a district. Very low turnout and those types of things,” Though

As of May of this year, Democrats have flipped 12 state legislative seats in special elections across the country since President Trump took office in January 2025. However, this fits a pattern of off-year elections.

Eugene Depasquale, Democrat Party chair said “it sets the stage for this November’s midterm elections.” However, Sam DeMarco, former GOP Chair of Allegheny County GOP concluded “Democrats didn’t win HD-12 as much as Republicans lost it”. By the way, Butler County is where Donald Trump was shot during his last campaign.

James Markley, another GOP Spokesperson warned “This needs to be a wake-up call for Republican voters.” By the way, Trump won this District in 2024 by 18 percentage points.

Chris Borick, Lehigh University Political Science Professor, said “I always put cautionary signs next to special elections.” Democratic voters mentioned the “Democratic Socialists” which may be the gift that keeps on giving,

istrict 12had been GOP since 1999 and previously both parties had stretches in power. Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 12. This election was decided by 87 votes.

See also Pennsylvania House District 12 (General Election)

Mystery Candidate in Pa CD 7

By Bob Small

The confirmed candidates from the major parties for Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional Distrct are are Republican Incumbent Ryan Mckenzie and Democrat challenger Bob Brooks. The Aug. 3 deadline date passed without any selected Green or Libertarian candidates filing.

Yet there’s an Andrew Tupone who’s collected signatures and says he’s running as a Green.

However Green Party Co-Chair Timothy Runkle said, “We have a brand and a reputation to protect that this person doesn’t represent.”

Tupone has previously been both Democrat and Republican.

Long-time election law Lawyer Larry Otter said, “I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” “I’ve never seen this variation before.”

Runkle added “Unfortunately, the Pennsylvania election law permits this type of foolishness, and those in the parties who wrote it are the greatest hucksters “

Currently the 7^th District includes all of “Carbon, Lehigh, and Northampton Counties, and parts of Monroe County. “This was a District where the PA Supreme Court got involved and redrew the boundaries in 2018. This was the Congressional District infamously described as  “Goofy kicking Donald Duck. “

Not only are the Greens objecting, but one of Tupone’s former parties is also objecting. “

The Democrats are alleging issues with many of the 9,460 signatures Tupone collected and, like the Green Party, accusing him of paying out-of-state people to help collect them. “

See also

Green Party sues to remove Pennsylvania candidate from …

Socialist King Of New York City

By Bob Small

“The roof, the roof, the roof is on fire”

—Rock Master Scott & The Dynamic Three

Three Congressional candidates from New York endorsed by the uncrowned king of New York,Zohran Mamdani, won their primaries and are expected to be elected to congress in November.

They are Darializa Avila Chevalier (13th), Brad Linder (10th), and Claire Valdez(7th).

In addition to his loss, Congressman Dan Goldman was banned from his favorite coffee shop, Poetica Coffee, for his Pro-Israel stance.

Jeremy Carl, of the Claremont Institute, said that New York had become “a post-American city”. He went on to say, “The future of the Democrat party is radical and post-American in it’s (sic) orientation. “

Candidates endorsed by Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) –

also won in the New York State Legislature, including Eon Huntly (56^th), Samantha Katten (37^th), David Orkin (38^th), llapa Sairitupac (65^th). and Christian Tate (54^th). 5 takeaways from New York 2026 primary election results However, as this article points out, establishment Democrats had some wins, though less than usual.

Donald Trump is quoted as saying. America would “never be a communist country”. George Conway, the former husband of Kellyanne Conway, and a founder of the anti-Trump ran in the 12^th District. He received all of 6% of the vote.

Van Jones said “The roof is collapsing on the Democratic Party Establishment”. He has dubbed this“insurgency” as “a movement and a machine at the same time”, while also including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a co-architect.

It’s not just a New York “thing” anymore. The next Mayor of Washington, DC will be Janeese Lewis George, another DSA member. Also, DSA member Nithya Raman, will be in the general election for LA Mayor.

If you’re interested in the local affiliate, Home – delcodsa.org

The Democratic establishment managed to beat back the progressives in Maryland and Utah. It seems, in a counter to DSA, that AIPAC has also gotten involved.

Lastly, just because he’s such a good writer, see Zohran Mamdani and the Nitwit Revolution – by Matt Taibbi

Will Dem Senate Stunt Backfire?

By Bob Small

There’s been a lot of articulations about the candidacy of Daniel L. Osborn who’s achieved ballot status as an “independent” Nebraska Senate Candidate. He has approximately $3 million in funds. One of the major contributors is the WORKING FAMILIES PARTY PAC along with American Opportunity Action, both of which are aligned with Democrats. Strangely, this funding was not mentioned in most of the articles or podcasts on Dan Osborn.

Osborn left college and eventually became the president of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union Local 50G. He led the successful 2021 strike at Kellogg’s Omaha Plant.

As a union member, we applaud that.

This year the Nebraska Democratic Party “fought hard to get Cindy Burbank  through a Senate primary against William Forbes.

The plan apparently was that Burbank would  immediately drop from the race clearing the way for an “independent” campaign by Osborn” who had 46% in his losing 2024 campaign. This article goes into other examples of what the British media site as “jiggery-pokery”.

The Democratic Candidate, Cindy Burbank, was not supposed to stay in the race, but…

Osborn, on his website, cites such positions as “protect our paychecks, social security, and healthcare”, “drain the Swamp”, and “defend our freedoms and the Constitution”, which the majority of us would agree with. H

He served in the United States Navy and is a former member of the Nebraska Army National Guard.

Among other contributors to his campaign are “the Fight Agency”, with it’s ties to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani. Nebraska hasn’t had a Democratic Senator in almost 15 years and their last Democratic Governor, E. Benjamin Nelson, left office in 1999.

Since Osborn is cited as the best hope to win in November, Burbank was supported in the Democratic Primary, with the understanding that she would drop out for the General Election.

That is not going as planned.

She actuallly may not be allowed to drop out.

Stay tuned.

See also
A slew of indie candidates are running for Senate in deep- …

U.S. Senate candidate Dan Osborn faces another election …

Dan Osborn, the Independent Senate Candidate Who …

Incumbent Crushed In Dem 22nd District Primary

By Bob Small

The saga of the Pennsylvania House 22^nd District in 2026 is a bit twisty, so bear with me. Democrat Josh Siegel resigned from the seat Dec. 17 because he had been elected Lehigh County Executive. The area Dems initially chose Julian Guridy to be the candidate, but questions were raised about his residency. They next chose Ana Tibuerico, though her petitions were challenged (see below). When the Feb 24 Special Election was held, she defeated GOP candidate Robert E. Smith with 67 percent of the vote.

All of this led to the May 19 Democrat Primary where Tiburico lost to Ce-Ce Gerlach 56 to 44 percent.

Gerlach and Smith, who won the GOP primary are now slated to face off in the Nov. 3 General Election.

The 22^nd House District. covers parts of Lehigh County, including parts of Allentown and Salisbury Township.

Gerlach has been leading the “Allentown Jobs First” initiative and advocates for affordable housing. She has a degree in Elementary Education from Cedar Crest College.

“The problems that we face are systematic, so there must be systematic solutions,” she said.

It turns out that the local chapter of the Working Families Party supported Gerlach in the primary. WFP almost always supports Democrats in the general.

The challenge against Tibrucio’s Petitions — this is Pennsylvania, after all –was withdrawn on March 24.

The 22^nd District “is the most partisan state House seat in the Lehigh Valley. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the district 2.5-to-1, giving them a sizable advantage in the district. “

Gerlach became an Allentown City Councilperson in 2019. She has a degree in Elementary Education from Cedar Crest College.

See also:

MEET CE-CE | State Rep Site
Incumbent Ana Tiburcio concedes 22nd House District …

Humble Win In 50th District Primary

By Bob Small

In the third of four Pennsylvania house incumbents to lose to a Primary Challenger, Republican Bud Cook lost by over 300 votes to Waynesborough Council President Ben Humble in the primary for the 50th District.

Humble is the project manager with Humble Flooring and Decorating Center.

Cook, first elected in November 2016, was seeking his sixth term.

The 50^th District consists of Greene County, along with four townships and 20 boroughs of Washington County.

The Democratic candidate will be Lois Bower-Bjonson of Scenery Hill.

Cook sponsored legislation that would Primary results spell the end for four PA House incumbents, “bar public officials from lobbying if they’re convicted of a crime”.

Humble wants to create a state-level DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency.

Cook also sought to replace property taxes with “alternative funding models” to raise money.” He previously was a council member in West Virginia, etc.

Cook echoes many with his concerns “ about the strain large data centers can place on our energy grid, water resources, and local infrastructure, especially in rural communities. “

Ben Humble has a diploma from Jefferson-Morgan High School and 30 years experience as a businessman, and a volunteer fireman.

State Senator Camera Barlotta (R- 46) gave the Humble campaign $1,030, but the money was returned. See also below.

In 2020, Bud Cook was among 26 Pa House Republicans who called for“the reversal of Joe Biden’s certification as the winner of Pennsylvania’s 2020 electoral votes in the 2020 United States Presidential election”.

For a discussion of the Barlotta “alleged influence” for Ben Humble, see Why is local politics in Washington County so cutthroat?

Also see

I had high hopes for Ben Humble. He screams he is not …

Meet Ben Humble