News & Brews September 11, 2023
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Dem. state rep. to announce candidacy for AG
PennLive reports that Democrat state Rep. Jared Solomon of Philadelphia will officially announce his candidacy for attorney general tomorrow. He will become the fourth Democrat in the race, joining Eugene DePasquale, Joe Khan, and Keir Bradford-Grey. On the Republican side, York County District Attorney Dave Sunday is running. Current AG Michelle Henry, who was appointed by Gov. Shapiro to fill the vacancy created when he became governor, is not running for re-election.
Senate committee to hold hearing today on educational opportunity
The Senate Education Committee will hold a public hearing today at 1:00 pm in Philadelphia “on providing more education opportunities for students.” Scheduled to testify are four parents of Philadelphia students as well as Besie Katz, the Head of School at Politz Hebrew Academy. Per the committee, “The Philadelphia School District was invited to attend and will provide written testimony.” Watch the live stream here today at 1:00 p.m.
Ed. Funding Commission launching statewide tour
The state’s Basic Education Funding Commission will kick off its statewide tour of public hearings this week. The meetings will invite input on how Pa. can change its education funding formula to comply with the Commonwealth Court’s ruling earlier this year. That ruling said our current system of funding education is unconstitutional. The first meeting will be tomorrow in Allentown. See the full schedule here.
Special House election will (again) break party tie
Eight days from today, voters will (again) head to the polls in (another) special House election. This time, for an Allegheny County seat that leans heavily Democrat. With that seat vacant, the current House partisan split is 101-101. Democrats are highly favored to win the special election and regain a 102-101 House majority.
‘The broken politics of Allegheny County’
Pittsburgh Quarterly Founder Douglas Heuck looks at how Pittsburgh has changed over the past years—and not for the better. “In the last five years, the county has lost 50,000 jobs — five times more than any other Pennsylvania county. Our labor force is actually shrinking and we have the highest natural population decline — that’s more deaths than births — of any metro area in the country. Way more than anywhere else.” He writes that in his view, Allegheny County politics—which is “dominated” by “Progressives”— “is broken and on the verge of leading us into a cascading decline.”
Dems scared of McCormick? ‘Poppycock,’ says one
How often do I get to include “poppycock” in a newsletter? The Post-Gazette reports that although Republican David McCormick has not declared his U.S. Senate candidacy, he “has faced a steady stream of attacks from Democrats and other critics.” According to GOP consultants, this “show[s] how concerned Democrats are about his candidacy for the seat held by three-term incumbent Sen. Bob Casey.” But one Democrat strategist said it’s “poppycock” to claim that “landing punches on Dave McCormick is a sign of his strength.”