News & Brews May 21, 2026
Get News & Brews in your inbox each day: Subscribe here!
Bucks to be ‘center of political universe (again)’
The Inquirer reports that key races for state Senate as well as U.S. Congress in Bucks County mean this “swingiest of the swing counties” will be the center of the political universe this November—yet again. In the 1st congressional district, the race between U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and challenger Bob Harvie is “one of four marquee contests in Pennsylvania this fall as both parties fight for control of the U.S. House.” Further, there are “three competitive races in Bucks that could help determine the majority in the state Senate, which has been under GOP control for more than three decades.”
Four House incumbents lose primary races
Despite low turnout in Tuesday’s primary, contested races for several state House seats saw incumbent lawmakers fall, including the longest continuously serving member of the state House. City & State PA reports that in Lehigh County, Democrat Ana Tiburcio, who was just elected in a special election in February, lost to Allentown City Council member Ce-Ce Gerlach. In western Pa., GOP Rep. Bud Cook, who’s been in the House for nearly a decade, lost his primary race. And in SEPA, Democrat Rep. Keith Harris lost a three-way primary while Democrat Rep. Greg Vitali, who’s served since 1993, lost his bid to run for re-election by more than 20 percentage points.
Corporate welfare fails to deliver
A new analysis from the Commonwealth Foundation shows that if Pennsylvania exchanged corporate welfare handouts for tax cuts, a family of four would gain $530 per year. Instead, billions of dollars in corporate welfare have been doled out without yielding promised results. “No site better demonstrates the failure of government interventionism than the Volkswagen/Sony/Aquion plant in New Stanton,” the foundation notes. “After fifty years and more than half a billion dollars from the state, all three companies left the site.”
Blame Pa. for gerrymander mania
Guy Ciarrocchi writes in RealClear Pennsylvania that as gerrymander mania has swept the country, “Pennsylvania should be blamed for initiating today’s chaos.” Indeed! “Well, to be more correct,” he explains, “blame Obama’s former Attorney General, Eric Holder, for using Pennsylvania as a test case for his new mission: a permanent Democratic majority in the U.S. House. In 2018, the organization that he chairs, the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, played a role in advocating for Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court tear up of the state’s congressional map mid-decade.” Our president and CEO Matt Brouillette dives into this in his new book, You GOTTA win Pennsylvania! What? You don’t have your copy yet? Get it here!
‘Myth-busting media on gun crimes’
Attorney and entrepreneur Jonathan Goldstein writes in Broad + Liberty that media portrayal of gun violence not only misleads the public but also provides inaccurate fodder for politicians seeking to restrict constitutional rights. “Indeed,” he writes, “when media coverage suggests violence is the leading cause of death, and coverage of gun violence — particularly mass shootings — continues for days or even weeks, it’s little wonder that the political push to restrict Second Amendment rights gains momentum.” He points to the new Democrat trifecta in Virginia pushing severe firearms restrictions and warns that a Democrat trifecta in Pennsylvania would do the same.