News & Brews June 23, 2026
Get News & Brews in your inbox each day: Subscribe here!
7 days to go? State budget tracker
With just one week until the June 30 state budget deadline (which the state routinely blows past), City & State PA has compiled a 2026-2027 budget tracker, “offering an up-to-date look at the state budget’s progress through the legislative process.” The most recent addition to the tracker happened yesterday, when “Senate Republican leaders said … that they are ‘encouraged’ by ongoing budget negotiations and called for a fiscally responsible end product.” (Meanwhile, Democrats and Gov. Shapiro have steadily pushed for a stunning increase in state spending that far exceeds revenue and would dramatically gut Pennsylvania’s Rainy Day fund.) Ah, budget season.
Trump coming to Pa. today
President Trump will make an official White House visit to the Lehigh Valley today, where he’s scheduled to give remarks at Mack Trucks in Macungie. While the trip is official business, it’s no secret that the Lehigh Valley is home to one of the country’s most watched U.S. House races this year—between incumbent GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie and Democrat challenger Bob Brooks. The Inquirer notes, “The visit will mark Trump’s fourth Pennsylvania appearance in his second term, and his first this year ahead of November’s high-stakes midterm elections.”
Shapiro & Garrity both willing to debate
Both Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican challenger Stacy Garrity have said they are willing to face each other on a debate stage prior to November’s election. Spotlight PA reminds us, “It’s been nearly a decade since Shapiro last shared a debate stage with a political rival: in his first run for attorney general, he faced Republican nominee John Rafferty, then a state senator.” The last Pennsylvania gubernatorial debate (sort of) was in 2018, when incumbent Gov. Tom Wolf faced Scott Wagner—although the format of that event was more a forum than a traditional all-out debate.
One big challenge for Republicans this year
In 2024, Pennsylvania’s Latino voters proved decisive in the presidential race, but will those voters stay with Republicans this year? RealClear Pennsylvania Founding Editor Charles McElwee joined CNN to talk about Democrats’ prospects in three Pennsylvania congressional races this November, and he predicts that the Latino vote “will be a challenge for the Republican Party in Pennsylvania this year, because it is the ultimate swing vote in Pennsylvania.”
Fitzpatrick ties the knot
Republican U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick and Fox News reporter Jacqui Heinrich got hitched this past weekend “in a lavish New York City wedding that blended family traditions, political star power and a nod to the couple’s shared roots,” in the words of the New York Post. Fitzpatrick has represented Pennsylvania’s 1st congressional district since 2019 and is, yet again, a top electoral target of the Left this year.