News & Brews October 15, 2026
Get News & Brews in your inbox each day: Subscribe here!
Lefty group targeting state races raises >$100M
The Washington Post reports, “The States Project, an organization focused on electing Democrats to state legislatures, has raised more than $100 million this cycle … surpassing the $70 million it raised in 2024.” The States Project carries out its efforts partly through the PAC for America’s Future, which has been the largest single donor to the Pa. House Democrat Committee since 2020, at more than $15 million (and counting). Overall, from 2020 to 2024 the PAC funneled more than $18M into Pa. state legislative races. The States Project was started in 2017 with the aim of flipping state legislative seats. The group raises money nationally and then directs it to specific state-level races. This year, the States Project is aiming to win Democrat trifectas in multiple states, including Pennsylvania.
Second thoughts about ‘Trumpism’?
The New York Times has a great interview with Reason Senior Editor Stephanie Slade, author of Fusionism: Liberty, Virtue, and the Future of the American Right, on whether the “populist right” will reconsider “what it means to be a conservative” during this “turbulent time for Trumpism.” Slade addresses the current situation in which “folks … have turned their whole intellectual and institutional purpose to the promotion of … ‘will-to-power politics,’” which is “an approach that sees politics as purely a war to determine which side will get to wield power to reward its friends and punish its enemies…. At the end of the day, hatred toward the opposition is treated as a virtue. The goal, above all, is to defeat and destroy the other side rather than try to figure out how to coexist peacefully in a diverse society of 342 million people.” This interview is well worth the read.
W. Va. sues Pa. to lower electric bills
Well this is something you don’t see every day. West Virginia has sued Pennsylvania—to lower our electric bills. Commonwealth Foundation Policy Analyst Joshua Schubert explains in RealClear Energy, In September, West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey sued the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission over Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards (AEPS), arguing that the program’s in-state restrictions on eligible power plants violate the U.S. Constitution’s Commerce Clause. West Virginia’s complaint says it plainly: ‘The acts serve no legitimate environmental purpose, nor do they advance the welfare of Pennsylvania’s citizens.’”
Perry, Stelson face off in debate
Last evening, GOP U.S. Rep. Scott Perry and challenger Janelle Stelson faced off in a debate that’s “expected to be the only face-to-face encounter between the two candidates for one of the nation’s most hotly-contested House races.” As PennLive recounts, the two “clashed early … and never really stopped.” Perry, who is running for an eighth term, “defended his record as one of Washington’s top fiscal conservatives and, if re-elected, promised to be a sturdy backstop on the policies of what he called an increasingly liberal Democratic Party.” Stelson, who is trying again to unseat him, “attacked … Perry and the Republican Party’s record from the start, saying GOP control in Washington has caused higher prices for all Americans and increased levels of worry for most.”
How did alleged cop killer have city job?
Following the killing of Philadelphia police officer Shane Seiber this past weekend, questions are being raised about how Eric Lewis, the alleged killer, was able to get a city job even though he “had a criminal history that included a 2015 gun-related conviction and a homicide charge for which he was acquitted.” Well, that’s because Philly has dumb rules that prohibited the city from considering these things when hiring Lewis.
The Inquirer reports that city law prohibits employers from considering charges that didn’t result in convictions. And because Lewis’s 2015 assault and firearms convictions were more than seven years old, the city couldn’t consider those either. It’s one thing to give individuals with criminal backgrounds a second chance. It’s quite another to prohibit employers from even considering those backgrounds when making hiring decisions. How many other dangerous folks could be working in taxpayer-funded jobs? We may never know.
