By John Best

Four Democrats and one Republican are vying for four seats on the Bethlehem City Council.

Two of the seats opened when incumbent Kiera Wilhelm decided not to run again and incumbent Grace Crampsie Smith ran for mayor instead. Crampsie Smith lost the Democratic primary to Mayor J. William Reynolds, who is unchallenged on Nov. 4.

Incumbent Democrats Rachel Leon and Hillary Kwiatek are seeking reelection. Joining them on the November ballot are Democrats Jo Daniels and Justin Amann, and Republican Joseph Poplawski. Democrats hold all seven seats on council, whose members serve four-year terms.

Bethlehem’s city borders extend into Northampton and Lehigh counties. The city’s population is over 75,000, according to the 2020 census.

Justin Amann — Democrat
Amann, who is seeking his first term on council, is executive director of the Foundation for the Bethlehem Area School District and directs the theater program at Freedom High School. The Liberty High School graduate is married and has two children.

“I’m the grandson of a Bethlehem Steel worker and the son of a nurse and a maintenance man,” Amann said. “My story is the story of Bethlehem.”

He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from East Stroudsburg University in 2015 and a master’s in higher education administration from the University of Michigan in 2016.

Amann said he wants to prioritize public safety through community policing and ensuring first responders are properly equipped.

“Every resident deserves to feel secure, whether they’re walking to school, jogging on our trails, or opening their business in the morning,” Amann said in an email.

Amann said he wants to strengthen city services and maintain and improve infrastructure, including roads, parks, sidewalks, and public spaces.

He also wants to step up efforts to help small businesses and attract investments.

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Jo Daniels – Democrat
Daniels is a graduate of Liberty High School and attended Morgan State University in Baltimore. She works as an account executive at Angel Oak Mortgage Solutions.

Daniels said in a Facebook post that she began to realize she could make a change locally after attending city council meetings. While she had voted in national elections, she hadn’t previously voted in local primary elections but that has changed.

“This all turned around because, unlike federal elections, there’s a chance for me to really effect positive changes to my city and our residents,” Daniels wrote.

Daniels has lived in South Side Bethlehem her whole life. Her father was Bethlehem’s first black firefighter and her mother was a union worker at Mack Trucks.

“I know what it means to fight for our city because my family always has,” Daniels wrote in an email from a spring interview.

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Hillary Kwiatek – Democrat, incumbent
Kwiatek is a marketing and communications director at Lehigh University.

She has been a city council member since 2022 and is chair of the council’s Parks and Recreation Committee, and a member of the Public Safety and Public Works committees.

Kwiatek is council’s liaison to the Bethlehem Housing Authority and the Redevelopment Authority and Blighted Property Review Committee. She also has been a member of the city’s Democratic Committee since 2005.

In an email earlier this year, she said council has accomplished a lot since she was elected in 2021 and continues to make progress on infrastructure, parks, public safety and housing. She touted the rebuilding of Fairview Park and the plans to renovate Friendship Park. She also has advocated for flood restoration at Saucon Park, backed the acquisition of the final section of the South Bethlehem Greenway and supported a grant for a parks master plan.

Kwiatek championed the expansion of the Community Connections program, which partners the city’s health bureau and police department on responses to nonviolent incident calls. She also supported hiring four additional paramedics and backed adding a second annual firefighter academy to increase the number of firefighters.

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Rachel Leon – Democrat, incumbent
Leon is seeking her second term. She is the chairperson of the Public Safety Committee, a member of Human Resources and Environment and the Parks and Recreation committees; and is council’s Library Board Liaison. In addition to her roles in council, Leon has been a member of the Bethlehem Housing Authority since 2024.

She is the host of “Landmarks with Leon,” a weekly WDIY podcast where she discusses various historic landmarks in Bethlehem and the Lehigh Valley.

Leon recently co-sponsored a resolution for a $150,000 professional services contract with Moravian University to create the position of World Heritage site manager.

The position is designed to help the Bethlehem World Heritage Council, which includes the city, oversee the newly designated UNESCO World Heritage site known as Moravian Church Settlements – Bethlehem.

Her campaign website has a list of accomplishments she said the city has achieved through the work of council members, the mayor, city officials, stakeholders and residents. They include $1 billion in private investment in the city since 2021, the $1.5 million rebuilding of Friendship Park, upgrades to the fleet of police vehicles, the addition of four paramedics and a partnership with the Lehigh Valley Industrial Park to launch The Gateway on Fourth, a mixed-income housing project planned at 1400-1414 E. Fourth St.

Joseph Poplawski – Republican
Poplawski, a Liberty High School graduate, works as a construction manager and owns a home inspection company. He also has led home-buying seminars.

He said he wants to strengthen neighborhoods, invest in infrastructure, support working families and ensure Bethlehem remains a safe, vibrant, and welcoming place to live.

“I’ve built a practical, nonpartisan plan to tackle each one — and it’s all on my website. Let’s build a stronger, more inclusive Bethlehem — together,” he said in an email.

His platform states Bethlehem must do more to support homeless people, so he plans to advocate for city funding to create a Homeless Launch Program.

The program would provide small, low-cost dwellings with a portion of rent set aside in “launch accounts” to help residents transition into stable housing. It would also include mental health and addiction recovery services.

Poplawski wants to prioritize safe roads, upgraded water systems, reliable public transportation and modern technology to support residents and local businesses.

He pledges to donate his city council salary to local organizations that provide services for people experiencing homelessness.

In 2026, newly elected or reelected council members will earn $10,650 a year, up from $7,100, according to Lehigh Valley News.