State Sen. Lisa Boscola, who is seeking her eighth four-year term representing the 18th District, will face Republican challenger Scott Janney in the Nov. 3 election.

“I am running because working- and middle-class people in the Lehigh Valley need someone in Harrisburg looking out for them,” she said in an email to Armchair Lehigh Valley. “I am proudly independent and effective at delivering results for my constituents here in the Lehigh Valley.”

She lists the primary issues in this election as property taxes, affordability, energy costs and protecting the region from large data centers.

Boscola’s long history in government contributed to Janney’s decision to run.

“I believe it is time for new voices in the Lehigh Valley. Specifically in the Bethlehem to Easton corridor, [state Rep.] Steve Samuelson, Lisa Boscola and [state Rep.] Bob Freeman have amassed 100 years in Harrisburg between them,” Janney said.

Like Boscola, Janney wants to address affordability and energy as key issues, but he also prioritized safe communities on his list.

The district comprises Bethlehem and Easton; the townships of Forks, Lower Mount Bethel, Lower Nazareth, Lower Saucon, Palmer, Plainfield, Upper Mount Bethel, Upper Nazareth, Washington and Williams, and the boroughs of Bangor, East Bangor, Freemansburg, Glendon, Hellertown, Nazareth, Pen Argyl, Portland, Roseto, Stockertown, Tatamy, West Easton, Wilson and Wind Gap.

Democrats comprise the largest bloc of voters in the district with 86,733 (44.2%), followed by Republicans, 66,547 (33.9%), and independents and minor-party voters with 43,091 (21.9%), according to the latest voter registration figures from the Pennsylvania Department of State.

State senators serve four-year terms and earn $113,000 a year. Republicans control the Senate, outnumbering Democrats 27-23.

Lisa Boscola

Boscola, 64, lives in Bethlehem Township with her husband, Ed. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Villanova University. A former Northampton County deputy court administrator, she was elected state representative from the 135th District in 1994 and served two terms.

In 1998, the Republican senator from the 18th District, Joseph Uliana, ran for Congress in the 15th District, leaving the senate seat open.

The election featured two Northampton County House members against each other — Democrat Boscola and Republican Leonard Gruppo, who represented the 137th District for 10 terms. Boscola won with 55% of the vote to win a four-year term.

She has won reelection every four years since and is seeking her eighth term in office. In the May primary, Boscola defeated former Easton City Councilwoman Taiba Sultana who launched a write-in campaign after being thrown off the ballot when state courts determined she misrepresented her occupation on her nomination petition.

In the Senate, Boscola serves as chair of two committees: Consumer Protection and Professional Licensure, and Game and Fisheries. She is a member of three others: Banking & Insurance, Communications and Technology, and Law and Justice.

Scott Janney

Janney, 68, lives in Williams Township with his wife, Rebecca Price-Janney. He is territorial director of gift planning for The Salvation Army, where he oversees 16 divisional directors. He is also a strategic consultant at PlannedGiving.com.

He graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Asbury University in Kentucky, a master’s of divinity degree from Princeton Theological University in New Jersey and a doctorate in education from Temple University, Philadelphia.

A Presbyterian minister, his only political experience came in 2022 when he was elected as a write-in candidate as a Northampton County Republican Committee member from Williams Township. On his campaign website, he said he would serve no more than two terms if elected state senator.

Armchair Lehigh Valley asked the candidates via email a series of questions about the major issues in the election. Following are their responses, which have been summarized.

Affordability

Boscola: “I believe government should be finding ways for you to keep your hard-earned dollars in your pocket. I have never voted for a tax increase and will continue to protect against unnecessary tax increases.” In March, proposed a gas-tax holiday (SB1264/1265) to reduce the price by 57 cents per gallon for gasoline and diesel fuels; bills remain in committee. Proposed a back-to-school sales tax holiday (SB717). Supported increasing programs to support affordable housing projects and delivered tax credits to affordable housing developments in the district.

Janney: “High inflation in 2021-2024 [and] unvetted mass migration have lowered wages and increased housing costs. Pennsylvania should use our abundant energy resources responsibly to lower costs and create good-paying jobs. We should put the financial security of Pennsylvania citizens first by stopping sanctuary laws that perpetuate the failed no borders experiment.”

Raising the minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $15

Boscola: “The last vote I had the chance to make was during Gov. Wolf’s term [in 2019], when the Senate passed a bill that would have increased the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2022.” (The bill died in the House.) ”We need to get it to about $12 an hour immediately with a goal of getting it to $15 by 2030 and then tie it to a cost of inflation. … We must be mindful to see how these increases affect our small and midsized businesses across the state.”

Janney: “Pennsylvania’s minimum wage was raised from $5.15 to $7.25 in 2007. It is time for an increase. However, raising it more than 100% would harm the people it should help. It’s time to step out of the perpetual gridlock and into a compromise solution.”

Healthcare

Boscola: Supports Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposal for a $50 million healthcare subsidy program to help low- and middle-income residents, who lost enhanced COVID-era subsidies under the federal One Big Beautiful Bill, to subsidize insurance premiums, cutting average plan costs by 9% to 12%. “In the end, it is just a short-term solution. Real health insurance reform must happen at the federal level, because when people lose coverage, costs can shift to hospitals, taxpayers and insured families.” Supports the state’s health insurance program, Pennie.

Janney: “In 2020, when Josh Shapiro was attorney general, he said it was ‘likely that Pennsylvania is losing $3 billion a year’ to Medicaid fraud. Thirty states have enacted False Claims Acts, but Pennsylvania taxpayers have not been given this protection. I am not in favor of increasing taxes or taking on more debt to initiate a new state program, but cutting the fraud out of the system can provide more than enough funding to make healthcare more affordable and reduce the tax burden on Pennsylvanians.”

Data centers

Boscola: Supports Gov. Shapiro’s Aug. 18 executive order on data centers, which requires all proposals to comply with his requirements, which included some of the details she proposed in January. “I am not a fan of moratoriums for zoning uses, especially statewide ones. Zoning is inherently a local issue, and municipalities across the Lehigh Valley have been enacting ordinances that their locally elected officials believe work in their communities. The way I see it, there will be communities that want data centers and those that do not. But as a country and society, we need them. State government needs to do our part to require these data centers to bring their own [electric] generation, pay for their own infrastructure upgrades, and enter into benefits agreements with their host communities, which is laid out in my legislation and in the Governor’s executive order.”

Voted to repeal tax incentives for data centers. Voted with the majority in 2021 to approve those tax incentives, which was signed into law by Gov. Tom Wolf. Supports requiring data center developers to protect energy affordability, engage local communities, create family-sustaining jobs, and meet strong environmental standards. In January, proposed legislation (SB1432-1437) to accomplish much of that.

Janney: “In this Senate district, powerful developers can steamroll local officials who lack equivalent legal teams, funding, and experience. The state must step in to safeguard community members and protect local control. I firmly believe decisions must remain local precisely because Pennsylvania’s diverse communities face vastly different realities regarding water, energy, and connectivity resources.”

Immigration detention

Boscola: “Generally, I do not favor masks for law enforcement at any level. However, I do recognize that the work [ICE agents] do is dangerous and there are times when masks are needed to protect officers.” Supports use of body cameras for ICE agents.

“I think it works best when law enforcement across all levels works collaboratively to ensure that individuals in this country illegally that have committed a violent crime are deported. Often this happens most safely in a prison setting.” Says raids in schools and hospitals should not happen.

Does not support statewide ban of privately owned immigration detention, saying it is a decision local municipalities should make. “When municipalities in Berks County raised concerns about proposed detention centers in their community, state agencies and localities worked together through the planning process to make certain those projects did not move forward.”

Janney: “I support responsible governance of our immigration system, ensuring existing laws are applied in a way that is both secure and orderly. Federal officers need the ability to do their jobs safely, including basic protections from credible threats by groups that use doxxing and violence against officers’ families to stop them from deporting even the most violent criminals.”

Said county governments in the 18th District “go too far in hindering the responsible management of existing immigration laws. The sanctuary city laws that force local police to immediately release illegal criminal aliens for suspicion of crimes for which an American is imprisoned put citizens last. … I see a clear delineation between two groups: Those who want a fair and efficient border enforcement process and those who treat any border or immigration enforcement as illegitimate.”

Banning privately owned detention centers “would make the immigration enforcement process slower, more expensive, and less orderly. It would be better to keep capacity local and functional, which results in a better environment for due process and speedy adjudication of objections. A free society needs to enforce its laws fairly without surrendering the ability to control its borders.”

School property tax

Boscola: Proposed an amendment for homesteads and farmsteads to be exempt from school property taxes, but says Senate Republicans avoided voting on it. “We need to have broader-based taxes to support our public schools; gaming taxes, natural gas extraction fees, reducing sales tax exemptions, increasing sales tax and even income tax are all options.”

Janney: “Most government agencies have more of a spending problem than a funding problem. Out-of-control spending, especially on non-teaching staff, and the lack of parental choice for people who cannot afford to pay for education twice are the more significant problems.”

Bell-to-bell school cell phone bans

Boscola: Voted for the ban. (The bill passed the House and Senate and was signed into law by Gov. Shapiro on Monday.)

Janney: “I support phone bans during instructional time to restore focus to our classrooms and improve student mental health. … I support encouraging districts to allow students to check in with parents during a small number of breaks per day, based on locally established rules to ensure this doesn’t create hallway traffic or discipline issues.”

Technology in school

Boscola: Supports legislation to limit use of technology in the classroom. Proposes to prohibit overuse of school-issued devices in classrooms and ban take-home devices for K-2 students. “We do have locally elected school boards throughout PA and they can make the changes in their schools that make the most sense, but I am not sure we should have 500 different policies on issues like this. I believe it needs debate at the state level, which may inspire more school boards to act themselves.”

Janney: “I agree that schools need to limit screen time, especially for the youngest children.”

Skill games

The Legislature failed to enact a levy on the devices by an Oct. 13 deadline imposed by the state Supreme Court, making the units illegal. The Legislature could still regulate and tax the games.

Boscola: Supports taxing skill games, with the revenue used to offset school property taxes.

Janney: “Lower taxes are better. While Governor Shapiro’s proposed [52%] tax is the highest on the table, he also has a problem with overspending.”

Voting

Boscola: Supports allowing counties to pre-canvass ballots beginning seven days before an election. “This change would help our election workers process ballots more quickly on Election Day and provide more confidence when there are timely results.” Supports voter ID. “We just need to ensure getting an ID is not a burden and voters are given time for any new rules to be implemented.” Opposes efforts to ban satellite voting offices and ballot drop boxes. Supports standardizing election procedures statewide. Was the prime sponsor of the Senate bill that led to universal mail-in voting under Act 77 in 2020.

Janney: “I am in favor of election integrity, transparency, and consistent rules for all voters. Pre-canvassing has the ability to remove votes from public scrutiny. Also, administering elections differently in different counties creates inconsistent treatment for voters. I oppose this process because of the danger it brings of potentially making our elections more susceptible to abuse. All voters need to be assured in meaningful ways that their votes count and that voting is a fair process for expressing the will of the people.” Supports voter ID as “a common-sense step to protecting election integrity.”

Opposes satellite voting offices and ballot drop boxes. Using them goes “to the heart of election integrity, transparency, and consistent rules. Both Lehigh and Northampton counties have disappointed voters with rules and procedures that obscure the chain of custody, encourage greater participation from preferred voter groups, and cast great doubt on our elections. Pennsylvania and the rest of America need to return to a process where voting happens in a short period, produces auditable records, and delivers dependable, trusted results within hours.”

Reproductive rights

Boscola: Supports enshrining reproductive autonomy — including abortion, contraception and miscarriage care — into the state Constitution. In 2023, presented an amendment in the Senate that would include “a right to an abortion in into the Constitution.” Her measure was defeated. “I have continually introduced legislation for better insurance coverage for fertility treatment as well. This is so important for couples struggling to get pregnant.”

Janney: “I oppose this proposed state constitutional amendment because it is misleading. Contraception and miscarriage care are already fully secure under Pennsylvania law, and including those words is a distraction from the real issue. While the current proposal contains viability limits that mirror our current law, adding this to our state Constitution, which has averaged nearly one amendment per year since 1968, is simply a political strategy to drive voter turnout.”

Gun rights

Boscola: Voted in 2021 against tabling a vote on a universal background check; voted against allowing concealed weapons to be carried without a license, a measure that passed the state Legislature but was vetoed by Gov. Wolf in 2021. Has supported “strengthening Pennsylvania’s firearm-relinquishment requirements for domestic abusers” and co-sponsored red-flag legislation in 2019 “to allow court intervention when someone presents a serious risk to themselves or others.” Said the General Assembly, not municipalities, is the government body that should adopt gun laws. ”We can’t have that many different gun laws in Pennsylvania.”

Janney: “I am opposed to restrictions that burden the constitutional rights of law-abiding citizens. Many proposed regulations are simply designed to make it as difficult as possible to exercise these rights. The reality is that gun violence is worse in places where law-abiding citizens are disarmed and only criminals carry weapons.”

This story first appeared on Armchair Lehigh Valley and is being published on themorningcall.com as part of a partnership with the website, which aims to give voters factual information in a nonpartisan way to help them make informed decisions at the polls. Armchair Lehigh Valley is run by publisher Katherine Reinhard and editor Robert H. Orenstein, two former Morning Call employees. Learn more about Armchair Lehigh Valley and subscribe at armchairlehighvalley.substack.com.