The high rhetoric of Josh Siegel’s debut speech as Lehigh County’s newest leader was in keeping with his ambition: To stretch the executive’s role beyond traditional bounds and leverage power the way his Democratic heroes did with the New Deal and Great Society and other programs that flexed government muscle against poverty and inequity.
“Let us not fear failure, but rather a failure to act,” Siegel said Monday after his swearing-in by Lehigh County Judge Douglas Reichley in the gymnasium at Cumberland Gardens, a venerable public housing development in Allentown.
Siegel placed his hand not on a Bible but on a stack of books held by his wife, Sara, among them the Constitution and biographies of Democratic giants Franklin D. Roosevelt and Robert F. Kennedy.
Siegel became what attendees said was the first Lehigh County executive to take the oath of office outside the government center. The location was symbolic of his top priority as he takes office — to address the housing crisis, a combination of insufficient stock and high prices that is making home ownership an increasingly elusive goal.
“Housing is central to who we are,” he said, framing it as the bedrock of stable communities. Why, he asked, can government carve out special tax zones for business development, as with Allentown’s Neighborhood Improvement Zone, and not employ similar measures to improve housing?
Siegel, 32, is the youngest county executive in Pennsylvania history. It’s also his third public office job. He served on Allentown City Council from 2020 to 2022 and went on to represent the 22nd District in the state House of Representatives.
Among the guests at the crowded swearing-in was one of Siegel’s former House colleagues, Democratic state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta from Philadelphia. He said he will sorely miss Siegel’s presence in Harrisburg, crediting his friend with an avid desire to serve rooted in genuine compassion.
“You can tell a lot from the way people are when they’re before the cameras and when they’re not,” Kenyatta said. “With Josh, he is the same.”
A special election will be held Feb. 24 to decide who will fill Siegel’s unexpired term in Harrisburg.
Siegel said he recognizes that some people see his reach exceeding his grasp when he talks about what county government can accomplish.
“I don’t dismiss those doubts,” he said, but insisted he won’t be deterred from his advocacy for immigrants and other causes not typically associated with the executive’s role as a budget-maker and public face of the county.
His primary job is to draft an annual budget to keep all of the departments running: human services, criminal justice, elections, economic development, infrastructure maintenance and more.
It’s a considerable task. Lehigh County is home to 390,000 people and this year’s budget, the final one compiled by two-term Executive Phillips Armstrong, is $538 million.
Siegel said he will do his best for every one of those 390,000 residents. He knows a good portion of them isn’t pleased by his vocal disdain for President Donald Trump, but he believes the administration’s approach to health care and social programs has been catastrophic, and he considers Trump a dangerous autocrat.
Siegel is especially aggrieved by the president’s immigration policy and has vowed to do whatever he can to fight for what he called “terrorized immigrants” threatened with arrest and deportation.
“History remembers unkindly those who in moments of crisis choose neutrality,” he said.
Morning Call reporter Daniel Patrick Sheehan can be reached at 610-820-6598 or dsheehan@mcall.com.