{"id":174835,"date":"2026-04-24T12:28:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:28:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/174835\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T12:28:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:28:07","slug":"the-elephant-in-the-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/174835\/","title":{"rendered":"The Elephant in the Room"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome to \u201cThe Elephant in the Room,\u201d a new Broad + Liberty column with information, insights, and musings. The column will be a potpourri of thoughts, ideas, and news gleanings from Philadelphia and the suburban counties. If you\u2019re so inclined, suggestions are welcome: lstein@fiderineews.com<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Philadelphia\u2019s 3rd Congressional District is said to have the most Democratic voters of any in the country. While four candidates are vying for the Democrats\u2019 votes in the May 19 primary, Republican William Small is campaigning for write-in votes<\/a> to secure a place on the November general election ballot. He needs to garner 1,000 signatures from Republicans and has been out earnestly knocking on doors the past few weeks.<\/p>\n

Small, 37, grew up in West Philadelphia and learned about construction from his uncles. An entrepreneur, he now owns a contracting company with four crews, building homes and commercial structures and renovating properties. He also founded a private school in Wilmington, Del., Prep Athletic Academy and Club<\/a>. Many of the students have had problems in other schools, he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"William Small<\/p>\n

Small is also the single father of three: a son who is a student at Community College of Philadelphia, a daughter in high school, and a 5-year-old son.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Small said his main issues are taxes, immigration, and education.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhiladelphians are overtaxed,\u201d he said. \u201cAs a congressman, I would have leverage.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur schools are horrible. Only one in four students read on grade level,\u201d said Small. \u201cAnd only one in five students are doing math on grade level. And we\u2019re rewarding the school district like they\u2019re accomplishing something.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Democratic Party is just spending recklessly,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t think they care. And no one\u2019s holding them accountable. Especially not the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOpen borders are killing small businesses, especially construction,\u201d he said. Many small construction companies \u201care being beat out by bids from foreign immigrants who can just make up the numbers. They\u2019re offering cheap work. Some of this work isn\u2019t reported to the IRS. There are no taxes being paid for it. Everything is under the table.\u201d<\/p>\n

While President Trump has closed the borders and is deporting illegal immigrants, Small pointed out that Trump won\u2019t be around forever, so Republicans are needed in Congress to \u201chold down the fort so everything he\u2019s done isn\u2019t undone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a Democrat is voted in in the 3rd District, or any district, we know nothing will change,\u201d said Small. \u201cOr will change for the worse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Philadelphia GOP Chairman Vincent Fenerty said he will support Small if he makes it onto the ballot for the general election.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he\u2019s successful, we will welcome him with open arms after the primary,\u201d said Fenerty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speaking of voting, Philadelphia election lawyer J. Matthew Wolfe filed a motion against the city\u2019s Board of Elections and commissioners over changes they made in February for the election of committee people.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor 89 years, the City Commissioners have certified candidates for Committeeperson who get the most votes,\u201d said Wolfe on Facebook. \u201cSeems pretty simple, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, this year the Commissioners voted that they will not certify candidates whose votes come as write-in votes as winning unless they receive a minimum of ten votes, even if they receive the most votes. This could mean that a candidate who is on the ballot who gets only one vote can beat a candidate who gets nine write-in votes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

A hearing is scheduled for April 27.<\/p>\n

And some good news on the energy and jobs front.<\/p>\n

Sen. David McCormick (R-Pa.)\u00a0announced the U.S. Department of Energy will spend $5 billion for five hydrogen hubs, including two with Pennsylvania partnerships: the Mid-Atlantic Clean Hydrogen Hub (MACH2) and the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am proud to have fought for this funding and to see it preserved,\u201d said McCormick. \u201cThese two hydrogen hubs are expected to create 41,000 jobs, putting skilled building trades workers such as pipefitters, electricians, carpenters, and welders to work constructing the infrastructure for these new projects. This is a win for Pennsylvania workers, our economy, and our energy future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Linda Stein is an award-winning journalist who\u2019s written for newspapers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Arizona. Before joining Fideri News Network, she was the news editor for Delaware Valley Journal. She holds a master\u2019s degree in journalism from Temple University and earned her undergraduate degree from Arcadia University. Contact her at lstein@fiderinews.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome to \u201cThe Elephant in the Room,\u201d a new Broad + Liberty column with information, insights, and musings.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":174836,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[39725,3145,2258,2328,18089,21608,2311,78365,69,71,70,5019,78366,78367],"class_list":{"0":"post-174835","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-2026-election","9":"tag-dave-mccormick","10":"tag-democrats","11":"tag-energy","12":"tag-green-energy","13":"tag-matt-wolfe","14":"tag-must-read","15":"tag-pa-3","16":"tag-philadelphia","17":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","18":"tag-philadelphia-news","19":"tag-republicans","20":"tag-vince-fenerty","21":"tag-william-small"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174835\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/174836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}