Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min<\/p>\n
As Democrats<\/a> hope to usher in a trifecta in Harrisburg for Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a> this fall, two Democrats are battling for the chance to flip a red state Senate district on the edge of the Philly area. <\/p>\n Bradley Merkl-Gump, a teacher and Pennridge School Board member, and Mark Pinsley, the Lehigh County controller, are running in a competitive primary to face GOP State Sen. Jarrett Coleman in the 16th District, which Democrats view as obtainable this fall.<\/p>\n Republicans<\/a> currently hold<\/a> a four-seat majority in the state Senate. <\/p>\n In the final weeks of their primary campaigns, the two Democrats are making their pitches to voters to see who could ride a possible blue wave in November as Democrats bank on the combo of Shapiro\u2019s popularity and backlash to President Donald Trump<\/a> pushing them to victory across the state. <\/p>\n The state Senate district, which covers parts of Bucks and Lehigh Counties, also straddles two of the most competitive congressional districts <\/a>that will be on the ballot this fall, which could boost turnout and help down-ballot Democrats. <\/p>\n Merkl-Gump, 39, who helped Democrats win a majority on the Pennridge School Board in 2023, has argued he is ready to flip red seats blue. And Pinsley, 56, has pointed to accomplishments as county controller and experience he has gained as a public official since his previous campaign for the district in 2022, when Coleman won by more than 8 percentage points.<\/p>\n Democrats in Bucks County<\/a> see the outcome of the party primary as make-or-break. <\/p>\n \u201cI think this primary will decide whether or not we have a chance to win the election in the fall,\u201d said State Sen. Steve Santarsiero (D., Bucks), the county party chair, who backs Merkl-Gump.<\/p>\n But in Lehigh County, where the Democratic committee does not make endorsements in primaries, party chair Lori McFarland said either candidate is up to the job of unseating Coleman, whom she described as absent for constituents.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that if you have an \u2018R\u2019 behind your name \u2026 if you\u2019re going to lose, it\u2019s going to be in this election,\u201d McFarland said.<\/p>\n Coleman\u2019s campaign did not return a request for comment. <\/p>\n Here is what to know about the candidates and the race. <\/p>\n A \u2018swim dad\u2019 teacher from Perkasie<\/p>\n Merkl-Gump is a civics and U.S. history teacher at a middle school in the Perkiomen Valley School District and a self-proclaimed \u201cswim dad,\u201d who says community members urged him to run in the 16th District after his 2023 school board win helped flip the GOP-controlled board at the height of the culture-wars debate over diversity, equity, and inclusion policies. <\/p>\n In the years since, the members have reversed controversial policy decisions<\/a> passed by the former board, voted to approve<\/a> an elementary school redistricting plan, and authorized full-day kindergarten<\/a>, local news outlets reported.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think you run for public office because you want to,\u201d Merkl-Gump said. \u201cI think you run for public office because your community is asking you to step up and be their voice.\u201d<\/p>\n For the 16th District, his priorities<\/a> include increasing the minimum wage, funding public schools, and holding developing artificial intelligence data centers to certain energy and water standards. He also wants to limit \u201cfederal overreach\u201d in state policies, though his website does not specifically mention the Trump administration.<\/p>\n As the Bucks County-based candidate in this race, he called himself the \u201cunderdog\u201d since a majority of the district\u2018s primary voters are in Lehigh County.<\/p>\n \u201cI was joking with somebody that right now I am \u2018mild-mannered teacher by day, hotshot politician by night,\u2019\u201d Merkl-Gump said. \u201cSo it is a lot of taking time away from my family. My son joked that he didn\u2019t know who I was the other day.\u201d<\/p>\n But Merkl-Gump said his experience as a teacher and a dad and his coalition building in Upper Bucks \u2014 where Republicans have a larger voter registration lead over Democrats than in the Lehigh County area of the district, according to voter registration data \u2014 would translate into helping him succeed against Coleman in November. <\/p>\n Though the Bucks County Democratic Committee did not officially endorse a candidate after a failed straw poll earlier this year<\/a>, Merkl-Gump has the backing of Santarsiero and other top Democratic leaders in Harrisburg, including State Sens. Jay Costa, of Pittsburgh, and Vincent Hughes, of Philadelphia. He also has the support of state representatives from Bucks and Lehigh Counties, the Allentown mayor, and the Pennsylvania council of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).<\/p>\n Pinsley panned Merkl-Gump\u2019s endorsements as coming from the \u201cestablishment.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPeople that are working-class people are the ones that are endorsing me,\u201d Pinsley said.<\/p>\n A county controller \u2018fighting back\u2019 in South Whitehall<\/p>\n Pinsley has been Lehigh County controller since 2020<\/a>, after flipping the seat<\/a> from red to blue. In the role, he conducts independent audits of the county\u2019s finances and governance. <\/p>\n In February, Pinsley dropped out of the competitive primary in the 7th Congressional District in the Lehigh Valley due to financial <\/a>constraints and difficulties in finding a lane in the crowded race. After leaving that race, he shifted his focus to the 16th District.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought, you know, \u2018Where can I go where I can still make a difference?\u2019\u201d Pinsley said. <\/p>\n But it is his record of running for various political offices that has caused Merkl-Gump and allies to try to pin the controller as a \u201ccareer politician.\u201d<\/p>\n His largest priority in the 16th District race is addressing wealth inequality<\/a> for residents, and he believes his record as controller makes him suited to address that and run against Coleman in November. <\/p>\n As controller, he called to evict U.S. Immigration<\/a> and Customs Enforcement after the agency owed three years of back rent for office space, exceeding $115,000. <\/p>\n The Inquirer reported Wednesday<\/a> that the occupant was Homeland Security Investigations, a division of ICE that helps investigate human trafficking. HSI vacated by late February, putting the county at odds with victims of human trafficking. HSI said it will continue to maintain a presence in the Lehigh Valley. <\/p>\n HSI\u2019s and ICE\u2019s priorities related to carrying out Trump\u2019s immigration agenda do not justify \u201coperating in county space without paying for it,\u201d Pinsley said in a statement. <\/p>\n \u201cCertainly they can occupy commercial space so long as they pay their bills,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Pinsley also published a nearly 100-page report, called \u201cThe Cost of Misdiagnosis,\u201d that exposed concerns about parents in the county<\/a> being mislabeled as child abusers. Parents later sued the Lehigh Valley Health Network, arguing that a doctor misdiagnosed families with medical child abuse, 6abc reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n The controller said he got into politics and public service about 10 years ago, when Trump won his first presidential term. A decade into Trump\u2019s arrival on the political scene, he said, Democrats need somebody \u201cfighting back\u201d in their local governments.<\/p>\n Pinsley has been emphatic about Trump and national issues in the 16th District primary. He has received endorsements from U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D., Calif.), Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel, various unions, and the Lehigh Valley Democratic Socialists of America.<\/p>\n \u201cI have shown as controller that you actually can step in, you can challenge these systems, and you can get results for the people,\u201d Pinsley said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what I intend on doing.\u201d<\/p>\n A path to victory in a red district? <\/p>\n Republicans hold an almost 23,000-voter registration advantage over Democrats in the 16th District. <\/p>\n In 2024, Trump made his biggest gains in Pennsylvania<\/a> in the Lehigh Valley and became the first Republican presidential candidate to win Bucks County since 1988<\/a>. <\/p>\n So how would a Democrat win? <\/p>\n Both candidates agree that it is the issues, not the political party, that voters across the ideological spectrum will rally around \u2014 issues like reducing the cost of living and accessing affordable healthcare that residents might be experiencing in both Bucks and Lehigh Counties. <\/p>\n Democrats also believe the poor approval ratings of Trump<\/a> and the Republican-led Congress<\/a> could be conducive to a blue wave, especially as gas prices spike following Trump\u2019s decision to start a war with Iran. <\/p>\n \u201cWe do live in a red district, but \u2026 with the war and gas prices and everything, I think it could be a good year for Democrats,\u201d said Adam Bencsik, chair of the Pennridge Democrats. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s going to be an area of tremendous focus for the Democratic Party in the counties, in the state, and nationally,\u201d said Tim Persico, partner at GPS Impact, a Democratic communications firm.<\/p>\n Pinsley said that as controller he has helped people on both sides of the political aisle and that he believes his name recognition will have voters remembering that at the polls. <\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the day, we\u2019re all feeling a boa constrictor squeezing us, and we need relief, and that\u2019s where I\u2019m going to focus,\u201d Pinsley said. <\/p>\n Merkl-Gump and allies, however, argued the school board member has proven that he can win in a heavily Republican area. <\/p>\n \u201cIn a year like this, where we\u2019re likely to have the wind at our backs, to say the least, if we have a candidate who\u2019s proven the ability to get Republican votes \u2026 I think it puts us in a great position to take that seat,\u201d said Santarsiero, the Bucks County Democratic chair. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to article \u2022\u00a00:00 min As Democrats hope to usher in a trifecta in Harrisburg for Gov. 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