![\"Republican](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/TMC-L-joeemrick_2ffc88.jpg\")
Republican Joe Emrick\nMCMG<\/p>\n
By Steve Novak, Armchair Lehigh Valley<\/p>\n
In eight terms representing the 137th House District, Republican state Rep. Joe Emrick has consistently fended off Democratic challengers and was even unopposed one year.<\/p>\n
This time around, he is facing Northampton County Council member Jeff Warren, who brings name recognition as a Democrat and has been elected to three local offices.<\/p>\n
The race has drawn the financial and logistical support of the national Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee, all of which see a chance to flip the district and preserve the party\u2019s slim majority in the chamber in the Nov. 3 election.<\/p>\n
The 137th covers Nazareth, Tatamy, all of the townships of Bethlehem, Lower Nazareth and Upper Nazareth, and parts of Hanover (District 5) and Palmer (Central, North, Northeast, Northwest, Southwest and West).<\/p>\n
Emrick, 56, of Upper Nazareth Township, is a former economics and history teacher who has a bachelor\u2019s degree from Lycoming College and a master\u2019s degree in education from Kutztown University. He is a former Upper Nazareth supervisor and is seeking his ninth term.<\/p>\n
Republican Joe Emrick
\nMCMG<\/p>\n
In the last two election cycles, Emrick faced political unknown Anna Thomas, besting her by 1,316 votes (3 percentage points) in 2024 and 703 votes (2 points) in 2022.<\/p>\n
Neither he nor his campaign responded to Armchair Lehigh Valley\u2019s questions sent through his website and to his campaign manager.<\/p>\n
According to his campaign website, Emrick\u2019s top priorities this election are lowering taxes, reducing energy costs, affordability, healthcare and protecting the environment by curbing \u201cexcessive\u201d warehouse and data center development and truck traffic.<\/p>\n
Warren, 49, of Bethlehem Township, has a bachelor\u2019s degree from Penn State University and a master\u2019s degree from Kutztown University.<\/p>\n
He took his seat on Northampton County Council representing District III in January 2024 following his election in 2023. The former aide to state Sen. Lisa Boscola previously won elections to Easton City Council and the Hanover Township Board of Supervisors.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe status quo isn\u2019t getting the job done,\u201d Warren told Armchair Lehigh Valley. \u201cCosts continue to rise. Wages remain stagnant. We\u2019ve lost acres of land to warehouse proliferation. We desperately need a change. I\u2019ll be a positive and active voice for change versus what we\u2019ve had for 16 years here in Northampton County.\u201d<\/p>\n
Warren cited accomplishments from his time in local government: While on Easton City Council, he was involved in the Simon Silk Mill development project and provided funding to start Easton Public Market; and as a Hanover supervisor, he helped preserve preschool programs during the pandemic. While not everyone agreed on these projects, he said he worked with colleagues \u201cto get the job done for this community.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Jeff](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/TMC-L-jeffwarren_cc44f2.jpg\")
Jeff Warren is a Northampton County Council member. (Contributed photo)<\/p>\n
Warren\u2019s stated top issues for this election are affordability, school funding, data centers and farmland protection. He said he wants to bring more public funds back to the Lehigh Valley; create programs for jobs, education and housing; be \u201ca watchful eye\u201d on corporations; and inform legislators in Harrisburg \u201cwhat people really need here on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of June 8, Emrick\u2019s campaign had $140,340 compared with Warren\u2019s $105,286.<\/p>\n
Democrats have a slight voter edge in the 137th with 20,380 party members versus 19,547 for Republicans, as of late September. Independents make up the majority of the 10,613 other voters.<\/p>\n
State representatives serve two-year terms and receive a base salary of $113,000. The House has 103 Democrats and 100 Republicans.<\/p>\n
Warren answered Armchair Lehigh Valley\u2019s questions on a variety of issues and his responses are summarized below. Emrick\u2019s stances are gleaned through his votes, previous public statements and media reports.<\/p>\n
Affordability<\/p>\n
Emrick: Highlighted the cost-of-living increases for retired municipal police officers and firefighters in a news release on passage of the 2026-27 budget. Voted for a bill that would raise Pennsylvania\u2019s minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2029.<\/p>\n
Warren: Said raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour is \u201ca no-brainer\u201d that will make the state more competitive and attractive. Wants to see \u201csurge pricing\u201d banned in Pennsylvania, as well as stronger antitrust enforcement to lower grocery prices and \u201cmake sure grocery chains don\u2019t get to boast to their shareholders\u201d while citizens \u201cstruggle under the thumb of inflation.\u201d On housing, proposes an expansion of the first-time homebuyers program and building \u201cmore attainable housing in pressured neighborhoods\u201d to boost supply and lower prices.<\/p>\n
Healthcare<\/p>\n
Emrick: Supported a House resolution last December urging Congress to retain COVID-era subsidies under the Affordable Care Act, which were ended under the \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill\u201d signed into law by President Trump in 2025. Some 202,000 Pennsylvanians have since dropped their coverage, with cost being the top reason.<\/p>\n
Warren: Supports Gov. Shapiro\u2019s proposal for a $50 million program to help subsidize healthcare for low- and middle-income residents who lost the ACA subsidies. Said \u201cit\u2019s absurd that the richest nation in the world\u201d has citizens turning to GoFundMe for healthcare costs. We can\u2019t keep bending to the greed of big insurance companies who want to make a profit more than they want to keep us healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Data centers<\/p>\n
Emrick: Said in a July Facebook post that he is \u201cchampioning the effort to halt\u201d data center development. In June, voted in favor of House Bill 2650 that would require data center developers seeking state tax benefits to meet strict standards protecting energy affordability, supporting local communities, creating jobs and strengthening environmental protections. Voted in favor of House Bill 2150 to mandate annual reporting of energy and water consumption by data centers and House Bill 2151 to develop a model data center ordinance for municipalities. In March, voted against House Bill 1834 that would require the state Public Utility Commission to develop data center regulations that would include banning electric companies from passing costs of infrastructure updates and energy demands from data centers onto customers. Voted in favor of House Bill 2496, which would allow a six-month pause on data center development. Voted in favor of House Bill 2198, which would repeal tax incentives passed five years ago to encourage data center development. Emrick voted with the majority in favor of the tax credit in 2021.<\/p>\n
Warren: Supports a municipal moratorium option on data center development so communities can take time to understand and educate residents on project impacts. Opposes tax incentives for data center developers, saying that money should be given \u201cback to communities that actually need it.\u201d Is favorable toward bills regulating data center growth and utility usage. \u201cWe need these guardrails for our local municipalities, and we don\u2019t need politicians playing in the sandbox with these developers.\u201d Wants data centers to pay for their electricity and water.<\/p>\n
Immigration detention<\/p>\n
Emrick: Position unknown.<\/p>\n
Warren: Said the Trump administration has \u201cweaponized ICE\u201d and turned it into a \u201csecret police \u2026 that threatens and stokes fear.\u201d Said that \u201cjudicial warrants should be produced before anyone is ever detained\u201d by ICE. Opposes construction of privately owned immigration centers \u2014 supported a nonbinding resolution saying as much on County Council. \u201cThese human warehouses would not add any tax revenue, and also put unnecessary strain on water capacity\u201d while creating fear in immigrant communities, he said.<\/p>\n
Education<\/p>\n
Emrick: Voted for a bell-to-bell ban on cellphones in schools. (The House and Senate are working out differences in their bills.) Praised 2026-27 budget for increasing education spending. \u201cWithout increasing taxes, this budget fully funds Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s request for our public schools, again funding school districts at record levels,\u201d Emrick said in a news release.<\/p>\n
Warren: Supports a cellphone ban in schools and a \u201cbalanced\u201d approach to technology in the classroom, preserving what enhances learning and limiting distractions. Does not support a proposed amendment that would eliminate school property taxes; he said that would require increases to income and sales taxes, \u201cwhich are less reliable \u2026 forms of funding and still impose a burden on taxpayers, especially middle or low-income families.\u201d Would prefer an increase in state funding and a formula that reduces the burden on seniors.<\/p>\n
Skill games<\/p>\n
Emrick: Position unknown.<\/p>\n
Warren: \u201cWilling to have a conversation with all stakeholders involved before making a decision.\u201d Said a tax on skill games could boost statewide revenue but would impact revenue of small businesses that use them. \u201cThe [state] Supreme Court is forcing the Legislature to take action on this issue, so we have to either regulate and tax them, or regulate them to be fully illegal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Voting<\/p>\n
Emrick: In 2021, voted for a reform bill that included requiring voter ID. In June, voted against legislation allowing mail-in ballot pre-canvassing before Election Day.<\/p>\n
Warren: Supports pre-canvassing of mail ballots up to a week before Election Day and maintaining satellite election offices. Said the former is an administrative function \u2014 \u201cnot early vote counting\u201d \u2014 that will limit long delays and improve public confidence in elections. The latter, he said, provides another option for people who can\u2019t wait in long voting lines.<\/p>\n
Reproductive rights<\/p>\n
Emrick: In 2025, voted against a joint resolution proposing an amendment to the state Constitution providing for personal reproductive liberty regarding abortion, contraception, infertility and miscarriage care. In 2017, voted in favor of a bill that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks.<\/p>\n
Warren: Is \u201copen to discussions\u201d about a state constitutional amendment preserving reproductive autonomy, including abortion, contraception and miscarriage care after the U.S. Supreme Court\u2019s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade. \u201cWe need politicians out of doctors\u2019 offices,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery woman should have the right to choose how they\u2019ll handle their own reproductive health.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gun rights<\/p>\n
Emrick: Voted against universal background checks and ownership prohibitions for people who violate protection-from-abuse orders. Voted in favor of bills that would allow concealed carry without a permit and would restrict municipalities from enacting gun laws tougher than the state\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Warren: Would support \u201cred flag\u201d laws barring domestic abusers from firearm ownership and \u201ccommonsense practices\u201d like universal background checks. \u201cGun violence is a public health crisis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Steve Novak, Armchair Lehigh Valley In eight terms representing the 137th House District, Republican state Rep. Joe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":305223,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,836,182,139,50,432],"class_list":["post-305222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-election","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305222","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=305222"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305222\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/305223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=305222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=305222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=305222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}