{"id":68675,"date":"2025-12-23T16:55:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-23T16:55:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/68675\/"},"modified":"2025-12-23T16:55:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-23T16:55:16","slug":"democratic-state-house-candidate-wants-public-debate-before-party-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/68675\/","title":{"rendered":"Democratic state House candidate wants public debate before party decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 A city councilwoman running for the state House of Representatives is pushing for an opportunity to debate her opponents before a small group of Democrats decides<\/a> the seat\u2019s likely next holder.<\/p>\n

Ce-Ce Gerlach launched her bid for higher office<\/a> in September, aiming to convince Democratic voters to nominate her to represent the 22nd House District \u2014 which covers parts of Allentown and Salisbury Township \u2014 in next spring\u2019s primary.<\/p>\n

She was the first candidate to announce a campaign for the 2026 Democratic primary; Julian Guridy jumped into the contest<\/a> about a month later, after now-former State Rep. Josh Siegel was elected Nov. 4 to become Lehigh County\u2019s next executive.<\/p>\n

\u201cA public debate allows residents to hear directly from every candidate, understand our positions and see how decisions that impact their lives are being made.”<\/p>\n

Ce-Ce Gerlach, candidate for 22nd State House District<\/p>\n

Seigel’s resignation Dec. 17 triggered a special election to fill his seat; that contest is scheduled for Feb. 24<\/a>, 11 weeks before the 2026 Democratic primary.<\/p>\n

But a handful of rank-and-file members from the Lehigh County Democratic Committee must first name a candidate to put on the ballot, with no primary to select a nominee before the special election.<\/p>\n

Their choice must be ratified by a statewide committee.<\/p>\n

The 14 voting precincts in the 22nd House District are represented by 20 people, though each is supposed to have two precinct committee people, or PCPs.<\/p>\n

Those PCPs are due to interview candidates Jan. 3 and make their choice the same day. Registered Democrats in the 22nd District must apply by Jan. 1 for consideration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gerlach and Guridy are the only candidates to formally announce their interest in the LCDC\u2019s nomination; both have said they’ll also run in next year’s regularly scheduled Democratic primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the rules, and I’m just following the process.”<\/p>\n

Julian Guridy, candidate for 22nd State House District<\/p>\n

The winner of the Feb. 24 special election will finish out Siegel\u2019s term, which runs through November 2026. The winner of that month\u2019s election will earn a full two-year term in the House.<\/p>\n

Gerlach said she wants the opportunity to debate her opponents to ensure \u201ctransparency and meaningful public participation\u201d in a contest that will be determined by party leaders.<\/p>\n

\u201cA public debate allows residents to hear directly from every candidate, understand our positions and see how decisions that impact their lives are being made,\u201d Gerlach said Monday in a release.<\/p>\n

Guridy told LehighValleyNews.com he is open to participating in a debate hosted by a \u201cneutral, third-party organization\u201d ahead of the PCP\u2019s Jan. 3 decision.<\/p>\n

But he noted that special elections in Pennsylvania have followed the same party-led process \u201cfor a while now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are the rules, and I’m just following the process,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Guridy, an aide to state Sen. Nick Miller, D-Lehigh\/Northampton, said he is optimistic of securing a place on the ballot for February\u2019s special election after \u201cdoor-knocking extensively\u201d to speak with residents in the district.<\/p>\n

And he has the endorsement of Siegel, the seat\u2019s most recent holder.<\/p>\n

Local Democratic volunteers\u2019 decision will likely determine the next state representative for the 22nd House District. It overwhelmingly favors Democrats, who outnumber Republicans by a 2.5-to-1 margin.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 A city councilwoman running for the state House of Representatives is pushing for an opportunity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":68676,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120,2750,36324,16438,36322,36323,36325,25079,11986],"class_list":["post-68675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-ce-ce-gerlach","tag-ce-ce-gerlach-debate","tag-josh-siegel","tag-julian-guridy","tag-lehigh-valley-democrats","tag-lehigh-valley-house-of-representatives-debate","tag-lehigh-valley-special-election","tag-state-house"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68675","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=68675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68675\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}