2015 Northampton County Electoral Rumors

Pennsylvania is kind of the in-betweener in politics. It has odd year partisan elections (unlike, say, Iowa), but it doesn't have state legislative and gubernatorial races in odd years, like say Virginia, New Jersey, Kentucky, or Louisiana. In 2015, we will have partisan elections for state judicial seats, county level elections, and municipal elections. In Northampton County, expect them to be competitive.

A seat on the Court of Common Pleas, District Attorney, Controller, and all four District Council seats are up for grabs in Northampton County next year, as are three four-year and a two-year council seat in the City of Bethlehem, Easton Mayor, and three seats on the Easton City Council are all available. So what's the word on this?

• Democrats Abe Kassis and Sam Murray are both seeking the judicial nod, as is Republican Vic Scomillio. All three will cross-file for the two nods. Scomillio's proximity to Executive John Brown as his solicitor should be a major problem for him in this race. Let me re-phrase that- Democrats should make it be an issue. Do I want that kind of judgment on the bench, when I believe Brown has been a failure and disaster through a year? No. In an election that usually lacks specific issues, one has been served up.
• Democratic DA John Morganelli will run again it looks like, and I doubt he has an opponent. Controller Steve Barron will run again, and the Democrat will not be so lucky. There are rumors of a primary challenger from both Easton and Bethlehem, or a desire for one, but no names come through, which is fine. Democrats have other things to be doing. The Republicans will go after Barron in the Fall though for sure. Ron Angle is talking about a comeback tour run  for the job against his old foe over Gracedale. My understanding is that the Tea People would prefer a council member who might be easier to get elected, and Glenn Geissinger's name comes up a lot in my conversations, as occasionally does Mat Benol and Seth Vaughn. Seeing how all three have grandstanded against Barron lately, particularly after voting to raise taxes, any of them might be it.
• All four Democratic members of Council represent districts. All four are up for re-election. Ken Kraft has already announced he is running, while the word I hear is the other three are as well. Rumors have Republicans running Mike Dowd in a re-match for his old seat against Werner. Other rumors say that beating McClure and Parsons are priorities for the GOP, which sees both as vulnerable in their districts after re-district. There are rumors of former Council President John Cusick attempting a comeback too, and I believe re-districting puts him in McClure's seat.
• Bethlehem City Councilmen J. William Reynolds and Michael Recchiuti are up for re-election. this year, and there are also a four year and a two year seat open as well. No one is talking about the two year seat that I've heard about. Olga Negron and Shawn Martell are two names being floated for the third four-year seat.
• Sal Panto will be un-opposed for another term as Mayor from what I've heard. He's well deserving. Ken Brown and Elinor Warner are up for re-election, and appointee Melanie Mauro's seat is up for re-election, though I'm not sure if she's running again.

A couple of things to consider about next year's races. First off, both Werner and Parsons won with exceptionally high turnout in 2011, with Parsons having nearly 9,300 people vote in his race, while Werner's had just shy of 9,000 votes. If there is no Mayoral race in Easton to boost it for Werner, and there is no Ron Angle/Gracedale saga in the Slate Belt to boost it for Parsons, it's a tough race. McClure won his race by a narrow 109 votes. All of these districts did change since 2011 though with re-districting, so we'll see. In short, these districts are rather narrowly divided, so next year can get wild.