The race is on for Pennsylvania's General Assembly this year, and Democrats are seeking their first Senate majority since the early 1990s.

This primary, two Democrats are competing for a chance to represent the 16th Senate district.

You'll hear from them tonight.

Lehigh Valley Public Media is proud to present this important forum on PBS.

39 Lehigh Valley News.com and the PBS 39 YouTube channel.

Good evening and welcome.

I'm Tom Shortall, politics reporter at Lehigh Valley News.com, part of Lehigh Valley Public Media.

We are coming to you live from the Universe Public Media Center in Bethlehem.

The 16th Senate district represents the northern half of Bucks County and much of Lehigh County.

The district is currently represented by Senator Jarrett Coleman, who is running unopposed in the Republican primary.

The winner of the Democratic primary is expected to face Coleman in the general election this November.

Let's meet the Democratic candidates.

Bradley Merkle Gump is a middle school social studies teacher and a director on the Penkridge School board.

Mark Pinsky is the Lehigh County Comptroller and a former Whitehall Township supervisor.

Now, before we get to business, a quick note.

The candidates have not seen the questions.

Journalists from Lehigh Valley Public Media prepared them and have not disclosed them to the campaigns.

Earlier this evening, we flipped a coin.

Mr.. Mr.

merkel, you'll lead us off with your opening statement.

You have one minute.

Thank you very much.

So thank you to the audience, to those of you tuning in at home and Mr.

Shortall for organizing this.

My name is Bradley Merkel.

Gump.

I'm a dad, civics teacher and Penkridge school board director a few years ago.

Moms for Liberty came from my home for the school that my students attend, to.

The school I graduated from, my community asked me to step up and run, and I did.

Because when somebody comes for your home, you protect it.

Today I'm taking that to the next step.

I'm stepping up for families like mine that are struggling right now as wages stagnate, as costs continue to rise.

These are hard times for working families, and I know that from experience.

Not some hypothetical, not from a spreadsheet, but from the actual lived experience of what that's like every day to struggle to make ends meet.

So thank you for having us and for the opportunity to introduce ourselves tonight.

Thank you, Mr.

Merkle.

Gump.

Mr.

Lee, you have one minute for your opening statement.

Hi, I'm mark, Lehigh county comptroller.

I wanted to thank Bradley and also PBS for hosting this.

Tom, when I'm at the doors, I hear people from both parties talking about how disgusted they are with our political system, and they believe that both parties are ignoring them.

And then eventually they get around to asking me, so what are your bread and butter issues?

And I tell them the cost of bread and butter.

And for the first time in 30 years, we have the possibility of taking control.

The Democratic control of Harrisburg, providing support to governor, to Governor Shapiro and actually tackling the cost of living crisis.

But we can't do that if we keep putting up the same kind of politicians going to Harrisburg.

Voters are looking for fighters.

And as Lehigh County Comptroller, I have taken on the biggest fights from massive health care companies to big banks to, excuse me, to big hospitals and banks that are anti-choice.

Thank you for having us.

Thank you, Mr.

Lee, for the next segment.

Each candidate will answer questions directed specifically to them.

There are no rebuttals in this part of the debate.

You'll each have one minute to answer.

Mr.

merkel will start with you.

The Penkridge school district signed a contract with bus patrol to help catch drivers going through school bus stop signs, but Lehigh Valley News.com has raised questions about the accuracy of the system and the amount of money the company collects from school districts is often shrouded in secrecy.

In addition, some motorists have waited for over a year to appeal their tickets thanks to a massive backlog.

Do you believe the state's school bus camera law needs to be amended?

And are you satisfied with how bus patrol has operated in Penkridge?

That's a good question.

No, I'm not satisfied with how they have operated in Penkridge.

I have seen from numerous of my friends who have dealt with similar issues where they haven't violated any rules, but the camera has caught them, it's been reported, and they haven't been able to appeal it.

An appeal is needed.

A system is needed to be in place to allow people to quickly appeal and deal with the issues of false ticketing.

For lack of a better way of saying it.

So fundamentally, yes, there is a problem here that needs to be fixed.

That needs to ensure that the money is one going to schools to help them to provide a better education.

But on top of that, not just to protect the investment of schools, but instead also to protect consumers who are wrongfully being targeted by those systems.

Thank you, Mr.

Pencil.

You're up next.

You were campaigning for the Lehigh Valleys congressional seat into February before pivoting to the state Senate race.

What do you say to voters who question your commitment to this job?

Well, look, you know, we were I was running a grassroots campaign at the time.

There were seven people in the race.

Many of them were were supported by the establishment and later.

And we can see now by dark money.

You know, my why has always been the same.

Donald Trump came into office.

I'm Jewish.

He was talking about Mexicans and Muslims, and I knew what came next, which is where we are right now with ice in our streets.

So I, I, I want to do the same thing at this level of government, which is to fight fashion, fight fascism, fight for the people and make sure that we bring costs down for our for our citizens.

Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

We'll stick with you for the next question.

You mentioned just mentioned ice.

You called on Lehigh County to evict ice from county owned offices earlier this year after they failed to pay rent for years.

But the agents worked worked for the Department of Homeland Security, a portion of Ice that focuses on human trafficking and drug running.

The Lehigh County district attorney said the Sea team was such a valuable resource that he offered to pay their rent.

Do you stand by your decision to urge for his removal 100%?

So first off, let's be clear that the that the district attorney wasn't using his own money to pay the rent, he was going to be using county money to pay the rent.

No, like they've been they have been using our facilities for three years and they have not been paying.

They had an opportunity to sign the contract.

They never did.

It was absolutely time to to get rid of them.

Thank you, Mr.

Merkle.

Gump.

You came into office after voters rejected a group of school board directors that hired a conservative consultant to rewrite curriculum and to cut programs associated with die.

Yet the new board allowed some books banned by the old board to remain off the shelves.

Does this square with the job that voters elected you to do?

The job that voters elected us to do was to restore normalcy, to bring the school dish back to where it was supposed to be with not politics running our classrooms, but instead teachers, administrators and staff.

What we did in Penkridge was we created a process by which, instead of politics influencing the decision of what books should be in a school library or in a school classroom, the interests of students and the people who know the students and the communities best, their teachers, their administrators who serve every day with the people who live in those communities, are making the decisions without politics influencing that outcome.

That's what we created in Penn Ridge to allow for the vetting of the resources that the schools librarian, the school's principal, the classrooms teacher, wanted to have in their library.

Thank you.

Mr.

Lee, this is your third time running for the 16th State Senate district.

Why should local Democrats get behind your campaign when you have fallen short in this race before?

Yeah.

So let's be clear.

It's actually there are two different 16th races.

There was once it was actually redistricted.

So I have been asked to run by the party three times now.

So I was asked in 2018, 2019 and 2022 to step up for the party because they could not find someone courageous enough to fight against the Republican establishment.

I did in 2016, like I mentioned earlier, Trump became elected, and when he was elected, you know, I felt like I needed to do more.

And so when the call came to that, when they asked me to run for this office, I did.

And by the way, in 2019, I won the comptroller ship.

I flipped the seat from red to blue.

And then four years later, by an even wider margin, I won in the last time, which is the same seat, this seat.

It was a wave red year other than for Shapiro and for Fetterman.

The down ballots didn't do so well.

You know, it's a red seat, but we have a great opportunity right now.

The wind is at our back.

Thank you, Mr.

Lee, for a final question for this segment, Mr.

Merkel.

Gump.

Many Bucks County Democrats expressed frustration after a straw poll was held earlier this year in an attempt to narrow the Democratic field.

The two other candidates who were in that poll are no longer in the race.

Are Democratic voters getting a fair chance to back their preferred candidate this primary?

I do believe that candidates are having that opportunity.

Each and every one of us had the opportunity to go out and seek enough signatures to get on the ballot.

When that straw poll happened, and with the two of us standing up here, Mr.

Pixley had not yet joined our race.

I have always believed that the opportunity of the straw poll was a fabulous opportunity for us to meet with the committee, people who do so much of the work to help Democrats get elected up and down the ballot, to help us refine our messages, to help us figure out what direction we wanted to take our campaigns.

No one who was in that meeting was tied to have to abide by the results.

And as a matter of fact, no one who was in that meeting chose to step out after that meeting was over.

Each candidate had the opportunity to follow their campaign to where it might otherwise lead.

And now we're here.

The only poll that really matters is in a few days on May 19th.

Thank you, Mr.

Merkle.

Gump.

That concludes the first round of the debate.

For the next segment, you'll each have a minute to answer.

If you want to rebut or add something after your opponent, you can just signal me.

So we want to know you'll have 30s for that rebuttal.

Let's begin.

Pardon me.

Mr.

Lee.

You've seen the federal government limit access to Snap benefits and cut and cut funding for food pantries.

This comes at a time when nonprofits are reporting higher demand for food assistance.

Ken.

Pennsylvania state government afford to fill the funding gap when it already has a structural deficit built into its budget.

Yeah.

So let's understand why it has a structural deficit, right?

Which is because lobbyists.

The system is rigged.

Lobbyists, rich donors.

They're the ones that are controlling the money that we bring in from Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania does have a structural deficit, and we need to raise revenue.

And we need to do that by a wealth tax.

You know, it is time that we tax the wealthy so that regular Americans can afford Snap benefits and other benefits like that.

So yes, I think that we can absolutely afford Snap benefits as, as well as many other benefits, so long as we take a look at the laws that are on the books now and we rig them and we make it for the people rather than the powerful.

Thank you, Mr.

Pencil, Mr.

Gump.

Same question.

Do we have the revenue to to open up these programs and spending?

Given the current budget standing, I believe we do, but I think it's going to require a two pronged approach.

Mr.

pencil brought up the need to tax, and that might be part of the part of the solution.

The other part is raising wages.

We are living in a state right now where every state around us makes more than anyone else who's on minimum wage in this state.

When we raise wages, we increase people's ability to support themselves, to have that dignity of a hard day's work that puts food on the table and a roof over their head.

It's going to limit the amount of Snap benefits that we do have to give out.

But on top of that, yes, the state must step in to make sure that every family in Pennsylvania has what they need.

And if we are raising wages and we are dealing with fairly taxing the people of Pennsylvania, then that is going to be a solvable problem.

Thank you, Mr.

Merkel.

Gump.

We're going to stick with you for this next question.

For the first part at least, I want to discuss vaccines we've seen trust in.

And vaccination rates tumble across Pennsylvania.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported this month that hundreds of elementary schools across the state have fallen below the target of having 95% of the student population vaccinated.

At least 16 schools in the district missed that mark.

Given the recent measles outbreaks that we've seen in Pennsylvania.

How should the state Senate respond to this health crisis?

The response to the health crisis needs to continue to be that we have an expectation that students are coming to school vaccinated.

Many families have forgotten, I think, what it was before we had vaccines.

I missed the test vaccine for chickenpox by a few days, and I get to spend the rest of my life with a pockmarks on my head.

And that's the reality of what we have gotten rid of.

I have a constant reminder of the importance of vaccines every single day.

There are exceptions made by the state, and those are important.

As a result, we need to make sure that both districts and the state are holding people accountable to the expectations of vaccination for students, because you are keeping everyone else in that school safe.

As a young man, I spent a lot of time working with children who were medically compromised.

Before that, I had never chosen to get a flu vaccine.

After that, after seeing the effects on those children who could not receive one.

I don't know how I could ethically make the choice any other direction.

Thank you.

Mr.. The same question how should Pennsylvania respond to to falling vaccination levels?

Well, I mean, I think we even just saw recently that that Robert Kennedy changed his mind on the on the, on the, on the measles vaccine, I'm pretty sure.

So I would say the first thing we should do is not listen to Robert Kennedy.

Right?

We need to be following our old ways and making sure.

Because, look, if we don't vaccinate enough of the kids, more and more people will have measles.

More and more people will have Covid, more people will have these diseases.

We need to reinforce the amount of vaccines that are taken by us.

And I think one of the problems is, is that people believe, and rightly so, that the that the rich, in this case, the, the pharmacy companies are forcing this on us.

And what's happening is we no longer believe science.

And I think not only should the schools be requiring this, but the school needs to be even teaching more about science and how important science is, and maybe not even just to the kids, but to the to the whole society, because we have just lost our ability to see what's important.

Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

Mr.

Merkle Gump, the General Assembly was unable to reach an agreement on expanded funding for Transit Authority's as part of this year's budget.

Neither of the region's transit authority's Lanta and Septa offer robust services in the 16th district.

If elected, would you support giving Septa and Lanta greater funding if they don't necessarily provide more services for the 16th?

We have an absolute need to make sure that these services are funded and that they are expanded.

A few years ago, I mean to take a step back.

Lehigh Valley has lanta.

Bucks County has nothing.

We have the occasional Septa route that doesn't quite reach anywhere in the 16th district in Bucks County.

A few years ago, my car battery died.

In order to get to work, I had to put my car on a trickle charger every night, make sure that the battery was charged, and hope that it would hold by the time I drove home each day.

We have to ensure that we have options for public transit here in the 16th district.

I recognize that there are some areas of Lehigh County right now that get one busser out a day, which is not enough for us to expand access to affordable housing around the state and around our county, while making sure that people are still able to get to their jobs.

We need to expand that funding.

Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

Would you vote to provide transit authority's with more resources?

Even if they provide limited services in this district?

Yeah.

So the interesting thing about this is should we prevail and win this seat, we are going to be the majority.

But also this seat is important to the rest of the Senate and to the governor and to the House.

And so will I vote for it eventually.

But I'm going to negotiate hard to make sure that we get our fair share.

It shouldn't just be about Philadelphia.

It shouldn't just be about Allegheny.

It needs to be about Lehigh County.

It needs to be about Bucks County.

Transit is your opportunity to the economy.

Many people can't get to work.

They can't get to school without without transportation.

So no, I'm not going to easily give in and just vote yes, I'm going to fight for this.

I'm going to fight for our area.

Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

We're going to stick with you for next question.

I want to talk about data centers.

Spotlight PA reported earlier this year that data center data center developers are exempt from Pennsylvania's 6% sales tax on construction and maintenance goods.

The Shapiro administration estimates that the tax break will cause Pennsylvania to forego $115 million in tax revenue this year, and that number could eclipse half $1 billion by 2030.

Is that an acceptable cost to bring data to bring data centers and tech jobs to the Commonwealth, or does the law need to change?

The law needs a change.

There is no reason that we need to subsidize big businesses that are coming in, that are going to use all of our electricity, use all of our water, make a lot of noise, know that that what we really actually do need is we need a data center dividend and that data set, a dividend should be used to help housing.

Like we have houses that if we help them with their insulation, if we help them with their new windows, all of a sudden they would use less electricity.

One of the things that we're going to have to do as these data centers, you know, the Josh Shapiro said he wanted to be the Mecca of data centers.

One of the things that we're going to have to do as these data centers come online is we're going to have to see electricity really as a common good, and we're going to have to work with each other to make sure that we're lowering the cost of electricity.

So if we need to help someone lower their electric bill by providing more insulation for their houses, we should absolutely be doing that.

Thank you.

Mr.

merkel, Gump is the current tax code.

Just the cost of doing business in Pennsylvania or to something need to change.

These companies should absolutely not be getting a tax break to come into the state.

They are able to pay their fair share and they should, because that's what our communities need, is each person paying their fair share for the success of the entire state, and each citizen that lives here.

We understand that these things are coming in.

There's a lot of demand for the product that they create, and nobody really wants it in their backyard.

There's also talk, along with this tax break of the moratorium, of trying to prevent them from coming in, which has its own problem of just kicking the can down the road for future generations.

We need to make sure that not only are they not receiving a tax break for arriving so that they pay their fair share, but they're putting money into building new clean electric in this area that they are putting money in towards protecting our environment.

These companies in Pennsylvania, we have a long history of extractive corporations coming in and not doing their part to take care of the environment that they leave in their wake.

We are going to hold them accountable, and we are going to make sure that we do business the right way.

Thank you.

Shifting gears again, four years ago, Governor Shapiro picked up support from some Republican voters because he came out in favor of school vouchers.

This would allow Pennsylvanians to send their kids to private or faith based schools using taxpayer money towards tuition.

Due to opposition in the General Assembly.

The school voucher program never came to be.

Mr.

Merkle Gump, if elected, would you would you back average to create a school voucher program?

Absolutely not.

I'm a product of both private and public school.

In my career as a teacher, I have had the opportunity to work at charter, public and private at.

Private schools.

Absolutely do not currently need a voucher.

We already have a fully funded EitC and OST program that allows corporations and companies to give directly to a school if they want to make sure that it's funded in that way.

On top of that, I will tell you that as a private school teacher, I received money that I will never receive as a public school teacher to help fund my classroom through state basic education funding.

The other piece to this that needs to be discussed is the cyber charter funding model here in the state, which is absolutely costing schools far more money than it cost us to educate a school through our own system.

That cyber charter funding model needs to be fixed so that schools are funded fairly, that schools are able to do the cost of business so that but so that no individual branch of education is robbing from one to pay for the other.

Thank you.

Mr.. Where do you fall on the school voucher debate?

I would not vote for school vouchers.

You know, look, you know, one of the things that I think we should do, you know, as a controller is I believe that we should understand the costs.

And what I think that people don't understand is the cost of choice.

So when you have a charter school or when you have a private school, you're taking money away from a public school.

And when you're doing that, you're actually kind of creating like a new district.

You're creating a new administration, you're creating a whole bunch of new stuff, another building, another, you know, a principal.

All of these things.

So people don't really understand the costs that's associated with having a voucher or a charter school.

And I think if people understood that, that they would be much more cautious about suggesting alternatives, oh, than actually fixing our public schools.

Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

We continue the Democratic primary debate for the 16th Senate district produced by Lehigh Valley Public Media.

This program is being broadcast live on PBS 39 and streamed on the PBS 39 YouTube channel, as well as on our website, Lehigh Valley News.com.

Remember, the primary is on Tuesday, May 19th.

Eligible voters have until May 4th to register or update their party affiliation.

Pennsylvania runs closed primaries, meaning only registered party members can participate.

The deadline to request a mail in ballot is Tuesday, May 12th.

Those Mail-In ballots must be returned to your county election office by 8 p.m.

on primary day, or they will not be counted.

If you'd like to stay informed on all things Lehigh Valley, please sign up for our newsletter at Lehigh Valley Public Media.

All right, candidates, it's time to switch things up a bit.

For the next segment, you'll be answering questions posed by your opponent.

You'll each take turns and have one minute to respond.

Mr.

Lee, lead us off with your first question for Mr.

Merkle.

Gump.

Bradley.

Endorsements are important.

They reflect the values we hold and the leaders we want to be associated with.

You've been endorsed by a Democratic senator that has voted with MAGA.

Republican Senate majority is voted to force local law enforcement to collaborate with Donald Trump's Ice to criminalize homelessness, people, instead of actually offering them services.

And to and he has twice now voted to target trans athletes.

My question is simple will you renounce that endorsement tonight, or should we sacrifice our values for victory?

I am not that person.

I have my own values.

But once we get to Harrisburg, we're going to have to work with many people.

And we're not going to agree with all of them.

We're not going to agree with every stance that somebody has to get things done.

We need to build coalitions.

We need to work together.

We need to be able to understand that I might not stand for the same thing that someone else does, but that we are all together working for the betterment of the state of Pennsylvania, that we are all together working for one another's mutual success.

I may not agree with his opinions, and I do not, but he is entitled to them.

Thank you.

Mr.. Your first question for Mr.

Lee.

So.

Mr.. Earlier this month, I laid out an agenda for tackling the affordability crisis raging wages, raising wages, paid family leave and UK crossed productions.

Three concrete policies that we can get done on day one in the Senate.

Where can you say we disagree?

I don't know that those would be the things that I worked on day one, but certainly we agree.

I think the things that I mean, the thing that is most important for me day one is affordable housing.

I believe that affordable housing, you know, my nephew became homeless because his rent increased faster than his paycheck.

And so we ended up bringing him into our house.

And so that item is very important to me, and I believe that that is also associated with an increase of minimum wage.

So in order, one of the things that you need to know is affordable housing.

It means that 30% of your wages, no more than 30% of your wages go towards housing.

So whether that's rent or mortgage.

And so if you're earning $20,000 a year, the most that you can pay in rent is $500.

I don't care how many houses we build, it's going to be very difficult to get rent down to $500.

So we need to increase wages in order for people to afford their rent.

Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

Your question for Mr.

Merkel, Gump Bradley, one of your biggest supporters in the Pennsylvania State Senate voted to stand, voted for the stand with Israel Act that would have prevented Pennsylvania state colleges from divesting from Israel over the genocide and war in Gaza.

The ACLU said it would have a chilling effect on free speech.

Do you believe the war in Gaza is a genocide?

And should Pennsylvania use its financial power to to chill the free speech of a college?

It is never the role of the state fundamentally, to inhibit the free speech of other people.

We have a First Amendment for a reason.

It isn't upheld within our national constitution and that of our state, that each person has the right to speak their mind freely to their government, to their neighbor, to their friend.

Now, that doesn't mean we don't respond.

That doesn't mean we don't disagree.

That doesn't mean that we do not call people to account when we do not support the actions that they take.

We should never be preventing any institution in this state from using its free speech.

That being said, I cannot help but notice that you consistently seem to be not attacking my platform or asking about things that I might support, but instead asking me about other people.

Thank you.

Mr.

merkel, your second question for Mr.

Pixley to enact the urgent changes voters tell me about every day at doors.

We have to defeat Jared Coleman in November, and that's going to require reaching out to and listening to all kinds of voters, those we agree with and those we disagree with across this district.

How are you going to build a coalition that can win over skeptics, when this is a seat that you have not successfully managed to build that coalition twice before?

Well, it's not twice.

Once again, it's only once.

So I think that we should clarify that this is a this is a very different seat than the other seat that I ran for.

And it was also a very different year.

So first off, let's just talk about the coalition building in general.

You know, this is not a culture war campaign.

This is a cost of living campaign.

This isn't about left or right.

This is about up and down.

And what I would say is, I don't care if you're a Republican or you're an independent or Democrat.

You know, the cost of gas is going up, the cost of electricity is going up.

And I think so long as we stay laser focused on the cost of living and what people need in order to get by, including transit, as we talked about earlier, and including the ability to to travel to work, I think that it will be very easy in this moment to build those coalitions.

Thank you.

Mr.. Your final question for Mr.

Merkel, Gump Bradley, early, the primary UI and a third candidate were competing for the nomination in the 16th of the Bucks County Democratic Committee.

One of your biggest establishment supporters attended.

It's kind of rig the nomination process in your favor.

The other candidate and I refused the nomination, but you didn't and still lost.

Now there's a rumor that the establishment put pressure on the other candidate, causing them to leave the race in order to give you a better chance of winning, if that is true.

Do you think that that is appropriate and what would you do about it?

I do not think it is appropriate to to put pressure on others to do as we wish.

Each of us has the power and the choice to make the decisions that we want to, in order to try and bring our campaigns to fruition.

I can tell you openly and honestly that if this is true, I don't know about it and I will be less than happy to find out if that is true.

I cannot comment on rumors.

I can only comment on what I know, and at this point I do not have information that that would be true.

Thank you very much, Mr.

Merkel.

Your final question for Mr.

Lee.

Since Jared Coleman was elected in 2022, the voters of the 16th district have lacked focused representation in Harrisburg.

You've sought many local elected offices if elected to this office.

Can you commit to everyone in this audience and watching at home that you will serve your full term, giving the voters of the 16th Senate District the attention and respect and representation that they deserve.

Where's the camera?

Yes, I commit to to serving my full term.

This is where I will land.

Should I win?

You know, I started all of this when I was 46 years old.

I am certainly not by any stretch a career politician.

I got into this, as I mentioned earlier, because of Trump, and I believe that we need to fight against fascism and for the people of Pennsylvania and quite honestly, for the people of the United States, I have no intention, even if someone asks to go any further than state Senate.

Thank you very much.

Let's move on to our final round of questions.

After that, it will be time for closing statements.

Once again, these questions are for both candidates, and you'll each have a minute to respond if time allows.

Also allow rebuttals.

Rebuttals are 30s just signal me if you want to respond.

Mr.

Lee, a Quakertown student a Quakertown student protest in February turned physical, drawing national attention.

A video surfaced of Police Chief Scott McElroy grabbing a teenage girl before several people attacked him.

McElroy, who wasn't in a uniform and had nothing visually identifying him as a police officer, suffered broken ribs and a collapsed lung in the altercation.

Several students have been criminally charged, but a panel of Bucks County police chiefs said the chief responded appropriately.

What do you make of this situation and are you satisfied with the panel's findings?

No, I am not satisfied with the panel's finding.

I'm sure if we put together a panel of kids, they would say all the other kids did well to.

So no.

Having a bunch of your cronies say that you did well is fine.

Is not fine.

The way I look at it is, look, he was in plainclothes.

He attacked a 15 year old girl.

He should have been charged with a criminal assault.

Just like the.

Just like the kids have been charged.

And he should go through that process just as the children are going through their process.

Quite honestly, I don't agree that the children should have been charged with the crimes that they had been committed to.

I don't know all the situation, but the felonies that the Da put on them, I think were far too great and really, I think was used as as leverage in order to get them to in order to get them to negotiate.

I think, I think the whole thing is an unfortunate situation.

And quite honestly, there were officers on the scene that were in uniform and they were fully capable of doing their job.

Thank you, Mr.

Merkel.

Gump.

Are you satisfied with the panel's findings?

I'm not satisfied with the panel's findings, but that's why Bucks County has a district attorney.

He is doing his job investigating each piece of information as he finds it, making sure that he is providing an outcome that is accurate to the truth.

That's a job of a Da.

It's not to play politics.

It's not to bend to crowds.

It is to ensure that the laws of this nation as upheld.

One of my my personal favorite stories from history is the story of John Adams defending the men who took fire at the Boston Massacre, ensuring that as a nation, when this nation was formed, we would not be a nation of mob justice, but a nation that was based simply and purely on the rule of law that respected the rights of every person.

There are a lot of issues with the process that was followed in terms of Mr.

McElroy.

I know as a teacher, if a similar circumstance had occurred, I would have been placed on leave, had a full investigation separate from the role of politics that made a decision about whether or not my guilt or innocence allowed me to keep my job.

We are now past that.

It is now time to let the Da do his job.

Can I just add a little bit to that?

Which is I actually do agree that it's time to let the Da should be doing his job, I think, and I hope that he's doing everything that that, Bradley said.

And I believe that he is.

But what he's not doing is communicating enough.

He needs to be communicating to the public so that we see that there is progress and that so that we know that something is going on.

Right now, the only thing that we see is that the children are being charged.

We don't see anything going on with the chief of police.

Thank you for our next question.

I want to focus on voter ID.

National polls show that voters broadly support a voter ID requirement, and 36 states have some form of the system on their books, but Pennsylvania is not one of them.

Mr.

Merkle Gump, do you believe Pennsylvania should adopt this practice, and why do you why do you hold that belief?

When I was 18 years old, in my senior year of high school, I got to vote for the first time.

I showed up at the polls, presented my voter registration card as was required at the time for a first time voter.

Now, this was before voter ID laws existed.

The man who was working the polls said, I don't believe that you are who you said you are.

I'd like to see your license.

Thankfully, a teacher had pulled me aside and warned me of this.

So I showed it.

He said, I still don't believe you are who you say you are.

I'd like to see your Social Security card.

Thankfully, being a young person without my security card memorized, I had that with me too.

He said, I still don't believe you are who you say you are.

I want to see your birth certificate.

This is the problem.

What is enough to show that we are who we say we are?

We have a system that allows us to be aware of people's financials.

We have a system that allows us to be aware of when a child turns 18, so that they can be put into the selective Service.

I think we have the ability to know who is and is not registered to vote in our state.

Thank you.

Mr.. Your thoughts on adopting a potential state voter ID law?

Yeah.

So I mean, I'm not against voter ID laws specifically.

I'm against what is required.

So for example, in Canada you can bring a bill in and that's your voter ID.

You know, when we're looking at the Safe act that the president is proposing is nearly impossible to vote.

And they want to you have to show your immigration status or not, immigration status.

So you have to actually born here.

You have to show if you're a woman and your name has changed, you got to go back to your birth or give it and then show that your name has changed.

Like that's not acceptable to me.

I think that what we need to do, it needs to be safe so people feel secure in their elections.

But it also needs to be super easy.

So if you can, if you can balance those two, then I'm willing to I'm willing to look at it.

But unless that it's very easy, I'm not interested.

Mr.. Since you brought it up, if the Save act passes, what do you think Pennsylvania should do in response to that law passing at the federal level?

Fight it.

What would that look like?

Yeah, I mean, well, first off, I mean, that would look like Governor Shapiro fighting, you know, suing the federal government.

I imagine other states would be suing the federal government as well.

We need to take this all the way up to the Supreme Court, and we need to show that it's, you know, that it's unconstitutional.

That would be the direction that they needed to head.

And hopefully, in the meantime, there would be no that wouldn't go into effect until these lawsuits work their way through the courts.

Very good.

Mr.

merkel, I kind of live that one.

If you want a chance to rebut or chime in, you're giving a social studies teacher the opportunity to comment on the Constitution, sir.

Dangerous ground.

I recognize that.

Now, we might have to give a few more minutes.

No, I mean, it is it is very clear in our nation's constitution that the power to manage elections belongs solely to the state, to make role, to make rules, to make expectations, with the exception of where the Constitution has already been amended with things like the 19th amendment, the state has the right to fight this, and it should absolutely use every single last ounce of its power to do so.

Because the rights of the people of Pennsylvania is a non-negotiable.

Thank you very much for our next question, Mr.. Princely.

New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Ohio have all made recreational marijuana legal proposals do the same in Pennsylvania, have passed in the state House, but died in the Senate?

If you were elected, would you vote to legalize marijuana?

I would, we're letting all of that tax revenue go to all the states that you just mentioned.

First off, it makes it safer here, right?

Because we would have marijuana that is that has gone through the process and is regulated.

So it'll be safer.

Some of that money can be used to prevent addiction.

The tax money that would be raised.

So no, I am I am a proponent of legalizing marijuana here in Pennsylvania.

Do you believe that that would be easily passed if you're elected?

Is that something that all the Democratic, all the Democratic senators could get behind?

Or do you anticipate that being a fight?

I it's a good question, I don't know.

I think some of that's going to come down to where Shapiro lands on it.

Quite honestly, I do think that it's a major tax revenue at a time where we have a structural deficit.

So the money may actually talk, you know, to to the governor as well as to other state senators.

But I am a yes.

Thank you, Mr.

Merkel.

The same question.

Should Pennsylvania legalize weed?

We currently are surrounded by states that already have.

I'm aware of a court case that happened not long back in Bucks County, where a man was passing through our state after having just left new Jersey, was stopped by the police and found to be in possession and charged right across the bridge.

That's a problem when we have such varied laws between new Jersey and Pennsylvania and our neighbors, it creates a difficulty and we are losing out on the opportunities that we have to use the revenue from that industry to fund our schools, good roads, safe communities.

And I think that there's absolutely something that as a state, we can move towards and should move towards in order to provide for the people of Pennsylvania.

Thank you very much.

Let's talk gerrymandering.

Pennsylvania redraws in state districts once every ten years through a legislative reapportionment committee.

Its members are the House and Senate majority and minority leaders, plus a fifth mutually agreed upon person.

Do you believe this system serves the interest of voters, and if not, what it should it be replaced?

And with what?

Mr.

Merkle Gump will start with you.

So this year, I introduced gerrymandering to a group of students, and I put up a bunch of slides in the front of the room and showed them the old goofy kicking Donald gerrymander that used to exist in our state.

When I used to teach that class, my school district that I taught in straddled three different districts.

Within that, I had a student under his breath.

He won.

Yes.

And then we got to Maryland, a gerrymander in the opposite direction for the Democratic Party, with the district that snaked through the state to make sure that that district would remain safely in the hands of Democratic Party.

And he was upset.

Gerrymandering does not serve anyone other than those who want to choose their voters.

Instead of letting the people choose their elected officials.

As a state, we need to ensure that the districts that we create are fair for each and every citizen to be able to elect the leader that best represents them.

Thank you, Mr.

Pencil.

Does Pennsylvania's need to rethink its legislative reapportionment committee?

You know, having lived through it.

And in fact, you mentioned it earlier that I ran in the 16th and ran into the 16th again.

And they were completely different.

Right?

I do think that it needs to be changed.

So right now it's still very political.

And what ends up happening is, is like when they're looking at the seats, they're looking at who exists there now.

And in fact, this seat, if you look at it, you'll see that it sneaks out around into Allentown and back.

And that was because that was where Pat Brown lived.

And so they were trying to make sure that he could win.

Unfortunately for him, he lost the primary.

But that was the that was the process that we have now.

So that's not acceptable.

You know, what California and others have done is they've had a third party do it.

And I think that that's probably much more appropriate.

But really, this has to happen at the federal level where we get rid of gerrymandering.

And in fact, Biden did attempt to do that.

And of course, obviously it was unsuccessful.

But that's that is where we need to be working on this is really nationally to make sure that nowhere is gerrymandered, because right now we see what's going on.

Right.

So, you know, Texas had a lawsuit.

They were able to, you know, read gerrymander then California is now Maryland.

Then it's going to go down to Florida.

It's going all around saying, I'm going to have to cut you off for time.

But I appreciate the thoroughness.

Yeah.

Mr.

Lee, let's speak about Pennsylvania's abortion policy.

Pennsylvania Democrats and both of you tonight have described how this election cycle is the first real chance to regain control of the Senate.

If you do.

It would be an opportunity to rewrite the state's abortion laws.

Should Pennsylvania change its abortion ban after 23 weeks or eliminate the 24 hour waiting period?

Well, what I what I would say is that we should move towards what Roe versus Wade look like, and we should mimic that.

There is a court case right now going on in Pennsylvania, where they are actually saying that it's already codified that the right to an abortion is already codified.

That's at the lower courts right now.

I expect that it's going to make it all the way up to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, and I hope it does, and then we'll know better.

But in the meantime, I would codify Roe versus Wade into the states, into the state's constitution.

But then also, I would want to make sure that there's availability.

Right now, we have seen many Planned Parenthood's have to close their doors due to lack of funding.

And we need to make sure that we get funding back for Planned Parenthood.

It's used for far more than just abortion.

Thank you, Mr.

Merkel.

Gump.

Should Pennsylvania change its current abortion laws with the overturn Roe v Wade and the court case around privacy that had underpinned that being called into question, it is absolutely essential here in the state that we codify this right into the PA Constitution.

The decisions around reproductive health do not belong to me or Mr.

Pencil or any politician.

They are between a woman and her doctor.

Those are the people who enter into that room.

Those are the people who need to make those decisions.

We cannot make laws for every single contingency that could possibly happen within a pregnancy.

They are often complicated.

They often have great difficulties.

Our job is to make sure that people's health is able to be safely taken care of and as a result, full stop.

We need to protect people's access to the health care that they need.

What does that look like in terms of the current compared to what we currently have?

That 23 week period, the 24 hour waiting period, do you think those meet those requirements that you just spoke about?

I don't in that.

I know that there are awful things that can happen within pregnancy beyond 23 weeks.

And so that is as much as we may not want to have to face that, as much as we may not ever choose that for ourselves.

There are times where a doctor and a woman may have to make that decision.

Thank you.

We have time for just one more question.

So I want to talk about energy costs.

PBL has increased its residential electric rates by almost 45% over the past four years.

Matt eds.

Residential rates climbed nearly 75% over the same time period.

There's concern that these rates could climb even higher as energy hungry data centers come online.

Mr.

Lee, what can lawmakers do to protect consumers from rising energy costs?

And I'm just going to remind you, we are close on time, so I need you to respect them.

Yes.

Okay.

So let me just say so.

I'm Lehigh County controller and I'm looking at the electric use that we're using right now.

And over the last five years it's gone up 55%.

So nearly $1 million just for the county.

One of the things that that ends up happening is the state gives the ability for people to make 10.5% profit.

And one of the things that we can do is cut that profit down.

There's no reason for it to be that high.

The second thing that we can do is when data centers or other hogs, I think you called them, are using our electricity.

We should charge them for the upgrades to the grid.

There's no reason that the way it works now is when you upgrade the grid.

Everybody pays everybody.

It goes out to everybody.

We all pay our fair share, as it were.

But right now, we're not getting the benefit.

The data centers and other large users are getting the benefit, so they should be paying to upgrade the grid.

Thank you very much.

And I didn't, but I might borrow hog moving forward.

Mr.

merkel.

Same question.

How should lawmakers shield cons I mean, this goes back to the question around data centers in general.

The issue that is needed here is regulation.

The issue here that is needed is accountability.

When these data centers are coming in, we know that they are going to take vast amounts of electric.

They can't just purchase that from the grid.

They cannot just pretend it's a fence put up between two neighbors and say, you have to pay half of it.

They need to be providing for the addition of new energy infrastructure into our state, to be providing for building that infrastructure, to ensure that we are creating even more good paying jobs for the people of Pennsylvania, to build those and maintain those, and to make sure that energy costs stay low on every single person who's living in this state.

Thank you.

And thank you both.

We're nearly at the end of our program, which means that it's time for our closing statements.

Mr.

Merkle, Gump, you have 60s.

So once again, want to thank all of you for being here.

Thank you, Mark, for a fabulous debate.

I only usually get to debate middle schoolers, so this was fabulous.

This was great.

We're going to win in November.

I've run off Coleman's friends from moms for Liberty already, and it's time to take that fight on to Harrisburg, to push back on corporate extremists who are using our state as their personal piggy bank.

This is a crucial moment for Pennsylvania families like mine, families that have to choose between medication and food that feel like we're one car or house repair away from financial ruin.

This is my opportunity to fight for a better Pennsylvania.

As a teacher, that's not hypothetical to me.

It's what I see every day.

It's the life that I live.

I'm running to make sure that no student in any classroom in Pennsylvania has to rely on a teacher for food or on the food that the school collects to make sure that they have enough.

I'm not using this as a stepping stone to any higher office, but to serve my neighbors.

It's a chance to make life better for families like mine.

And I hope tonight that I've earned your vote on May 19th to beat Jarrett Coleman this November.

Thank you, Mr.

Merkle.

Gump.

Mr.

Lee, you have the final word.

The floor is yours.

Yeah.

Thank you.

So I want to thank Bradley as well.

And also PBS.

It has been a lot of fun to be here.

You know, I think a lot of us probably feel like we're just treading water, and some of us probably feel like the water is over our head.

And I know what it feels like to feel like we're drowning.

You know, when I grew up, you know, when the.

The dryer broke, we never replaced it.

Then the dishwasher broke and we never replaced that.

And then finally, the heater broke and we didn't replace that.

And so we would carry around a kerosene heater to whatever room that we were going into.

And so in Harrisburg, I know what I want.

I want someone who sees us, someone who understands the cost of lemon, someone who actually knows how to fix it.

And for seven years, I have spent my time as Lehigh County Comptroller.

And I can tell you what that work looks like.

It looks like looking at spreadsheets, it looks like pulling old contracts.

It looks like talking to vendors.

And it's this is not buy.

When you when you do that, you find $3 million in health care savings that you didn't know were available.

And that's not an accident.

That's the system.

And so I'm asking from now until May 19th that you vote for me so that we can go to Harrisburg together and fix this.

Thank you.

Thank you, Mr.

Lee.

That concludes the bait for the 16th Senate districts Democratic primary.

The seat represents the northern half of Bucks County and much of Lehigh County.

Thanks again to the candidates for joining us tonight.

And feel free to give them a round of applause.

I think this many.

And thank you also to our studio audience here at the U.S.

Public Media Center in Bethlehem.

I also want to extend my appreciation to the PBS 39 production crew for making this whole night possible.

And last but not least.

Thank you at home for following along.

Remember, primary day is May 19th.

Only registered Democratic voters can cast a ballot in this race.

I'm Tom Shortall.

From all of us here at the Lehigh Valley Public Media.

Have a good night.