☀️ Good Monday morning. Welcome back after a long weekend. We attended a pool party, saw 7 Pirates home runs, the Flight 93 Memorial and spent time with friends and family.
Pennsylvania Weather
🌤️ McCandless | More and more clouds, 92
☀️ Mill Hall | Mostly radiant, 94
☀️ Manheim | Mostly radiant, 95
Sports PA
⚾ Phillies (58-32) | Atlanta 1-5 | Tuesday-Thursday vs. LA Dodgers
⚾ Pirates (42-47) | NY Mets 2-3 | Mon. vs. NY Mets
⚽ Union (4-9-8) | NY Red Bulls 0-0 | Saturday vs. Toronto
🗓️ What’s happening today. The State House convenes at 12:00 noon, and the Senate strikes the gavel at 4:00 p.m.
🗞️ Today’s headlines >> Your inbox. Where can you find the latest on what’s happening in Keystone State politics? Sign up for the PoliticsPA Playbook. We’ll deliver all the latest headlines in an easy-to-read format every working day at 8 am. And it’s free. Add your name to the list and sign up now.
The best story
1. “Four more years,” Biden supporters chant during Harrisburg visit
“President Joe Biden spoke to a packed room of Democratic supporters, including state representatives, during a Sunday afternoon event at the AFSCME Council 13 building in Harrisburg.
Biden was met with frequent chants of “four more years” from the enthusiastic crowd, who had the opportunity to shake hands and chat with the president after his speech, which lasted just over five minutes. (PennLive)
Related
As Biden campaigns in Pennsylvania, some House Democratic leaders say he should step down“President Joe Biden urged his supporters to remain united during a series of stops in critical Pennsylvania on Sunday, even as some leading Democrats in Congress privately suggested it was time for him to drop his reelection bid amid mounting questions about his fitness for another term.” (AP)
US Rep. Susan Wild raises concerns about Biden’s second term“While Wild has not explicitly called on President Joe Biden to drop out of the race, as some lawmakers have done, she has raised doubts about his ability to help candidates for lower office, according to reports. Wild is the ranking Democrat on the House Ethics Committee.” (News)
In desperate need of support, President Biden went to Philadelphia church to ‘feel the love’. “The pastor called it divine intervention. President Joe Biden, amid mounting pressure from Democrats to drop out of the presidential race, headed to the West Oak Lane church on Sunday after a previously scheduled event to speak at a teachers union meeting was canceled.” (“Philadelphia Inquirer”)
Biden and Shapiro chat at City Coffee Shop after a stressful day of campaigning“As the number of Democratic elected officials calling on President Joe Biden to end his run for a second term slowly grows, one key swing-state governor sometimes mentioned as part of a potential replacement ticket — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — remained in the embattled incumbent’s corner on Sunday.” (PennLive)
Trump to Campaign in Butler County“Donald Trump will hold a rally Saturday at the Butler Farm Show grounds, days before the Republican National Convention, in an attempt to drum up support in western Pennsylvania.” (News from New Castle)
Country
2. Pennsylvania Capitol evacuated due to email bomb threat
“The state Capitol intricate was evacuated Saturday after more than 250 people, including all Republican and Democratic members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and Senate, received an email threatening to detonate “extremely lethal” devices there until President Joe Biden publicly condemns Israel.
The email, sent at approximately 5:45 p.m. with the subject line “My Manifesto,” said lead azide devices were hidden in and around the Pennsylvania State Capitol and the Pennsylvania Judicial Center “in the name of Palestine.”PennLive)
Related
PA budget talks continue over the weekend“Pennsylvania’s June 30 budget deadline for fiscal 2025 passed without a funding agreement, yet again. But despite the silence on the details, all sides — the governor’s office, Senate Republicans and House Democrats — expressed optimism that a deal will come. Soon.” (Penn Capital-Star)
David McCormick Claims He Created ‘Hundreds of Jobs’ in Pennsylvania, Records Say Otherwise“Republican candidate for U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania boasted about his business leadership. Corporate filings show his job creation claims are overstated.” (WHY)
Podcast: Cat McParland. “We welcome back Cat McParland, a top Democratic fundraiser. With her unique perspective, she provides a look at the money powering the Commonwealth’s hottest congressional races.” (Politics at the Kitchen Table)
Time is running out to put a sexual harassment amendment on Pennsylvania’s November ballot“A long-awaited constitutional amendment that would give survivors of childhood sexual abuse a chance to sue their abusers won’t make it to the November ballot unless lawmakers pass it next month.” (PA reflector)
Around the Commonwealth of Nations
3. Why were conditional votes not included in the Cabell/Walsh race?
“In light of court appeals, a dozen or so unopened provisional ballots could decide whether the incumbent Michael Cabell or pretender Jamie Walsh wins the Republican Party nomination for state representative for the 117th district.
Because more than two months have passed since these 12 ballots were last publicly reported, some may not realize why they were not counted with the other ballots in the April 23 primary election or know where the voters live.Leader of the times)
Related
The debate didn’t make life easier for black and Latino voters in Pittsburgh“In the wake of the debate, local voters are grappling with how they will vote in the November election — or whether they will vote at all, a decision that has local community leaders increasingly concerned.” (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
Dougherty’s Judgment Day“John Dougherty, 64, will face sentencing Thursday on bribery and embezzlement charges — nearly eight years after a federal investigation into his leadership of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers came to light with a series of FBI raids in 2016.” (“Philadelphia Inquirer”)
‘There’s No Better Story’: Former State Senator Takes on Role as New LCCC President. “John Yudichak, who spent 24 years in Harrisburg — 12 as a state representative and 12 as a state senator — became the eighth president of Luzerne County Community College on Monday.” (WVIA)
Editorial
4. What do you mean
- Conservatives say liberals took religion out of schools. The truth is it was never there. (Jonathan Zimmerman)
- Trump’s new big lie, that he doesn’t know about Project 2025, could sink him. (There will be a Bunch)
- I voted for Trump in 2016. His disrespect for veterans will make me vote for a Democrat. (Matthew Paul McCaffery)
- Innamorato’s honesty about the county’s finances is refreshing. (Pittsburgh Post Gazette)
- Arcade games pose a threat to the well-being of communities. (Representative Amen Brown)
- We need a better model for funding universities. (senator Ryan’s height)
- The most popular job for black people in America. (Ashley McBride)
- Who runs our government? (Guy Ciarrocchi)
- Choose democracy. (Roxanne Patel Shepelavy)
- The growth of the Spanish-speaking population could boost Pennsylvania’s political power. (Tribune Review)
- Hiring partisan election lawyers raises the question: Whose interests are Lancaster County commissioners protecting? (LNP)
1 thing
5. The company that has a monopoly on ice cream truck music
“In 1973, an electrical engineer named Bob Nichols I was watching the movie The Sting when the song came on the soundtrack — Scott Joplin The 1902 ragtime hit “The Entertainer” caught his ear.
Bob realized that a suitable portion of the song could be used as a commercial for an ice cream truck.
And he was in a unique position to do it: As founder of Nichols Electronics, a miniature Minnesota-based company, Bob had supplied music boxes—preloaded with dozens of tunes—to the enormous majority of ice cream vans in the country.” (Haste)
Thank you for starting your morning with us.
Please invite your colleagues
to subscribe to the PoliticsPA handbook
