On Nov. 8, voters will go to the polls to cast their ballots for national and local positions in the general midterm elections.
Gov. Tom Wolf’s (D) last term expires in early 2023, meaning there is no incumbent for the gubernatorial race.
The United States Senate seat, currently held by Pat Toomey, is open because Toomey decided not to run for reelection. This makes Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race extremely consequential, as whoever wins this race could impact the 50-50 split in the body, giving one of the parties a majority.
Here’s who you can expect to see on the ballot if you’re voting in the 2nd Congressional or 3rd Senatorial Districts that encompass Main Campus.
U.S. Senate
John Fetterman (D)
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) has served as the 34th lieutenant governor since 2019 and was the mayor of Braddock, located in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, from 2009 to 2015. As Mayor of Braddock, Fetterman pushed to lower the town’s crime and poverty rates.
Some of Fetterman’s top issues include creating more goods in the U.S., cutting taxes for working people, banning members of Congress from trading stocks, reducing out-of-pocket health care costs and ending price gouging, according to his campaign website. Fetterman is also running on criminal justice reform and cannabis legalization. Fetterman supports abortion rights, stating that if elected he will be the tie-breaking vote to pass the Women’s Health Protection Act, a bill in Congress that would protect abortion rights on the federal level.
Mehmet Oz (R)
Mehmet Oz (R) is known as the host of “The Dr. Oz Show,” and is an author and retired cardiothoracic surgeon. He also taught at Columbia University until 2015.
Some of Oz’s top issues include growing the economy by combating inflation, overturning regulations on coal and natural gas production and distancing U.S. relations with China by creating more jobs and rebuilding a better supply chain.
Oz is pro-life, but he opposes penalizing patients or doctors for receiving or providing abortion care, POLITICO reported.
Erik Gerhardt (Libertarian)
Erik Gerhardt (L) intends to pursue a freedom-forward foundation for a better tomorrow, according to his campaign website. When he was 16, he began working in construction and is an owner of ECG Carpentry, a carpentry business offering services to Pennsylvanians. Gerhardt will embrace the NAP, or Non-Aggression Principle, a common libertarian value which means nobody has the right to initiate aggression against another.
His platform advocates for cutting taxes as much as possible, decriminalizing marijuana and other non-addictive drugs, legalizing abortion and presenting solutions to police reform like training recruits in jujitsu and community service.
Richard Weiss (Green)
Richard Weiss (G) is a lawyer from Allegheny County and ran for attorney general in 2020.
Weiss supports abortion rights, regulations on gun ownership and restorative criminal justice reforms to tackle crime, according to Greenslate2022. Weiss opposes fracking and supports a rapid transition to renewable energy. He also supports negotiations with Russia to end the war in Ukraine.
Daniel Wassmer (Keystone)
Daniel Wassmer (Keystone) is an attorney and college professor at Bucks County Community College. In 1989, he obtained his Juris Doctor from New York Law School.
Wassmer is in favor of pro-choice policies, environmental sustainability, anti-corruption and revision of the tax and revenue systems and pro-second amendment legislation.
GOVERNOR
Josh Shapiro (D)
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) is running for governor. Shapiro is from Abington, Pennsylvania, and served as a state representative from 2005 to 2011 in the state’s 153rd legislative district and as Montgomery County Commissioner from 2011 to 2017. Shapiro supports the right to an abortion, stating that he will veto any law restricting abortion rights.
Shapiro wants to protect clean drinking water and air. He supports expanding clean energy like nuclear and hydrogen power. He also plans to hold polluters accountable and wants to move forward Pennsylvania’s Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act’s goal to get the Commonwealth to Net-Zero emissions by 2050.
Doug Mastriano (R)
Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano (R) is a U.S. Army Veteran and served from 1986 to 2017 before becoming state senator for the state’s 33rd senatorial district in 2019. Mastriano opposes the right to an abortion and would sign a Heart Beat Bill, state legislation that would ban all abortions after six weeks, WHYY reported. Mastriano believes abortions should legally be treated as murder, The New York Times reported.
Mastriano supports bans on Critical Race Theory and Gender Studies in Pennsylvania schools. Mastriano supports a parental rights statute which would provide parents more legal protections regarding opting children out of school curriculum they object to. Mastriano is also in favor of large-scale deregulation of the energy, mining and drilling industries and would end Gov. Wolf’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which commits states to reducing carbon emissions.
Christina Digiulio (Green)
Christina Digiulio(Green) is a former analytical chemist for the U.S. Department of Defense and a Chester County resident.
She decided to run out of dissatisfaction with the Democratic and Republican Party’s campaign response to protecting Paragraph 27 of the State Constitution on Natural Resources and Public Estate, which establishes the right to clean air and water. Digiulio supports equal access to clean air and water and opposes nuclear energy, according to a statement she made in an interview to Chris Robinson, leader of the Green Party of Pennsylvania’s communications, on the party’s website.
Matt Hackenburg (L)
Matt Hackenburg (L) describes himself as a veteran against war and opposes government overreach and medical tyranny. Hackenberg is against COVID-19 masking requirements and lockdown measures because he believes they prevent individuals from making their own medical decisions.
Hackenburg served in the National Guard from 2012 to 2017 and said the guard is being abused by being sent overseas to fight in foreign wars. One of his biggest priorities is to implement a Defend the Guard policy, which would stop National Guard troops from being deployed without a formal declaration of war, according to his website. Hackenberg also opposes taxation and believes it is theft by the government.
Joe Soloski (Keystone)
Joe Soloski (Keystone) has worked as a public accountant since 1979. Soloski, who is from Centre County, served as a comptroller and a financial analyst in the construction, scientific instrument and public transport sectors. Soloski is running on reducing state spending by at least 5 percent each year he is in office because he believes the state is currently spending too much public money.
Soloski wants to decriminalize cannabis and would pardon state prisoners convicted of nonviolent drug offenses if he were elected. Soloski supports reducing property taxes, believing that the idea of property taxes is equivalent to renting from the government. Soloski will defend the rights of LGBTQ+ community members, according to his website.
Soloski ran for state treasurer in 2020.
U.S HOUSE DISTRICT 2
Brendan Boyle (D)
Brendan Boyle (D-Incumbent) lives in Northeast Philadelphia and has served the 2nd Congressional District of Philadelphia since 2019, which encompasses part of Center City, all of Northeast Philadelphia and all of North Philadelphia east of Broad Street, including most of Main Campus. Boyle signed a letter in 2020 to then–Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, urging the Department of Education to reassess the financial burdens of COVID-19 faced by college students and protect their right to affordable education.
Boyle is also a supporter of green initiatives, like the Build Back Better Act and the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal, which provided funding for cleaner transportation methods. He also supports reproductive rights and is in favor of expanding access and funding to lung cancer screenings.
Aaron Bashir (R)
Aaron Bashir (R), is a resident of Philadelphia’s Castor Gardens and is a 2006 alumnus with a bachelor of business administration alumnus. Bashir is running on school choice, which allows students to access public education funds no matter what school they chose. He also wants to lower taxes and government spending and opposes abortion rights.
Bashir believes that taxpayers should not fund abortion. He also thinks taxes should support the natural gas sector to create jobs and support small businesses to provide products to constituent members.
U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 3
Dwight Evans (D)
Dwight Evans (D-Incumbent) has represented Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District since 2019. Evans is a resident of the West Oak Lane and represents West Philadelphia and Parts of North, Center City and South Philadelphia.
Evans is in favor of additional housing in Philadelphia and hopes to replicate Boston’s Back Streets, a program that encouraged light industrial and commercial growth, to support the small, industrial businesses that surround cities and bolster communities. He plans to promote green initiatives in Philadelphia by expanding park accessibility and promoting the city’s parklet program, which encourages additional green spaces to be placed throughout the city.
Christopher Hoeppner (SWP)
Christopher Hoeppner (Socialist Workers Party) is running against Evans. Hoeppner is a freight rail conductor and a member of the Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers Union. SWP campaigners collected more than 2,400 signatures to secure him a spot in the general election.
Hoeppner hopes to build a labor party and opposes racial and religious discrimination.
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