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An initiative to provide nonpartisan, independent elections journalism for southwestern Pennsylvania.

Pa. election 2024: A guide to vetting legislative candidates

The dome of the Pennsylvania Capitol in Harrisburg.
Amanda Berg
/
For Spotlight PA
The Pennsylvania State Capitol building in Harrisburg on July 26, 2023.

This year, all Pennsylvania House representatives and half of state senators will be on the ballot.

These races receive less media attention than top-of-the-ballot ones, such as those for president and U.S. Senate. That’s why Spotlight PA has compiled this guide to help you evaluate which candidates you want to send to or keep in Harrisburg.

Those positions come with a six-digit base salary, perks such as per diems, and the ability to hire a full-time staff. In return, legislators are expected to act as a front door to state government. They also work with their elected colleagues to solve problems and represent their constituents' interests.

Keep reading to learn more about how to vet both incumbent lawmakers as well as candidates hoping to win office.

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How to vet incumbent legislative candidates

Use this tool to find out who your legislators are. Reminder: All state representatives will stand for election this year, while only state senators in odd-numbered districts will be on the ballot.

Each state House and state Senate lawmaker has a web page that lists every legislative memo they’ve circulated (under “co-sponsorship memoranda”) and bill they’ve signed on to this session (under “sponsored legislation”).

Alex Garlick, a University of Vermont professor who studies American legislatures, previously told Spotlight PA that you can understand a lawmaker’s priorities by looking at the legislation they back.

There are a few other ways to evaluate lawmakers, though all have pros and cons, Garlick said.

For instance, you could count how many bills introduced by a lawmaker became law. But that method alone isn’t sufficient, Garlick said, “because a lot of bills fail along the way.”

Bills that move through the Pennsylvania legislature are often rewritten, meaning what becomes law may be completely unrelated to what was introduced. Also, sometimes a lawmaker's bill gets absorbed into a larger measure.

Most rank-and-file lawmakers — especially those in the minority party — don’t have the power to ensure their bills are considered. That ability belongs to committee chairs and members of the majority leadership team, who make these decisions based on their own priorities.

How a lawmaker votes on bills, however, can be informative. Do they buck party lines? Do they abstain from politically tricky measures? Do they prioritize unity?

Both chambers have advanced some weighty proposals over the past year. You can see how your lawmakers voted by clicking the below links.

Major initiatives considered by the state House over the past year include:

  • The 2023 and 2024 state budget deal.
  • The vote that made state Rep. Mark Rozzi (D., Berks) speaker of the Pennsylvania House.
  • A proposed constitutional amendment that would give survivors of childhood sexual abuse a two-year window to file lawsuits.
  • Bills that would raise the minimum wage to $12 or $15 an hour.
  • measure that would add LGBTQ nondiscrimination protections to the state’s civil rights law, covering employment, housing, and schooling.
  • Bills that would implement universal background checksextreme risk protection orders, a ban on untraceable gun parts, and a requirement for gun owners to report lost or stolen firearms.
  • law that allows police to pull a driver over solely for using their phone.
  • law that establishes a state regulatory regime for carbon capture and storage.
  • law that requires electric vehicle owners to pay a flat fee starting in 2025 to the state Department of Transportation for highway funding.
  • law that created a special prosecutor to tackle SEPTA crime.
  • law allowing beer distributors to sell canned cocktails
  • bill that would ban state courts or police from cooperating with out-of-state prosecutions of people who seek abortions in Pennsylvania.
  • proposal that would expand state railroad regulations.
  • bill to expand Sunday hunting

Major initiatives considered by the state Senate over the past year include:

  • The 2023 and 2024 state budget deal.
  • A proposed omnibus constitutional amendment that would give survivors of childhood sexual abuse a two-year window to file lawsuits, require people to show ID every time they vote, and make it easier for the legislature to override regulations.
  • law that would allow police to pull a driver over solely for using their phone
  • law that establishes a state regulatory regime for carbon capture and storage.
  • law that requires electric vehicle owners to pay a $200 fee starting in 2025 and increasing afterward to the state Department of Transportation for highway funding.
  • law that created a special prosecutor to tackle SEPTA crime.
  • law allowing beer distributors to sell canned cocktails
  • bill that would ban safe injection sites in Philadelphia.
  • bill that would require school districts to catalog every book that includes “sexually explicit content.”
  • bill that would have moved the state’s 2024 primary election.
  • measure that would require every school to have at least one full-time armed security guard.
  • proposal to cut the state’s personal income tax from 3.07% to 2.8%.
  • bill to expand Sunday hunting

You can also understand a legislator's values by looking at the organizations that support them. As of early September, the following notable organizations have endorsed candidates in some races:

Other groups do not endorse candidates, instead recommending or not recommending a candidate based on their position on a particular issue:

Other organizations issue “report cards” that grade lawmakers on their votes. These report cards inherently reflect the organization and its values; groups in the same advocacy space, such as gun rights, may issue different grades to the same lawmaker. Some report cards note which votes the organizations considered:

How to vet legislative candidates who aren’t incumbents

For legislative candidates who aren’t incumbents, the best way to start your research is through the search engine of your choice.

A candidate’s official campaign website or Facebook page often includes a bio, information about their priorities, and noteworthy endorsements from politicians and organizations.

The organizations referenced above may endorse candidates who aren’t incumbents based on internal interviews or questionnaires.

Other groups, such as the conservative Pennsylvania Family Institute, skip endorsements or grades, and instead publish surveys in which candidates, both incumbents and nonincumbents, are asked questions about their priorities.

The nonpartisan League of Women Voters Education Fund also publishes questionnaires for all legislative candidates.

Local chapters of that organization — as well as news outlets, business groups, and local political committees — may host candidate forums or debates. These events allow you to see candidates interact in real time and may allow you to meet them in person.

Checking campaign finance records online through the Pennsylvania Department of State allows you to see which people and groups fund a candidate. It’s best to search by last name.

Donations are divided by size on the report, and by whether the money came from an individual or a political action committee associated with a corporation, union, or other interest group.

Legislators have already filed at least two campaign finance reports; they won’t have to file a report showing how much they’ve raised over the summer and fall until Oct. 25.

You also can look at candidates’ statements of financial interest, which show their sources of income, creditors, property, and gifts among other information. The state Ethics Commission holds onto them; you can search for one here.

90.5 WESA partners with Spotlight PA, a collaborative, reader-funded newsroom producing accountability journalism for all of Pennsylvania. More at spotlightpa.org.