We surveyed Republican Lori Mizgorski and Democrat Lindsey Wiliams, the candidates for Pennsylvania's 38th State Senate District, on top issues for the 2022 election.
About the WESA Candidate Survey: WESA sent surveys to all candidates running in competitive races for federal and state offices in our listening area, including Allegheny, Armstrong, Cambria, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Greene, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland counties. Our candidate survey was based upon input we solicited from voters.
We followed up with candidates multiple times via both phone and email. If a candidate did not respond, we have noted that below. (If you're a candidate and would like to complete the survey now, please email Patrick Doyle, pdoyle@wesa.fm).
We have fixed basic capitalization and punctuation issues, but have not otherwise edited candidates' answers.
In the wake of the Dobbs decision, some state lawmakers believe Pennsylvania should ban abortion after six weeks, with no exceptions. Would you support such a proposal?
- Please explain your stance and identify other changes, if any, you would like to make to the state’s abortion laws.
Mizgorski: Did not respond.
Williams: No. All Pennsylvanians deserve the right to make their own health care decisions, and access to abortion is necessary health care. A ban at six weeks fundamentally destroys that right, at a time when many people may not even realize that they are pregnant. Given the Dobbs decision, we need to do more to protect abortion in Pennsylvania, including enshrining the prior protections of Roe into the state constitution.
Pennsylvania's minimum wage has been set at the federal rate of $7.25 an hour since 2009. Do you favor state action to change the minimum wage?
- Please explain our stance and, if you support a change, identify the minimum wage rate you believe is appropriate.
Mizgorski: Did not respond.
Williams: Yes. Minimum wage has failed to keep pace with inflation, even as corporate profits and executive salaries have risen exponentially, leaving many people struggling to make ends meet while working multiple jobs. I have sponsored legislation to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour, as well as being indexed to inflation so that we don’t end up back in this position again.
Do you support no-excuse mail-in voting in Pennsylvania?
- Please explain your stance and identify any other changes you believe should be made to state voting laws.
Mizgorski: Did not respond.
Williams: Yes. While I strongly support the expansion of mail-in voting in PA, the last reforms to voting passed out of the legislature with little public input and a lack of awareness of what was actually in the bill, leading to confusion and mistrust by the public, which is why I voted against Act 77. I support permitting pre-canvassing of ballots, so that election results can be delivered more timely; permitting ballot curing, a way that counties can contact voters who made mistakes on their applications or ballots; and the expansion of safe ballot drop boxes because they make voting easier and more accessible for people.
Do you support Pennsylvania’s involvement in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which sets pricing for carbon emissions?
- Please explain your stance, and describe any changes you wish to see to state energy or climate policy.
Mizgorski: Did not respond.
Williams: The science around global climate change is irrefutable. Large corporations and governments must do their part to make the big changes we need to maintain a habitable environment. I support the premise of RGGI to reduce our carbon footprint in the Commonwealth. However, we need to be responsible with how we do that by protecting the workers in those industries that may lose their jobs and protecting customers from increasingly high home energy costs. That’s why I’m a co-sponsor on legislation that would invest potential RGGI revenue into environmental justice communities and workers affected by energy transition. We also need to do more to make sure that clean energy jobs are good paying, union jobs.
Inflation is a concern for Pennsylvanians, and some legislators have called for either reducing or suspending the 58-cent-a-gallon gas tax. Would you support such a measure?
- If yes, how would you replace the revenue to pay for State Police and road spending — and are there other inflation-fighting policies you would pursue?
Mizgorski: Did not respond.
Williams: Yes. I would support a temporary suspension of the gas tax, if that revenue was replaced by utilizing surplus funds allocated by the American Rescue Plan. I also support a number of inflation-fighting policies, including providing free lunch and breakfast to all K-12 students to address the rising costs of food for families and strengthening the law regarding price-fixing to address some of the root causes of inflation.
In the face of rising homicide and other crime rates, would you support requiring universal background checks for gun purchases?
- Please explain your stance, and describe other approaches to fighting crime that you would support.
Mizgorski: Did not respond.
Williams: Yes. Universal background checks are low-hanging fruit in the campaign to end gun violence. I also support other common sense gun safety measures like safe storage of firearms, and lost and stolen gun reporting, as well as funding for community violence prevention programs.
School funding in Pennsylvania is heavily supported by property taxes. Would you support efforts to change that system?
- Please explain your stance and describe the changes you would support to how public education is funded.
Mizgorski: Did not respond.
Williams: Yes. We need to increase funding at the state level, while passing reforms that ensure that the resources that come from the state stay in our public schools. Two areas that drain resources from the public school system where most of our students are educated are charter school funding and the Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC). Senator Jim Brewster and I are the prime sponsors on a charter school reform bill that adds transparency and accountability to charter schools and creates fairness in funding for cyber charters and special education. I have voted against unaccountable expansions of EITC and have proposed amendments that would add much needed transparency and accountability to this voucher program. I have also voted against a number of other proposed new voucher programs that would cost hundreds of millions of dollars a year and further destabilize our public schools.
