We surveyed the candidates for Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor on top issues for the 2022 election. Candidates include:
- Michael Badges-Canning, Green Party
- Austin Davis, Democratic Party
- Carrie DelRosso, Republican Party
- Tim McMaster, Libertarian Party
- Nicole Shultz, Keystone Party
About the WESA Candidate Survey: In August and September, 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).
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 — yes/no?
- Please explain your stance and identify other changes, if any, you would like to make to the state’s abortion laws.
Badges-Canning: No. I believe that abortions are healthcare, and healthcare is an unalienable human right that must be provided to all. Decisions about one’s health care should be made voluntarily between patients and their providers. The government has no business dictating what health care options a patient and their provider may or may not pursue. Beyond that, I trust women to make decisions that make sense for them more than I trust politicians. We’re here because the Republicans have been pushing a radical agenda for decades and the Democrats failed to codify Roe when they had the chance.
Davis: Josh Shapiro and I are committed to protecting the right to choose and ensuring Pennsylvania remains a place where freedom is respected and everyone is able to raise a family on their own terms. Our opponents would implement an extreme abortion ban — without exception for rape, incest, or life of the mother. I sit in the Legislature and have watched as my Republican colleagues have already passed bills to restrict abortion in Pennsylvania. The stakes of this race could not be higher: electing Josh Shapiro is the only way to protect the right to choose in Pennsylvania.
DelRosso: Did not respond.
McMaster: No. While I may be personally pro-life (pro-adoption), I don’t believe that it is the governments moral, ethical or legal obligation to be involved in this extremely personal and often traumatic choice.
Shultz: No. There are several medically necessary reasons for a woman to procedurally terminate a pregnancy past six weeks that if negated could put her life at risk. Furthermore, many women are not even aware of their pregnancy within that time frame. Putting such a brief and strict limitation on these matters puts women in a place to possibly take matters into their own hands instead of those of a medical professional putting herself into unnecessary risk. This type of decision should be between a person and their healthcare provider, not a person and their government.
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? Yes/no?
- Please explain our stance and, if you support a change, identify the minimum wage rate you believe is appropriate.
Badges-Canning: Yes. The late Barbara Ehrenrich eloquently said, the working poor are “the major philanthropists in our society.” Your low prices/profits are extracted from someone who is struggling to make ends meet. A living wage means that earning enough to meet basic needs with some discretionary income. When we don’t pay a living wage, we are stealing from workers. In Pennsylvania, a living wage for a single person with no children is $16.67. For a single person with 1 child, it $32.41. One third of Pennsylvania workers make less than $15.00/hour. This is unacceptable. The minimum wage should be tied to inflation.
Davis: In 2006, I had my first job as a cashier at Rite Aid and the minimum wage at the time was $5.15 an hour. Fast forward sixteen years later, the minimum wage has only increased to $7.25 an hour. It’s clear that the current minimum wage in Pennsylvania isn't a living wage — it’s a poverty wage. A Shapiro-Davis administration will raise the Pennsylvania minimum wage for the first time in over a decade to at least $15 an hour — giving the workers of Pennsylvania the raise they deserve.
DelRosso: Did not respond.
McMaster: No. The ‘true’ minimum wage is 0. If you are not working, you are not earning. The government setting an arbitrary minimums does nothing to address the devaluation of the dollar and the rampant inflation that is caused by the massive deficit spending and monetary policy that is enacted by the Federal Reserve.
Shultz: Minimum wage has been stagnating for years. It is barely more than a dollar higher than it was decades ago while that dollar is worth roughly half what it was at that time. Ideally, I would like to see the free market dictate the wage of employees and not the government. Allowing the government to set the wage of entry level jobs, not only would worsen inflation if artificially increased, but also allows corporations to confuse legal with fair. The value of time should be decided by the market and open competition, not politicians.
Do you support no-excuse mail-in voting in Pennsylvania — yes/no?
- Please explain your stance and identify any other changes you believe should be made to state voting laws.
Badges-Canning: Yes. In a democracy, the people should have a say. We need to make voting easier. The no excuse mail-in ballot makes it easier for working people, the elderly, and folk with health issues to vote. We should also have same day registration and make election day a state holiday. Beyond that, we need to get money out of politics, end partisan gerrymandering, make our votes worth something by ending corruption (something neither Republicans or Democrats are willing to do), and adopting ranked choice voting with proportional representation.
Davis: When the Legislature passed Act 77, it brought a wave of generational improvements to make our democracy more accessible to the people, and in 2020, 2.6 million Pennsylvanians voted by mail. Josh Shapiro and I will continue to protect that right and will work to ensure voters have access to the ballot box and that every legal vote is counted in every election.
DelRosso: Did not respond.
McMaster: Given the ease of voting in person, the ‘no excuses’ mail-in ballot simply opens itself up to far to many opportunities to be abused by nefarious actors or corrupt politicians. Mail-in voting should be reserved for the truly deserving of the privilege… Overseas military personnel, the indigent. And an application for mail-in ballot should be recorded and validated.
Shultz: Voting is one of the most important and most rapidly changing aspects of civil duty. And to not expect it to keep doing so in the face of our quickly evolving technological developments is preposterous. If we want to secure fair elections, my opinion is, that the best way to do that is to level the playing field across all parties and broaden the spectrum away from the two that have and will continue to manipulate aspects of voting, like mail-in ballots, in their favor.
Do you support Pennsylvania’s involvement in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, which sets pricing for carbon emissions — yes/no?
- Please explain your stance, and describe any changes you wish to see to state energy or climate policy.
Badges-Canning: No. This is a perfect example of “lesser evil” policy. The IPCC report says that we must cut emissions in half by 2030 to avert climate catastrophe and the RGGI is a “pay to pollute” program. The difference between the two major parties is only in degree when it comes to climate. The Republicans deny climate science. The Democrats acknowledge the science and govern like it doesn’t matter. Both are wrong. The future demands that we cut emissions now.
Davis: I know that we can both protect jobs and protect our planet — and Josh Shapiro and I will work to ensure that Pennsylvania has a comprehensive climate and energy policy that moves us all forward. We will be an all of the above energy team in Harrisburg who will take advantage of the unique position we have in Pennsylvania to create more jobs, while also utilizing our natural resources and protecting the jobs we already have.
DelRosso: Did not respond.
McMaster: No. As ever, I remain of the conviction that when government is involved, no matter the intention, the net effect is a negative to the cause. This would simply be another opportunity for the well connected, well-funded big businesses to stifle competition by ‘buying’ their way out of polluting.
Shultz: I think if the plan is just to put a price on carbon, we’re going to find that companies will likely end up writing that cost into their expense report and adjusting their cost to reflect that expense. This drives up price to the consumer, and ultimately does very little for the environment. The changes I would like to see in our state energy policy is a resurgence of the cleanest energy we currently know of today with all of the advances that have been implemented elsewhere in recent times. Nuclear.
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? Yes/no?
- 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?
Badges-Canning: No. We need to cut carbon emissions. We need to invest in clean, affordable, reliable, and convenient public transit (including to rural areas). We need to incentivize nonpolluting travel (walking and bicycling) and improve the infrastructure to make that happen. We need to quit subsidizing and giving tax incentives to the fossil fuel industry.
Davis: As the proud son of a union bus driver and a hairdresser, I know the struggles facing working families first hand. Josh and I have a plan to boost our economy and help Pennsylvania’s working families by sending every Pennsylvanian a $250 gas tax refund, eliminating the state cell phone tax, and expanding the Property Tax and Rent Rebate Program – providing direct relief to families across the Commonwealth. Josh and I have a clear record of delivering results for working-class Pennsylvanians and that’s exactly what we’ll do as a governing team in Harrisburg.
DelRosso: Did not respond.
McMaster: Yes. I support both of those proposals. I would begin with making the PA General Assembly a part time Legislature, and reducing their pay by a minimum of 60%!
Shultz: One of the things that I’ve been adamant about pursuing is an in-depth examination of where our state funds are supposed to be going versus where they are actually being spent. Once misallocation of funds is addressed, I believe many of those taxes could be cut for good. I would also like to strengthen our small business and exportable business sector. The goal being to make our state self sufficient both in goods and finances creating an asset to our nation while keeping us from being beholden to federal aid.
In the face of rising homicide and other crime rates, would you support requiring universal background checks for gun purchases? Yes/no?
- Please explain your stance, and describe other approaches to fighting crime that you would support.
Badges-Canning: Yes. We have way too many gun deaths, about 100 times the rate of gun homicides and violent gun crimes than countries in Western Europe. We should not be in the business of normalizing violence. We have too many guns and too many of the wrong kinds of guns in the hands of people who mean to do bad things. There is a relationship between gun violence and a system that creates economic violence, poverty, racial and economic disparities. The more we become an unjust society, the more we are at risk for continuing gun violence.
Davis: Nearly 17 years ago, a man was shot no more than 50 feet from our front door. The shooting inspired me to take action and put me on a path to public service. But nearly two decades later, Pennsylvania communities continue to suffer from gun violence and crime. That’s why Josh Shapiro and I have put forward a plan to tackle this issue head on in the Commonwealth. We will make our communities safer by closing the ghost gun loophole, enacting universal background checks, and passing stronger red flag laws here in Pennsylvania.
DelRosso: Did not respond.
McMaster: No. It has been long established that more firearm regulation does not reduce crime, it simply creates more victims and soft targets. Our state Constitution is very clear on this matter: “The right of the citizens to bear arms in defense of themselves and the State shall not be questioned.”
Shultz: While I do not think background checks if implemented carefully are necessarily a bad thing, it is important to take care when dealing with something that has the capability to strip someone of their fundamental human rights. The scope of the background check would very much depend on whether I support it. What I would like to see as a system to lessen crime is a better framework to deal with mental health that often is related to such crimes and is yet overlooked.
School funding in Pennsylvania is heavily supported by property taxes. Would you support efforts to change that system — yes/no?
- Please explain your stance and describe the changes you would support to how public education is funded.
Badges-Canning: Yes. Schools are funded through local property taxes and appropriations from the state’s General Fund. The average Pennsylvanian pays 1.58% of their home value every year in local property taxes (average around $2,691). That’s the 11th highest rate in the country. The state’s share of funding schools from the General Fund is among the lowest in the country. The bipartisan failure to adequately fund schools ensures that the quality of schooling varies widely by zip code. The Pennsylvania Constitution says that the General Assembly shall provide a thorough and efficient system of public education. It’s past time.
Davis: I know how important education is in creating opportunities for our children to succeed. I’m the proud product of the McKeesport public school system and my parents worked extremely hard to ensure that my sister and I became first-generation college graduates. Josh and I will make improving our education system a priority in Harrisburg and ensure that every child has access to a quality education. We will fully fund our schools, put parents on the Board of Education, end our reliance on standardized tests, put a mental health counselor in every single school, and invest in vocational, technical, and computer training.
DelRosso: Did not respond.
McMaster: Yes. I propose a reduction of property taxes on a path to total elimination of them. There is no moral argument that can be made that after using already taxed income, to purchase a home that you should be forced at the barrel of a gun to continue to pay rent to the government to live in the home you have paid for.
Shultz: Please read this “yes” as loudly as your current surroundings will allow. I would like to see school funding revamped from both ends. First off, I would like to see property tax completely eliminated. And secondly, with the rise of online and home schooling, I think we really need to look at how students themselves are being funded with less emphasis on what building they are using to obtain their education.
