Candidates for US Congress

The PA Primary Election is only a week and a day away, Tuesday, May 15. Polls open 7 am and close 8 pm. To find out where you vote, see your sample ballot, and the answers to other questions, click on this link. Remember, in primaries, we vote by party. You must be registered Republican or Democrat to vote in this election.

The Congressional candidates are important this election because we're voting for US House reps in NEW districts. Norristown (and most of Montgomery County) will be in District 4. Since Brendan Boyle doesn't live in our new district, he can't run here (but he will be our congressman until the end of this year).

On the Republican side of the ballot, the only candidate is Dan David. His website is at http://dandavidforcongress.com/. He has no legislative experience and no list of issues on his site, so who knows what he stands for. The interesting thing is that he'd originally entered his name as a candidate in Lehigh Valley, having moved there from Montgomery County. 2 months later, in March, he switched from Lehigh Valley back to here (did he move back?). I suspect the reason was that the field of candidates in the other location included 6 other contenders, and maybe he figures here he can win without breaking a sweat. He apparently cares more about winning than about issues. Republicans CAN also write in another candidate, of course (maybe someone who considers their residency in our county as more than a means to an end).

On the Democrat side of the ballot, there are 3 candidates.

Joe Hoeffel ~ Hoeffel served as our US Congressman from 1999-2005 (and frankly, I thought he did a good job), so experience isn't an issue. Before that, he served in the PA State House and as Montgomery County Commissioner. You can read his stand on the issues at this link. Even if you don't agree with his stands, you have to admit that he has a grasp of how complex and multi-faceted most of the issues are. He not only lists issues, but action points under each one. Though I do wish he had included action points about women's issues other than reproduction, and issues specifically involving hate and ignorance, especially where that impacts minority groups (no mention of LGBT). And his foreign policy statement mentions nothing about North Korea or Russian cyber attacks involving our elections.

Madeleine Dean ~ Dean is currently the state representative for PA's 153rd District (Abington and Upper Dublin). Before that she served as Abington Township Commissioner and before that as a committee person. Dean's issues statement says very nearly the same as Hoeffel's, though she mentions nothing about foreign affairs. Her action points take a bit more careful reading to find and there aren't as many. She does include sexual assault as a women's issue. She seems a bit stronger on public education. I will say that, having received 4 large-sized mailings from her, 3 in one day, that it's hard to believe she's serious about the environment.

Shira Goodman ~ Goodman, like Dean, is from Abington. She has a law degree but seems to have spent most of her life as a gun-control and equal justice activist. She has no government legislative experience. Her issue statement is at this link (click on "Issues"). It does include issues the others missed, such as protecting the vote, "fake news" propaganda, and the rights of those with disabilities. But her foreign affairs statement only covers the US-Israel relationship (not even mentioning others who live in the Middle East, let alone Russia, et al). Most of her issues seem 2-dimentional ~ only 3-4 sentences for each with no specific actions she'd take on them. I think her best statement is on public education, but read the list yourself and decide.

So there are your candidates. Please read where they stand on the issues and don't simply base your vote on TV ads and mailings. But PLEASE VOTE.

I'll post a link to this info to Facebook and Twitter more than once this week. Please share with your friends and neighbors in the district and encourage everyone to get out and vote this year.