THAT’S THE TICKET!
Voters will choose candidates for state, federal offices on Tuesday
Delaware County voters will cast ballots in three contested House races and one Democratic primary election race in the 26th Senate District Tuesday.
Delco Democrat Cathy Spahr of Upper Chichester faces Chester County Democrat Anton Andrew in the 160th District, where the winner will take on longtime incumbent Republican state Rep. Steve Barrar in the November general election.
State Rep. Alex Charlton, R-165 of Springfield, will try to fend off a Republican challenge from Regina M. Scheerer, also of Springfield, while Democrats Kristin Seale of Media and Philip A. Block of Chester Heights, will square off to see who will challenge incumbent state Rep. Chris Quinn, R-168 of Middletown.
Democrats will also decide whether Tanner Rouse of Upper Providence or Swarthmore Mayor Tim Kearney will challenge incumbent state Sen. Tom McGarrigle, R-26 of Springfield.
160th Legislative District
Andrew, 47, is a native of Washington, D.C., who was raised in Jamaica and Trinidad before returning to the United States at age 10.
“I just feel incredibly grateful and lucky, and I feel like the very least I can do is hold that door of opportunity open for others, because people did that for me when we got here,” he said. “People gave me a chance and I was able to really pursue something that interested me – which is helping others – so this to me is just an extension of the work that I’ve been doing my entire adult life.”
Andrew holds a degree in political science from the University of Pennsylvania and a Juris Doctor degree from Hofstra University. An attorney with more than 20 years of experience, he has focused on defending indigent and working class clients, and also launched a successful incubator for small, minority and women-owned businesses at Cheney University.
Andrew’s main platform planks include addressing a structural deficit, increasing education funding, infrastructure improvements, protecting marginalized communities and the environment, and addressing gun violence.
“My district matters to me and I think they need somebody to stand up for the values that we hold in common,” he said.
Spahr, 44, a Delco native, holds a bachelor’s degree in environmental science from Dickinson College and a master’s degree in geography from West Chester University. She is the codes, planning and zoning administrative coordinator and Assistant zoning officer for Newtown Township, which she said has given her insight to what local governments need from their legislators.
Spahr is likely best known for her “Send the Lorax to Washington” campaign, which gained national attention in aiming to send a copy of the Dr. Seuss book to every member of Congress. In addition to environmental issues, Spahr would seek to improve women’s rights and develop programs to address the opioid epidemic.
“I’ve always paid attention to politics and had awareness as to what’s going on, but definitely what was happening with the environment pushed me to do the Lorax stuff, and then because of (that) and being an outspoken person, a lot of people were saying, ‘You should run,” she said.
While environmental concerns might have brought her attention, Spahr said there are numerous other issues that need addressing as well, including women’s rights, gun violence and gerrymandering. She noted she has picked up numerous endorsements, including Democratic committees in Upper Chichester Democratic Committee, Chadds Ford and Concord Bethel.
“There’s so much going on right now and it really needs to change,” she said. “I think the Lorax stuff shows I can think outside the box and can bring the fresh perspective to Harrisburg that we really need.”
The 160th District is made up of Bethel, Chadds Ford, Concord and part of Upper Chichester in Delaware County, as well as Kennett Square, Kennett Township, Pennsbury and Pocopson in Chester County.
168th Legislative District
Seale, 45, is a current member of the Rose Tree Media School Board. She earned a bachelor’s degree in public and community health from New Mexico State University and a master’s degree in public administration from Villanova University.
Seale is a founder of two successful nonprofit women’s sports organizations and director of operations for the non-profit Keystone Energy Efficiency Alliance. She would be the first women to hold the seat and first openly LGBTQ legislator in the state should she win in November.
Seale said she has worked with two different state legislatures over the past decade to successfully pass bipartisan legislation on women’s health care, impoverished populations, and energy efficiency and developing clean energy jobs.
“I have a track record of success in bringing people together around good ideas to support and grow healthy communities,” she said. “I think that I have demonstrated through my work on the Rose Tree Media School Board that I have a unique ability to reach across the aisle and find common ground with people that have different beliefs than I do.”
Block, 52, is a current Chester Heights councilman and has been endorsed by the Delaware County Democratic Party. He holds a Ph.D in physical chemistry from the University of North Carolina and works in the field of environmental remediation as the director of water treatment at PeroxyChem.
If elected, he said he would bring a scientific approach to legislative proposals on issues like environmental protection, gun policy and equitable education funding. More locally, he said there also needs to be better review of the impacts public utilities like pipelines have on communities.
“In a perfect world, I’d like to bring more factbased approaches and try to get bipartisanship around real actual legislation based on fact and not just rhetoric,” he said. “I do realize that day-one I’m not going to go in there and forge great new pathways to bipartisanship. It’s really starting to form coalitions and working the crowd, so to speak, in developing relationships where people can trust you and ultimately get them on board with sensible policies.”
The 168th District includes Chester Heights, Edgmont, Media, Middletown, Newtown, Thornbury, Upper Providence and part of Marple.
165th Legislative District
Scheerer, 68, of Springfield, is a former middle school math teacher and former bank teller with a strong anti-abortion and anti-tax platform. She identifies as a member of the Tea Party and has worked on numerous Republican campaigns in the past, including Charlton’s, but has not held public office before.
Scheerer is critical of Charlton’s record as an anti-abortion, fiscally conservative Republican, noting he voted against a measure to limit abortions to 20 weeks and against a Republican budget proposal in his first term.
“I am very active in the pro-life movement and no Republican legislator in Delaware County has ever voted against a pro-life bill,” she said. “Alex Charlton was the first one to do that. The
Republican Party platform contains protection of life, so he certainly has not lived up to being a Republican representative for the 165th Legislative District.”
Scheerer has indicated that if elected, she would support a 20-week ban on abortions, vote against a natural gas extraction tax, eliminate union dues from paychecks and work to cut the state’s high corporate tax rate.
Charlton, 38, the endorsed candidate, is a freshman legislator who holds a bachelor’s degree in history from West Chester University. He is the former president of the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and former chief of staff to McGarrigle.
“My votes that I take up in Harrisburg are reflective of the district that I represent,” he said. “The budget bill that she is referring to was not the final budget, which I did support, because it did give us good funding for the services that we needed in this state – particularly in this area – and which didn’t come at the cost of increased taxes.”
Charlton said pointing to one vote during the process of crafting a budget as indicative of overall support is inaccurate. He also noted that he enjoys a 96-percent rating with the PA Pro-Life Federation and that he voted against the abortion bill Scheerer was referencing because it contained other flaws.
“That was an imperfect bill and they (the federation) understood those objections,” he said. “To say that I am somehow radically opposed to protecting life because of one vote, it’s very misleading.”
Charlton sits on the Health, Human Services and Urban Affairs committees, and serves as secretary of the Tourism and Recreational Development Committee.
He said he has worked hard over the last term to improve how the Department of Community and Economic Development interacts with small businesses, finding new funding sources for schools and ensuring programs and systems are in place to take care of people with special needs.
“One of the biggest issues we’re facing this session is the opioid epidemic,” he said. “We’re working really hard to make sure the dealers that are out there are being treated like the criminals that they are and the people who are suffering from this addiction are getting the treatment and the care that they need, and that’s a big distinction that we’re trying to drive home.”
The 165th District includes Morton and parts of Marple, Radnor and Springfield.
26th Senate District
Kearney, 57, is a 23-year resident of the county, father of two adult children and has been mayor of Swarthmore since 2014. An architect by trade, he runs Cue to KEARNEY design with his wife, Claudia Cueto, and is an adjunct assistant professor at Drexel University.
“I’m an architect, I tend to look at things a little different than most other people,” said Kearney. “You always keep an eye on the big picture, but you have to understand all the minutiae, the details – that’s kind of the way we operate. And architects are almost by definition agents of change.”
Kearney, who holds a bachelor’s of science degree in architecture from the Catholic University of America and a master’s degree in architecture from the University of Pennsylvania, said his major areas of concern are education spending reform, environmental protection, common sense gun control and getting in place a fair and balanced budget. He said he is rejecting special interest money from the fossil fuel industry and National Rifle Association.
“I understand the difficulties of politics and how difficult it is sometimes to get consensus and get things accomplished, but if you’re not beholden to special interests, then you can be an independent voice and you can hopefully get things accomplished,” he said.
Rouse, 34, a former Philadelphia prosecutor, lives in Upper Providence with his wife, Ursula, and his one-year-old son, Will. He holds a bachelor of the arts in political science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a J.D. from Fordham University Law School. He has also served as a youth aid panelist and a member of his neighborhood civic association’s safety committee.
Rouse is a founding member of Moving Philly Forward, a group dedicated to getting young Democrats involved in politics, which he said fostered his own desire to run for office. Rouse is critical of McGarrigle’s record on a natural gas extraction tax and support for mandatory minimum sentences for drug dealers.
“That’s ludicrous,” he said. “I’m a former D.A. I know how this works and I know that is not a solution, and we have decades of data suggesting it’s not a solution. What it is, is a good talking point at a press conference.”
Rouse said his top priority if elected would be fair funding for education, which he argues would open the door to better opportunities and effectively eliminate the need for young people to begin dealing drugs in the first place.
He is also espousing the need for a more collaborative, transparent government, reforming the criminal justice system, implementing common sense gun control reforms and more aggressively targeting the opioid crisis by providing treatment and training.
The 26th District includes Aldan, Clifton Heights, East Lansdowne, Glenolden, Marple, Media, Millbourne, Morton, Newtown, Prospect Park, Ridley Park, Ridley, Rutledge, Springfield, Swarthmore, Tinicum, Upper Darby and Upper Providence in Delaware County, as well as Easttown and Willistown in Chester County.