PENNSYLVANIA, USA — Every house seat in every state is on the ballot this year, including the 18 congressional seats here in Pennsylvania. In the primary, many candidates in both parties have no opposition.
Seventh Congressional District
There are some exceptions and some hotly contested races. The Seventh Congressional District now covers all of Lehigh, Northampton, and Carbon counties, plus a small part of Monroe County.
Democrat Susan Wild has the seat now. She is running for a third term and has no opposition in the Democratic primary.
Two republicans are out to replace her. One is Kevin Dellicker. He runs a tech company and was an advisor to Governor Tom Ridge. Dellicker has three major parts to his platform: strong families, good jobs, and safe communities.
Lisa Scheller wants a rematch with Wild. Scheller lost the general election two years ago. The former Lehigh County commissioner has a banner on her website that reads, "Lisa will put people ahead of politics and work to protect our American dream from turning into a socialist nightmare."
Eighth Congressional District
There are some familiar names on the ballot in the Eighth Congressional District. Democrat Matt Cartwright from Moosic wants a sixth term in Washington. He is unopposed in the primary
Two republicans want their turn at-bat. One is Jim Bognet. The Donald Trump supporter faced off against Cartwright two years ago and lost. Bognet wants the government to get its spending under control, border security, preserve the rights of gun owners, and secure elections.
Mike Marsicano is also in the race. He was a democrat when he was elected mayor of Hazleton in 1995. Marsicano is a retired state trooper. He calls himself a Trump conservative who wants to take on the socialists in Washington. He ran in the primary two years ago and finished with about 13 percent of the vote.
The newly redrawn 8th congressional district covers all of Lackawanna, Wayne, and Pike counties, plus parts of Luzerne and Monroe.