The governor is Democratic. Republicans control the Senate. A Republican majority in next week's special election may push school vouchers and constitutional amendments on abortion, voter identification, and governor regulation.
Republicans have four chances in a year to retake the majority. Democrats won February, May, and September elections last year in Democratic-heavy areas.
House leaders planned no vote days in January and February despite a 101-101 political split. The Feb. 13 election between Republican Candace Cabanas, 45, and Democrat Jim Prokopiak, 49, will change that.
“It’s interesting to be thrown into this because I’m not a politician, and I’m really just running to support working class families in lower Bucks County,” Cabanas said. “I'm not necessarily here to tip a majority, you know, and create hoopla in the state House.”
She prioritizes education, high petrol prices, and growing living costs. She expressed worries after the COVID-19 epidemic closed schools. "It seems like Pennsylvania schools spend a fairly decent amount of money, like we're up there," she added, "but we underperform."
Prokopiak, who was elected to the school board in a district north of Philadelphia in 2021, wants increased money for K-12, vocational, and skills-based education to make the workforce competitive. He stated boosting the minimum wage is necessary for affordable housing. Last year, the Democratic House enacted a minimum wage raise, but the Republican state Senate blocked it.
“No one can live here on the federal minimum wage. He stated the first step to generating life-supporting employment is raising the minimum wage, which is clearly not sustaining anyone.
Women's reproductive health and abortion rights are equally important to him. The difference between a Republican and Democratic majority is access, he added. “My two 14-year-old girls don't have the same rights their mother had at their age, which is unconscionable,” he added.
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