I do hate picking up the phone, but every once in a while I do it, and hear some interesting rumors. The latest one has nothing to do with PA-7 (thank god), but instead has everything to do with the 18th State Senate District. The district is all of Northampton County besides the Northwest corner, and the portion of Bethlehem City in Lehigh County. Since 1998, that district has belonged to Senator Lisa Boscola, and she generally wins by a lot. For most of the last six decades (58 years), the seat has either been held by Jeanette Reibman or Boscola. It has been competitive like once in my lifetime, when Joe Uliana won the seat by like 2 votes over Bob Freeman, entirely because of the 1994 Republican wave. Otherwise it’s basically been the two Democratic women beating the bejesus out of whoever runs against them.

Senator Boscola isn’t a big favorite of progressive activists, but she has been highly effective at securing resources for the communities in her district. Her moderate tendencies make her very hard to beat in a general election that is centered in heavily moderate Northampton County. Reportedly though she has finally ruffled enough feathers to draw fire from her left. Lehigh County Commissioner at-large Jon Irons is reportedly considering primarying Boscola in 2026. Irons has been a favorite of the progressive community, and reportedly there are people encouraging him. Irons was born in Ecuador, raised in suburban Chicago, and moved here when his wife took a job at Lehigh, about a decade ago. From his website, he tells us “what he cares about and loves:”

Outside of work, I have been a committed volunteer with a number of social justice organizations. I have collected signatures in support of inclusionary zoning in Allentown, hosted city council debates, and volunteered for a number of political campaigns including Greg Edwards for Congress in 2018. Most recently, I have served as a member-leader with Lehigh Valley Stands Up where we have supported candidates for local office, organized ballot initiatives in Lehigh County and Allentown, and built a restorative, relational organizing community of working class resident’s committed to change through building political power.

I am also an avid photographer, bird watcher, and musician. I enjoy hiking in the many parks and trails throughout the county. I bike the D&L trail north and south, and I walk my dog, Dingo, every day in our West Bethlehem neighborhood. The Lehigh Valley has so much to offer, and I’ve enjoyed building and working for my community in every way I can to make a caring, empathetic, connected, and sustainable world.

Anyone is welcome to run for any office they want. From my vantage point though, the map is not in his favor here. For one, he is way, way behind in name recognition in this district, because he has only represented the West Bethlehem voters. The other thing I see here is that he represents a considerably more progressive county than Northampton, and some of his past positions would be a very hard sell to that electorate. In particular, I think his positions on immigration and crime would probably be under water in the primary, let alone a general election in Northampton County. On the flip side, if the primary electorate is feeling positive about Carol Obando-Derstine in the Congressional primary, they have very similar stories as immigrants, highly educated people, and progressives. The biggest problem here? Money. The general public likes Senator Boscola. Not only would Irons, or anyone else, need to introduce themselves and build up some name recognition with voters who don’t know them, they also would have to change the public’s mind about Boscola. In the past I’ve told people who bring this up that they would need $600k if Boscola doesn’t decide to spend against them, just to compete. I’ve got news though- Senator Boscola would absolutely spend to get her message out. That probably means it would take north of a million bucks to have a chance. I don’t see that money coming in the Lehigh Valley.