Voters set priorities at Pa. District 10 candidate forum

Voter concerns given priority in forum with Democratic candidates seeking to replace Republican incumbent Scott Perry

• Jordan Wilkie/WITF
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WITF, York Daily Record, York Dispatch and PennLive | Patriot News brought the 10th Congressional District candidates together so that they can hear straight from the voters at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center in Harrisburg on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Jeremy Long - WITF)

About 150 voters addressed the six Democrats running for Pennsylvania’s District 10 at a forum Monday night at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center in Harrisburg. But whether attendees felt candidates heard their voices came down to a generational divide.

“I felt like I was listening to a lot of comments that felt very repeated,” said Amelia Lewin, who will turn 18 after the primary and plans to vote in the general election.  “And I’m just thinking in my head, “When will someone say something original, if that even exists in politics?””

Attendee Fred Wisor, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, said most of the candidates at the event were pretty good. His interest was finding a candidate who could work across the aisle to find solutions to people’s problems. 

Iris and Ameila Lewin of York discuss their thoughts after WITF, York Daily Record, York Dispatch and PennLive | Patriot News brought the 10th Congressional District candidates together so that they can hear straight from the voters at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center in Harrisburg on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Jeremy Long – WITF)

The evening’s topics skewed liberal, as all six candidates in attendance were Democrats in the primary race for the opportunity to face incumbent Republican Scott Perry in the general election. The district includes all of Dauphin County and parts of York and Cumberland counties. Perry declined to attend the event.

All but four of the forum’s attendees told the forum’s moderator, Franklin and Marshall political science professor Berwood Yost, they considered their political affiliation to be left of center. About five of the roughly 150 attendees identified themselves as younger than 35.

Another of those young voters was Cedric Humphrey, a former campaign organizer for the Democratic Party, who said he was disillusioned with the Democratic Party and had been for some years, though he added he cannot vote Republican.

Several candidates discussed the phenomenon Lewin and Humphrey represent. Young voters are key to the Democratic Party’s plans for success in the fall, and national polls show they are not being energized by the national platform. The April 23 primary will give the first solid data as to whether any of the Democratic candidates in District 10 will be able to draw the youth vote. 

Concerned district residents told forum facilitators and listening candidates their highest-priority issues were protecting and preserving democracy in the United States, the war in Gaza, healthcare costs, gun safety and immigration. Each of the high-priority issues brought up on Monday night are national issues, important beyond central Pennsylvania. 

“The primary interest of this district is probably the same as the primary interest of almost every district in America and that it’s becoming almost impossible to afford to live in this country,” Humphrey said. 

Cedric Humphery discusses what he thought after WITF, York Daily Record, York Dispatch and PennLive | Patriot News brought the 10th Congressional District candidates together so that they can hear straight from the voters at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center in Harrisburg on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Jeremy Long – WITF)

Iris Lewin, Amelia Lewin’s mother, also said her top motivation to vote was an issue of national concern. 

“My number one priority is reproductive rights, not only for my kids, but all women, all people who identify as women,” Iris Lewin said. 

All attendees and candidates agreed on one thing: the need to remove Perry from office. Candidates vying to be Perry’s challenger in the fall painted Perry as a threat to democracy and as a person casting votes bad for the voters of the district. 

Perry has said he will run on a “positive vision for America’s future with the monumental failures of Joe Biden and the radical Left.”

Perry voted against certifying Pennsylvania’s electoral votes in the U.S. House on January 6, 2021, is alleged to be central to planning the events of that day, and is a subject in the FBI’s investigation into efforts to keep President Donald Trump in office after his 2020 election loss and illegally block the transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden.

Wisor said he was disappointed in Perry, a retired brigadier general from the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. Wisor said he wants a candidate who will focus on solving issues, but first the first issue is figuring out how to win. 

“Because if you don’t win, nothing gets fixed,” Wisor said. 

Fred Wisor of Middle Paxton Township discusses what he thought after WITF, York Daily Record, York Dispatch and PennLive | Patriot News brought the 10th Congressional District candidates together so that they can hear straight from the voters at the Rose Lehrman Arts Center in Harrisburg on Monday, March 25, 2024. (Jeremy Long – WITF)

The Democratic candidates include entrepreneur and business consultant John Broadhurst; combat veteran, teacher and Carlisle Area School District board member Rick Coplen; lawyer and Harrisburg City Council member; Shamaine Daniels; former WITF executive and lifelong Central Pennsylvania resident Blake Lynch; retired U.S. Marine Corps lieutenant colonel Mike O’Brien; and former WGAL anchor Janelle Stelson.

Will Anderson, another District 10 voter, wants a candidate who will enact the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, a proposed omnibus election reform bill in Congress. 

“Democrats can’t do anything unless we control the Congress,” Anderson said. “The only way we’re gonna do that is if people come out to vote.”

If legislation can make it easier to vote, Anderson said, more people might just cast their ballots.

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