Joi Washington’s first challenge as mayor came in the form of a winter weather emergency.
On Jan. 5, Washington was sworn in as Media’s first new mayor in three decades. On Jan. 25, 9.3 inches of snow fell on Philadelphia, setting off a snow emergency declaration. Washington monitored the storm and worked toput parking restrictions and plowing operations into effect.
It was “fascinating” — a headfirst dive into running a municipal government, she said.
A graphic designer by trade and former borough council member, Washington moved to Media from Philadelphia in 2013 and fell in love with its walkability and tight-knit community of 6,000. As she learns on the job, friends and colleagues say her intelligence and ability to work across the aisle make her the right person for the role. For Washington, learning how to be a good mayor is all about “being a good neighbor.”
Media Mayor Joi Washington talks with Garden Café owner Willow Culbertson in downtown Media on Sunday, Feb. 1.
Who is Joi Washington?
Washington, 39, was born and raised in Germantown. She graduated from Moore College of Art and Design in 2008 with a bachelor of fine arts in illustration. She has worked for numerous Philly-area companies doing graphic design, digital asset management, and storyboarding.
Around a decade ago, Washington took a graphic design job in Media. The long commute from Roxborough, where she lived at the time, quickly became tiresome, so she packed up and moved. She met her husband at work, and the two have lived in Media since.
Washington, a Democrat, was elected to Media’s borough council in 2021, serving until she became mayor last month.
Katey McVerry, Media’s tax collector, was impressed with Washington as a borough council member. She described Washington as civically and politically engaged, “well known by her neighbors,” and able to work across the aisle.
Children played as folks dined on State Street during Media’s Dine Under the Stars event on Wednesday, June 4, 2025.
A ‘resounding’ win
Washington campaigned for mayor on expanding public transit options, supporting local businesses, and working with law enforcement to make streets safer for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians. She was elected with 77% of the vote, beating out Republican Kevin Kellogg.
Democrats swept local races in Media and Delaware County in November, winning seats on the Rose Tree Media school board, borough council, and Delaware County Council.
Mary Tonita Austin helped campaign for Washington last year. Austin and Washington met at a Juneteenth celebration when Washington was still on borough council. Last year, when Austin ran for the Rose Tree Media school board, they found themselves in similar spots — Black women running for office in a county that remains largely white (Washington is the first woman and first person of color to be elected mayor of Media).
Austin gladly handed out Washington’s campaign fliers along with her own.
“She’s both intelligent and creative, which I think is so important for us to have,” Austin said of Washington.
Malcolm Yates, a convener of the Delaware County Black Caucus, said Washington’s win was “resounding.”
Media is 82% white, according to the most recent census estimates — a percentage nearly 1.5 times higher than the Philly metro area at-large. Before Democrats won three seats on the Delaware County Council in 2019, the body had been controlled by Republicans since the Civil War.
“It shows that the county has been moving and progressing forward to be more of a melting pot,” Yates said of Washington’s win. “You don’t necessarily have to always look or identify a certain way to be a leader.”
Media Mayor Joi Washington at Media Borough Hall Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026.
Becoming the mayor
Washington describes the first few weeks of being mayor as a “whirlwind.” There are webinars to watch, police reports to study, hands to shake, and nuggets of advice to glean from McMahon, now retired, whom Washington has stayed in touch with.
There’s a lot to look forward to, as well. Mediarecently secured grants to purchase a new ambulance, enhance walkability within the borough, and improve Barrall Community Park. Washington hopes to bring in visitors to shop and dine at Media’s small businesses, continuing the borough’s ascent as a Delco destination. Washington rattled off a list of forthcoming events with excitement: Dining Under the Stars, the completion of Plum Street Park, and the Media Spring Arts Show.
As for her personal life, Washington said she is trying to find balance as mayor, which is a part-time gig in Media. Washington is still working as a freelance illustrator and graphic designer. She is also a natural introvert learning to manage an increasingly busy social calendar.
“I’m also glad that I have two cats to keep me sane. My husband’s very supportive. I think it’s really good to have a life outside of politics,” she said.
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick has more cash on hand than any other GOP incumbent in a swing district nationwide as the party prepares for a tough election.
The Bucks County lawmakerraised about $4.3 million in the most recent cycle, more than any other House candidate in the state and the 21st most of all the candidates running for the 435-member House in 2026. He ended 2024 with nearly $4.4 million when removing debt and had more than $7.3 million cash on hand as of Dec. 31. That haul makes him the best-funded of the 16 candidates on the National Republican Congressional Committee’s Patriots program, a group of vulnerable incumbents in key swing districts, according to Federal Election Commission data.
“Brian Fitzpatrick has years of electoral success under his belt and will continue to be unbeatable in Bucks County because Pennsylvanians know he’ll always put them first in Washington … this race was over before it began,” NRCC spokesperson Reilly Richardson said in a statement.
But Fitzpatrick’s district is one of four in Pennsylvania that could determine the control of the U.S. House and has long been coveted by Democrats because of its purple electorate. It is one of nine GOP-held districts in the country that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024.
Bob Harvie, a Democrat who chairs the Bucks County commissioners, has emerged as the front-runner to face Fitzpatrick in the 2026 election.
Harvie, who would need to win the May primary to face Fitzpatrick,raised nearly $930,000 last year and has more than $400,000 cash on hand. He surpassed $1 million after getting $100,000 in the first few weeks of the year, according to his campaign.
“Based on the outpouring of support we are receiving, it’s clear voters agree and are fired up to be a part of this campaign,” Harvie said Wednesday in a news release about his fundraising.
Harvie made history flipping the Bucks County board six years ago, has strong name recognition in the district, and has the backing of national Democrats. But Fitzpatrick ended the year with nearly 20 times more cash on hand.
Fitzpatrick received more money from each of New York and Florida than from in-state donors in 2025, according to FEC data. Harvie received the vast majority of his money from Pennsylvania.
Fitzpatrick could be less vulnerable than other swing-state Republicans
He recently joined Democrats and two other swing-district Republicans in the state to vote to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies, which Republicans quashed. Fitzpatrick criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) and called some of his Republican colleagues “intellectually dishonest.” But Democrats have argued that Fitzpatrick has not been critical enough of the president, whom he often avoids naming when challenging his policies.
Jim Worthington, a GOP mega-donor in Pennsylvania and owner of the Newtown Athletic Club, said that Fitzpatrick’s approach makes him “the perfect representative for a purple county.”
“Everybody that’s moderate and people that are independents, they love him because he votes to what best represents his constituents, and by the way, sometimes he takes some votes that make me cringe a little bit, but I understand why he does it,” Worthington said.
Heather Roberts, a spokesperson for Fitzpatrick’s campaign, attributed the incumbent’s fundraising success to his ability to break the partisan mold.
“Strong fundraising follows strong leadership — and Congressman Fitzpatrick has built a broad coalition of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents who are rejecting the extremes and backing two-party, patriotic, common-sense solutions,” Roberts said in a statement.
Fitzpatrick “is no maverick and no John McCain — he is a doormat for Trump’s worst instincts and a greenlight for D.C. Republicans’ dangerous agenda that is hurting our community,” Harvie said Wednesday in a statement to The Inquirer.
“Pennsylvanians deserve a Congressman who will stand up to Trump and actually do something to lower prices — but Fitzpatrick is weak and caves to his own party when it matters most,” said Eli Cousin, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, in a statement.
Harvie has less cash on hand than the other Democratic front-runners in the state’s swing districts.
Janelle Stelson, a second-time challenger to Perry, ended 2025 with about $1.5 million cash on hand. Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti, who is challenging Bresnahan, ended the year with a little more than $800,000 cash on hand. Former federal prosecutor Ryan Croswell, Mackenzie’s Democratic challenger with the most cash, has $612,000 for the Lehigh Valley race.
Does name recognition make Harvie a ‘formidable’ challenger?
Harvie’s campaign is confident that he can cash in on name recognition, having won two countywide commissioner races in the last seven years that could help raise his profile among voters in the 1st Congressional District, which includes all of Bucks County and a sliver of Montgomery County.
Provided he wins the primary, Harvie would be the first Democratic challenger to Fitzpatrick’s seat who has held countywide elected office.
But will that help Harvie’s chances?
“The starting point that Bob Harvie has with his name ID as a commissioner is just a much better starting point,” said Brittany Crampsie, a Democratic consultant in Pennsylvania, noting that he would not need to spend as much money introducing himself to voters in an expensive Philadelphia-area media market.
“He has a lot of advantages going into this race, not the least of which is his name ID, but he would be probably the most formidable matchup we’ve seen against Fitzpatrick in his tenure,” she added.
“Maybe,” GOP consultant Christopher Nicholas said as to whether Harvie has valuable name recognition, adding that “among hardcore Democrats his name ID is decent because they’re hardcore Democrats.”
“But if you stood out on the streets of Tullytown or Riegelsville or Dublin and said, ‘Who are your county commissioners?’,” residents may be unfamiliar, Nicholas said.
As of October 2025, 43% of respondents to an internal Harvie campaign survey conducted by Public Policy Polling could identify Harvie, with 26% giving him a favorable rating and 17% an unfavorable. That poll had the commissioner and Fitzpatrick tied at 41%.
This article has been updated to include a comment from Fitzpatrick’s campaign received after publication.
A Democratic campaign manager was charged Monday in Chester County with filing fraudulent nomination petitions in the 2024 primary for auditor general, including the forged signature of a Chester County judge, authorities said.
Mariel Kornblith-Martin, 40, of Philadelphia, is accused of filing the false nomination petitions when serving as campaign manager for Mark Pinsley, the Lehigh County controller, as he sought to secure a place on the competitive Democratic primary ballot.
Petitions for Pinsley’s campaign included the names of people who said they had not signed them, including Chester County Judge Alita Rovito, Coatesville City Council members Carmen Green and Khadija Al-Amin, and West Goshen Township Supervisor Nate Wolman, The Inquirer reported.
Rovito reported the forgery to the Chester County District Attorney’s Office at the time, saying the signature was not hers and she did not sign nominating petitions for any candidate, “as to do so would be a violation of judicial ethics,” according to charging documents.
Rovito, a Democrat, told The Inquirer at the time that “the use of my name and signature is concerning to me due [to] the potential implications on my role as a member of the independent judiciary.”
Alita Rovito, a Chester County judge, poses for a portrait in West Chester, Pa. in 2020.
In the criminal complaint filed against Kornblith-Martin, the Chester County District Attorney’s Office alleges that she gave three college students “stacks of pages containing signatures of supporters” and asked them to sign the required sworn declaration at the bottom of each page. Among the charges filed against Kornblith-Martin was solicitation to false swearing.
Prosecutors say she paid the students, who are not named in the charging documents, $50 on at least three occasions to sign the petitions.
“That’s disgraceful,” former U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, the chair of the Philadelphia Democratic Party, said of the charges against Kornblith-Martin. “She’s not one of our favorites.”
The three college students were all working part-time on several campaigns run by Kornblith-Martin, according to the complaint.
The students were previously identified by The Inquirer as paid volunteers attending Temple University.
Kornblith-Martin described herself to investigators as a “political operative” in Philadelphia with 13 years of experience who had worked on 16 campaigns, according to the criminal complaint. She previously served in Philadelphia’s 39th Democratic Ward, but resigned last year, according to its ward leader, Traffic Court Judge Michael Sullivan.
Kornblith-Martin did not respond to requests for comment on Wednesday or Thursday.
She turned herself in on Wednesday and has been released on bail, which was set at $50,000.
Kornblith-Martin said in 2024 that the campaign was conducting an “internal investigation” when asked about the alleged fraudulent signatures.
Pinsley told The Inquirer on Wednesday evening his campaign “reviewed what was brought to our attention but did not have enough verified information to reach independent conclusions” when concerns were raised.
“Petition drives can involve invalid or questionable signatures for many reasons, and we were not in a position to determine intent,” he added in a text message. “I was not personally involved in the signature collection, and I believe the legal process is the appropriate place for the facts to be established. If anyone knowingly falsified signatures, that would be wrong and should carry consequences.”
Pinsley said he has “not been involved” with Kornblith-Martin since his auditor general campaign and does “not know the facts of this situation.” Pinsley is now running in the crowded Democratic primary to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in the Lehigh Valley.
Pinsley’s campaign was not the only one with signatures that came under scrutiny.
King, an entrepreneur who still has political aspirations, told The Inquirer the incident had disillusioned him about the two-party system and inspired him to reapply to law school.
“When ballot access becomes a game of shortcuts and challenges, democracy loses before voters ever enter the booth,” he said.
The February 2024 revelation that Pinsley’s campaign may have submitted fraudulent petitions shook up the race for a little-known office responsible for conducting audits to ensure that state money is spent properly.
Pinsley failed to secure the Democratic nomination over State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, who ultimately lost to incumbent Republican Auditor General Tim DeFoor as the GOP swept the state’s row officesin the general election.
Kenyatta did not formally challenge Pinsley’s nominating petitions to remove him from the ballot during the primary. Reached Wednesday, Kenyatta said in a statement: “Fraud occurring within any stage of our electoral process is a direct assault on our democracy.”
“The charges brought today are a first step in the legal process but accountability must not end here: the buck always stops with the candidate,” added Kenyatta, the vice chair of the Democratic National Committee.
Investigators found at least nine pages of alleged forgeries of Chester County voters, according to the complaint.
To get on the ballot in Pennsylvania for a statewide row office like auditor general, a candidate must submit 1,000 signatures, including at least 100 from at least five counties.
Tuesday’s public meeting was the first time community members — and the county commissioners themselves — were able to respond to an independent firm’s investigation and report, which found that insufficient training, poor oversight, and staffing challenges in the county’s elections office forced more than 12,000 voters to cast provisional ballots in the general election. The poll book error occurred as the 25-person department has faced unusually high turnover in recent years, and as the director faces allegations of fostering a toxic workplace.
“This is the first step, this is not the last step … to rebuilding trust with the public and improving elections in a way that ensures this never happens again,” Josh Maxwell, chairman of the county commissioners, told the attendees.
The 24-page report, prepared by West Chester law firm Fleck, Eckert, Klein & McGarry LLC and published last month, found that two employees mistakenly included only registered Democrats and Republicans when using the statewide voter roll to create the poll book, omitting more than 75,000 registered independent and unaffiliated voters from the rolls.
The employees, inexperienced and never formally trained, lacked direct supervision, the report said. No one in the county’s department checked the books until a poll worker noticed the omissions before polls opened on Election Day.
There was no evidence of malfeasance, the report said. County officials said previously that everyone who wanted to vote could cast a ballot, despite the issue.
Still, the error rocked Election Day in the county, with officialsscrambling to print supplemental poll books and poll workers staying late to address the challenges. Republican Commissioner Eric Roe broke with his Democratic peers by voting against the certification of the election results in December, saying his conscience would not allow it.
Community members said Tuesday the error further eroded trust in voting security.
John Luther addresses the Chester County Commissioners as they hold a public meeting to discuss the errors they had in the pole books during the November election. West Chester. Tuesday, February 3, 2026
“How many voters were disenfranchised and did not vote?” resident John Luther asked the commissioners. “That is the most important thing. You guys can fix all the rest, but you can’t fix what you messed up in the front.”
Kadida Kenner — who leads the New Pennsylvania Project, an organization dedicated to voter registration — said she rushed on Election Day to West Chester University, where the organization had helped students register to vote, to make sure they were not disenfranchised.
“I see the impact of this mistake, this opportunity for change and growth,” she said. “The events of Election Day really did not help our efforts to be able to overcome feelings of individuals, as it relates to the electoral process, here in the commonwealth and across the country.”
The report recommended more than a dozen changes for the county to prevent future errors, including improved training, reviewing processes and policies, and evaluating staff levels and pay. The county rolled out a plan to address the recommendations and intends to make monthly reports on its progress, saying some recommendations would be in place ahead of May’s primary.
“Everyone in this room knows that a grievous error was made, and everyone is upset about it,” resident Marian Schneider said. “We can stop the browbeating and focus on the path forward.”
The report stopped short of recommending personnel changes. Maxwell said the commissioners would not discuss personnel actions.
Attorney Sigmund Fleck addresses the Chester County Commissioners as they hold a public meeting to discuss the errors they had in the pole books during the November election. West Chester. Tuesday, February 3, 2026
“Bottom line, this appears to be a human error — clicking the wrong box,” said Sigmund Fleck, one of the attorneys who oversaw the report.
Residents worried that those errors were symptoms of a deeper problem, and that the report’s scope did not fully address issues within voter services.
“Yes, human error is a factor here,” Elizabeth Sieb told the commissioners. “This goes far beyond that. Mistakes of this magnitude require consequences.”
Fleck pointed to larger issues with the state’s election system that culminated in the error, such as tight turnaround times for publishing the poll books, lack of statewide training, and a fairly old-school online voting roll system.
Elizabeth Sieb addresses the Chester county commissioners as they hold a public meeting to discuss the errors they had in the pole books during the November election. West Chester. Tuesday, February 3, 2026
But other counties deal with those same complications, some community members argued. November’s error came after the county omitted the office of the prothonotary on the ballot in May’s primary. The report found that errorwas due to the county solicitor’s office misinterpreting state law.
“Sixty-seven counties face the same exact issues, except for one: management,” said Nathan Prospero Fox, a former voter services employee.
Roe acknowledged the anger directed at county staff, but said: “The truth is, the buck doesn’t stop with staff. It stops with us.”
“I am so sorry,” he continued. “This is not the end; there’s still time for accountability and improvement.”
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt on Wednesday rejected President Donald Trump’s false claims about voter fraud in the stateas Trump targeted Philadelphia in his push to nationalize elections.
The state’s top election official said Trump’s proposal would violate the Constitution, which he noted clearly gives states exclusive authority to administer elections.
“Pennsylvania elections have never been more safe and secure,” said Schmidt, who served as Philadelphia’s Republican city commissioner in 2020, when the city was at the center of Trump’s conspiracy theories.
“Thousands of election officials — Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike — across the Commonwealth’s 67 counties will continue to ensure we have free, fair, safe, and secure elections for the people of Pennsylvania,” he said in a statement.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday in the Oval Office, Trump cited Philadelphia, Detroit, and Atlanta as examples of where the federal government should run elections. He singled out three predominantly Black cities in swing states but offered no evidence of voter fraud or corruption to support his claims of a “rigged election.”
“Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at Pennsylvania, take a look at Philadelphia. You go take a look at Atlanta,” Trump said.“The federal government should get involved.”
Philadelphia has been a frequent target of Trump’s false claims of election fraud for several years, going back to his efforts to overturn his loss in the 2020 election. City and state officials have persistently pushed back on those claims, and there is no evidence that elections in the city have been anything but free and fair.
Trump is advocating for taking control of elections in 15 states, though his administration has not named which ones.
“The Republicans should say, ‘We want to take over,’” Trump said in December. “We should take over the voting, the voting in at least many — 15 places. The Republicans ought to nationalize the voting.”
But, Pennsylvania officials and experts noted, he lacks the power to do so unilaterally.
“The president has zero authority to order anything about elections,” said Marian Schneider, an election attorney who was Pennsylvania’s deputy secretary of elections during the 2016 election.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed to reporters early Tuesday the president was referring to the SAVE Act, legislation proposed by House Republicans require citizens to show documents like a passport or driver’s license to register to vote.
But Trump didn’t mention the legislationTuesday.
Trump will face an uphill battle in nationalizing elections as even some Republicans in Congress are already pushing back. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) told reporters Tuesday he disagreed with Trump on any attempt to nationalize elections, calling it “a constitutional issue.”
“I’m not in favor of federalizing elections,” Thune said.
Still, Trump’s comments raised alarm as his administration continues to sow doubt in the nation’s elections.
“This is clearly a case of Trump trying to push the boundaries of federal involvement in election administration because he has a problem with any checks on his power, democracy being one of them,” said Montgomery County Commissioner Neil Makhija, an attorney and a Democrat who chairs the Montgomery County Board of Elections.
Trump’s comments came a week after the FBI seized ballots and voting records from the 2020 election from the Fulton County election hub in Georgia. In a statement, Fulton County Commissioner Marvin Arrington Jr. said the countywill file a motion in the Northern District of Georgia challenging “the legality of the warrant and the seizure of sensitive election records, and force the government to return the ballots taken.”
Lisa Deeley, a Democratic member of the Philadelphia city commissioners, who oversee elections, accused Trump of trying to distract from federal agents killing two civilians in Minnesota last month.
“We all know the President’s playbook by now. His remarks on elections are an effort to change the conversation from the fact that the Federal Government is killing American citizens in Minneapolis,” Deeley said in a statement.
Trump has been making similar claims since 2016, when he erroneously blamed fraud for costing him the popular vote.During a debate with his 2020 opponent, Joe Biden, Trump said, “Bad things happen in Philadelphia, bad things,” viewed at the time as an attempt to sow doubt about the election results and mail voting during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Despite losing to Biden in Pennsylvania in 2020 by a little more than 80,000 votes, Trump has repeatedly claimed he actually won, lying about mail-in votes “created out of thin air” and falsely stating there were more votes than voters.
“Every single review of every single county in the commonwealth has come back within a very small difference, if any, of the results reported back in 2020,” Kathy Boockvar, who served as Pennsylvania’s secretary of state during the 2020 election, told The Inquirer in 2024.
Michael Bertrando’s first brush with Kennett Square’s council three years ago was to discuss a parking issue at his family’s legacy sandwich spot, Sam’s Sub Shop. He saw his neighbors, listened to them, and started to see how the council worked. Eventually, he became something of a regular.
When the issue of short-term rentals came up last month, Bertrando had a lot of perspective: As an actor — you might haveseen him on HBO’s Task — he has traveled extensively. He has seen the negative effects short-term rentals can have had on communities from New York to Argentina to Brazil. He spoke up.
And then people started to drop by the sandwich shop, which he runs alongside his parents, suggesting that he put his name in for a vacant seat on the council.
The council voted last month to appoint Bertrando, 52, from a crowded field of applicants to fill former council member Julie Hamilton’s seat through December 2027. He was sworn in Monday.
The seat will be on the ballot for a four-year term in the 2027 general election. Hamilton resigned for a job in Texas, the Daily Local reported.
Long ties to Kennett Square
Council member is another job title the local businessman and Task stuntman can add to his resumé.
“I’m volunteering to help the residents of my community; that’s my primary goal,” he said in an interview Tuesday.
Bertrando — an actor, director, and producer — has worked at his family’s 80-year-old sub shop for decades. It drew him back home a few years ago, so he could help his aging parents run the shop.
But in the years between, Bertrando left Kennett Square to pursue acting, appearing in commercials for brands like Mercedes, McDonald’s, Nintendo, and Oscar Mayer; traveling the world as a professional clown; and working the improv comedy circuit in New York and Chicago.
His film career has continued back in Pennsylvania; Bertrando served as Mark Ruffalo’s stand-in and stunt double in Task, the HBO crime drama set in Delco. In his own productions, his hometown has seeped into his work. A short film, Italian Special, is set within Sam’s Sub Shop and Kennett Square.
Since returning to the borough, Bertrando has been a frequent visitor to council meetings, and advised the borough alongside other business leaders on what was going well, and what wasn’t, in Kennett Square.
Priorities on council
His professional career and his family’s long lineage in Kennett Square have shaped his perspectives on the borough, and what he thinks he can add as a council member.
He is motivated by the possible development of a new theater. Infusing more arts into the community would be beneficial, he said.
Having worked on Task, he saw how other municipalities the show filmed in benefited from an influx of revenue: from parking to hiring police for traffic control, to renting out locations in town, to ordering food for lunches and snacks, to coffee runs, to overnight stays in hotels.
“We have all the infrastructure needed for that to happen here in Kennett,” he said.
Both Task and fellow Pennsylvania-based crime drama Mare of Easttown mention Kennett Square, but neither used the borough for filming.
“When you have a theater or something arts-driven in the town, I think that’s a signal,” he said. “I think a theater can work as a beacon for revenue from other sources, like film production.”
Beyond the intersection of his passion for film and the borough, he said the development of the former National Vulcanized Fiber land, a large undeveloped parcel that is being remediated for contamination in soil from the industrial site, has been of concern for residents.
While the project would be years out even if ultimately approved, Bertrando said he would advocate for environmental transparency and affordable development that respects the existing neighborhoods.
He would also like to improve communication between the municipality and its residents — the longtime community members, like Bertrando’s family, and those who are choosing to relocate.
As he began his term on the other side of public comment, he said, he focused in, listening closely to what his neighbors were saying. He feels the burden to pay close attention, since he was appointed to the role, rather than elected.
“I really have to make the effort to listen to their concerns and really try the best ways to help in their concerns,” he said. “Sitting on the other side was exciting. It was important. It’s serious. It’s my town. I really care about it.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro had a message for data center developers on Tuesday: Come to Pennsylvania, but bring your own energy — or pay up.
During his budget address, Shapiro said his proposal — the Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) standards — will ensure center operators are “not saddling homeowners with added costs because of their development.”
Data centers, which house the technology to power cloud storage and other computing, have been proliferating across the country and the region due to the increasing demands of generative artificial intelligence, or AI.State and local officials are trying to keep up with the rapid pace of development, proposing new legislation — and updating existing measures — in an attempt to regulate the facilities.
Shapiro’s plan would require data centers to supply their own energy or pay for any new generation they need. It also calls on them to hire and train Pennsylvania workers and comply with “the highest standards of environmental protection,” including in water conservation, Shapiro said.
In exchange, the governor added, data center developers will get “speed and certainty” in the permitting process, as well as applicable tax credits.
The comments from Shapiro, a Democrat who has consistently encouraged data center development, come amid a flurry of legislative and executive action, as elected officials promise to keep Pennsylvania and New Jersey consumers from bearing the costs of these power-hungry facilities.
Data centers, the electric grid, and governors’ proposals
At the same time, some governors, including Shapiro, have criticized and sued PJM, the Montgomery County-based electric grid operator, over its annual capacity auction, which influences how much customers pay.
On Tuesday, Shapiro reiterated calls for PJM to speed up new power-generation projects and extend a price cap.
Separate from GRID, Shapiro also said electric companies, including Peco, should increase transparency around pricing and “rein in costs” for consumers, including low-income and vulnerable Pennsylvanians.
“These steps will save consumers money immediately,” Shapiro said. He announced an energy-affordability watchdog to monitor utility-rate requests and take legal action if necessary to prevent companies from “jacking up their rates and costing you more.”
Through several executive orders, she froze utility rates and expanded programs to spur new power generation in the state. She also ordered electric utilities to report energy requests from data centers.
“This is just the beginning,” Sherrill said in her inaugural remarks. “We are going to take on the affordability crisis, and we are going to shake up the status quo.”
In Pennsylvania, ‘Data Center Consumer Protection Bill’ advances
An Amazon data center is shown last year while under construction in front of the Susquehanna nuclear power plant in Berwick, Pa.
Meanwhile in Harrisburg and Trenton, some lawmakers have other ideas about how to keep residents from subsidizing data centers.
As of Tuesday, nearly 30 bills in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey legislatures mentioned data centers, according to online records. Many of those bills aren’t directly related to residents’ electric bills, and instead address the facilities’ energy sources, water usage, environmental impacts, and general regulation.
“Today’s vote brings us one step closer to protecting ratepayers,” Robert Matzie, the Beaver County Democrat who introduced the bill, said in a statement. “Data centers can bring jobs and expand the local tax base, but if unchecked, they can drive up utility costs. Electric bills are already too high.”
The bills were introduced by State Reps. Kyle Donahue and Kyle Mullins, both Democrats from the Scranton area, which has become a hot spot for data center development.
“There is a real concern and a sense of overwhelm among the people we represent,” Mullins said at the hearing. “The people of Pennsylvania have serious concerns about data center energy usage and water usage, especially as they see utility bills continue to rise rapidly.”
Dan Diorio, vice president of state policy for the Data Center Coalition, said he worried the bills would discourage operators from building in Pennsylvania. He said they are already incentivized to reduce energy costs, which are estimated to make up anywhere from 40% to 80% of a data center’s total operating costs.
“Data center companies strive to maximize energy efficiency to keep their costs low,” Diorio said.
Rep. Elizabeth Fiedler, the Philadelphia Democrat who chairs the energy committee, closed Monday’s hearing by reminding members of one of its main objectives: to “keep down the energy bills that are skyrocketing for people back home.”
A South Jersey lawmaker says his bill could help consumers
A Philadelphia-area woman woman turns down her thermostat in attempt to save on electricity in this January 2023 file photo.
The pain of skyrocketing utility bills has been felt acutely in New Jersey, which unlike Pennsylvania uses more energy than it produces.
Between 2024 and 2025, New Jersey residents’ electric bills rose more than 13% on average, the fifth steepest increase in the U.S., according to federal data analyzed by the business magazine Kiplinger. Pennsylvanians saw a nearly 10% increase during the same period, according to the data.
A bill sponsored by New Jersey State Assembly member David Bailey Jr., a Democrat from Salem County, attempts to prevent future price hikes.
The legislation would require data center developers to have “skin in the game,” as Bailey described it in a recent interview, and sign a contract to purchase at least 85% of the electric service they request for 10 years. He said it would also provide incentives for data centers to supply their own energy generation.
“I don’t want to come off as an anti-data center person,” said Bailey, who represents parts of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland Counties. “This is a very positive thing. We’re just saying we don’t want these big companies to come in and pass this [cost] on to our mom and pops, our neighbors, and our everyday ratepayers.”
Bailey said he was disappointed that his bill was pocket-vetoed by former Gov. Phil Murphy last month. Now, it has to restart the legislative process. But Bailey said he expects it to eventually pass with bipartisan support.
“No matter your party affiliation you understand the affordability issue,” Bailey said. “You understand your electric bill” — and how much it has risen recently.
HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday unveiled a $53.2 billion state budget that focuses on making Pennsylvania a more affordable place to live — while proposing a 6.2% spending increase over last year and renewing his pitches to create new revenue streams to fill a significant budget deficit as he runs for reelection.
Shapiro’s fourth budget address attracted several standing ovations from Democrats as he stood before a joint session of the state House and Senate to pitch some of Democrats’ shared priorities, such as increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Afterward, Republicans decried the budget proposal as unaffordable, arguing such a steep increase in spending is unrealistic when the state is already poised to spend more than it brings in during the current fiscal year and in the future. Shapiro’s proposal would spend $4.6 billion more than the state is projected to bring in in the 2026-27 fiscal year, requiring officials to pull most new spending from Pennsylvania’s $7.7 billion Rainy Day Fund, or find funding from new revenue streams like the taxation of recreational marijuana that do not yet exist.
Screen shows skill games and cannabis regulation and reform as Gov. Josh Shapiro makes his annual budget proposal in the state House chamber in Harrisburg Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.
Shapiro’s proposed spending hike equates to a $2.7 billion total increase over the 2025-26 budget. Approximately $1 billion of that would fulfill increased federal Medicaid obligations, another $1 billion would be for new initiatives proposed by the governor, and $700 million would go to other funding increases, according to a Shapiro administration official.
The proposal does not include any broad tax increase on state residents. Instead, Shapiro’s budget pitch includes proposals to generate nearly $2 billion in new revenue, largely from the taxation and legalization of recreational marijuana and regulation of so-called skill games — suggestions that he put forward last year but that failed to gain traction within the legislature. He proposed taxing adult-use cannabis at 20% to generate $729.4 million. He is also seeking a 52% tax on skill games, the unregulated and untaxed slot-machine look-alikes that have proliferated around the state in corner stores, bars, and fraternal organizations, to generate an estimated $765.9 million in its first year.
“Everyone knows we need to get this done. So let’s come together and finally get it over the finish line,” he added.
Shapiro proposed the legalization and taxation of recreational marijuana in each of his prior three budget proposals. Last year, he pitched a 20% tax on the sale of legal marijuana that he estimated would bring in $535.6 million in its first year. This year’s projection of $729.4 million in that time frame would be a 36% increase without changing the proposed tax rate. A Shapiro administration official said Tuesday that the projected increase is due to more interest from marijuana companies that want to do business in Pennsylvania.
Gov. Josh Shapiro make his annual budget proposal in the state House chamber in Harrisburg Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. Pa. House Speaker Joanna McClinton (left) and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis (right) are seated behind him.
Shapiro’s budget also called for an additional $565 million for public schools toward the state’s new adequacy funding and tax equity formulas, in the latest installment of a nine-year plan to ensure students get an equitable education no matter their zip code. He requested $30 million in additional funding toward three of Pennsylvania’s state-related universities — the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania State University, and Temple University — to be awarded based on a new performance-based funding mechanism.
The governor also pitched creating a “Federal Response Fund” in Pennsylvania, seeking to set aside a $100 million reserve to offset any impact from President Donald Trump’s administration, in the event the federal government moves to cut funding to social services programs and grants to state and local governments, as it has done several times over the last year.
A focus on affordability
As his reelection campaign ramps up ahead of November, Shapiro made a broad pitch for policies aimed at making Pennsylvania more affordable.
Shapiro said he was working with utility companies to rein in energy costs and called for the construction of new homes and a bevy of renter protections in a plan to expand the availability and affordability of housing across the state.
He proposed a $1 billion fund, supported by the issuing of bonds, to pay for a range of infrastructure projects relating to energy, housing, local governments, and schools. But he billed it largely as “a major investment in building new housing.”
“We need hundreds of thousands of new homes,” Shapiro said. “This is how we build them.”
Shapiro also called for the state to create a catalog of local zoning rules and to help local governments revamp ordinances to allow for more housing.
The governor again proposed raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage to $15 an hour, billing it as a cost savings of $300 million to the state on entitlement programs such as Medicaid.
In a news conference hosted by Senate and House Republicans following Shapiro’s budget address, top legislative leaders contended that Shapiro’s affordability vision for the state is unnecessary.
“What we need to do is stand back and watch the private sector work, and watch the private sector grow the jobs that will support this economy,” said House Minority Leader Jesse Topper (R., Bedford). “What we need to do as a government is far less. We need to get our footprint down. That is what we believe will make things more affordable for Pennsylvanians.”
He announced a new plan he said would protect consumers against rising energy costs associated with data centers, while also easing a path for tech companies to build the centers.
The Governor’s Responsible Infrastructure Development (GRID) plan would make data center developers either bring their own power generation or pay for any new generation they will need, he said, “not saddling homeowners with added costs because of their development.”
Shapiro said that too many data center proposals have been “shrouded in secrecy” but that they are crucial for the country.
“The United States is locked in a battle for AI supremacy against China,” Shapiro said. “Look, I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather the future be controlled by the United States of America and not Communist China.”
Shapiro said Tuesday he wants to avoid another lengthy stalled budget, which forced schools, counties, and nonprofits to take out billions in loans to stay afloat during the four-month impasse.
He invited leaders of all four caucuses — Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, House Democrats, and House Republicans — to meet on Wednesday to start budget talks much sooner than in past years. They all agreed to attend, he added.
“We all recognize it took too long last year and that had real impacts on Pennsylvanians, but we learned some valuable lessons through that process,” Shapiro said in his address, which lasted an hour and 24 minutes. “We learned that we all need to be at the table, and that we all need to be at the table sooner.”
The state House chamber as Gov. Josh Shapiro makes his annual budget proposal in Harrisburg Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.
Budget negotiations will begin Wednesday, Shapiro said, before legislative committees begin meeting about the proposal later this month. The budget will be negotiated in closed-door meetings between top leaders and is due by the start of the new fiscal year, which begins July 1.
One contentious issue is off the negotiating table for the forthcoming fiscal year: funding mass transit. Shapiro again pitched the state to increase the share of the sales and use tax that goes to mass transit, including SEPTA, as the transit agencies desperately need a new recurring revenue source. Shapiro does not want that to begin until July 1, 2027, when his latest short-term transit funding fix is scheduled to run out.
Shapiro and most lawmakers in the General Assembly are up for reelection this year. In previous midterm election years, the electoral pressure has sped up negotiations, as legislators want to bring home results to their constituents before they return to the campaign trail in a year when the governor’s mansion and control of the state House and Senate are on the line. (Shapiro’s likely opponent, Republican State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, immediately criticized his budget proposal, saying the pitch “didn’t come nearly close enough” to bridging the state’s spending deficit.)
But even if lawmakers move with haste, this year’s budget negotiations may be tense as leaders try to reset spending to better align with how much the state generates in revenue.
“We’re going to do everything we can to protect the taxpayer and make sure that the dollars that are allocated are wisely used,” Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said. “We have to make sure we’re, again, stretching every taxpayer dollar we can and bringing the cost of government down as much as possible.”
But with the high-stakes election just months away, House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery) cautioned Republicans against coming down hard on Shapiro, who has boasted consistently high approval ratings.
“I would argue the polls indicate that we have a very popular governor. They tried to obstruct him and his numbers only got more popular,” Bradford said. “My suggestion is it would be the political imperative, regardless of the policy implications, that they start working with this governor to pass things.”
Staff writers Thomas Fitzgerald, Maddie Hanna, Ariana Perez-Castells, and Susan Snyder contributed to this article.
The U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday voted 217-214 to end the partial government shutdown on its fourth day, avoiding a repeat of last year’s 43-day standoff.
The House passed a five-bill package that includes funding the Departments of Defense, State, Transportation, Education, Labor, Treasury, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Development.
Every House Democrat from Pennsylvania opposed the package. U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R., York) was the lone Republican from the delegation to vote against it.
Among New Jersey Democrats, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D., N.J.) was among the 21 members of the party who crossed the aisle to support the bill.
As part of the deal, the House also passed 10 days of funding for the Department of Homeland Security as negotiations for longer-term will continue amid national uproar over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Funding for DHS has been the core reason behind the government shutdown after Democrats said they would not vote for an allocation to the department without reforms to federal immigration agents’ conduct after agents fatally shot two Americans in Minnesota last month.
U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R., Lehigh), who voted for the deal, said he will participate in “ongoing conversations about achieving commonsense, bipartisan reforms of DHS operations.”
In the House, only a handful of Republicans voted against the package, providing House Speaker Mike Johnson with the support he needed from the party to pass the package in the narrowly divided chamber.
Meanwhile, the vast majority of Democrats voted against the bill, with immigration enforcement remaining a top issue.
"We are in a dangerous and deadly place," U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D, Montgomery) said in a statement. Adding that with DHS receiving funding until Feb. 13, "ICE agents can continue their grotesque and thuggish behavior. Meaning Congress has only ten days to agree on reform,” she said.
Now that Trump has signed the bill, Republicans and Democrats still need to hammer out a long-term deal on DHS, which oversees ICE and the Border Patrol.
Retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Philadelphia) said in a statement that he would “need to see much-needed guardrails and protections being put into law” before he can support more funding for the agencies.
DHS also oversees TSA and an extended funding lapse could affect air travel.
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a moderate Republican from Bucks County, voted for the government funding package Tuesday and plans to work with Democrats in the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus on reforms to ICE, his spokesperson said.
Staff Contributors
Design, Development and Data: Sam Morris
Reporting: Fallon Roth
Editing: Bryan Lowry
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HARRISBURG — Gov. Josh Shapiro on Tuesday is expected to propose a $53.2 billion state budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, just three months after settling a bitter, 135-daybudget impasse that forced schools, counties, and nonprofits to take out loans to stay afloat.
Shapiro, a first-term Democrat running for reelection this year and potentially poised for higher office, will deliver his fourth annual budget address before a joint session of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, where he plans to pitch an expansive $1 billion housing and infrastructure plan to incentivize new housing development with an overall focus on affordability in the state.
And as in years past, Shapiro is expected to again propose new revenue streams to fill a more than $5 billion deficit, such as the legalization and taxation of adult-use cannabis, as Pennsylvania is again expected to spend more than it brings in tax revenues.
Here are three things to watch for in Shapiro’s budget proposal.
Affordability, affordability, affordability
Affordability has become somewhat of a top Democratic catchphrase heading into the midterm elections, as housing, energy and healthcare costs continue to rise.
It’s an issue Shapiro has repeated as one that is top of mind for him, and he is now applying it to a basic need for many Pennsylvanians: housing.
Construction is underway on three bedroom units with garages at Winslow Cross Creek Family Apartments Thursday, Mar. 6, 2025. Hans Lampart, founder, president, and CEO of Eastern Pacific Development and Brookfield Construction specializes in build-to-rent affordable housing.
The average rental price in Pennsylvania is $1,525 per month, with 25,000 rentals available across the state, according to the real estate website Zillow.
The governor on Tuesday is also expected to reintroduce his “Lightning Plan” that includes incentives to increase renewable energy production and a new Pennsylvania-specific cap-and-trade carbon program.
The plan would replace the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that Shapiro and House Democrats agreed to ditch as part of an overall $50.5 billion budget deal in November, following years of urging from Republicans who argued that it stifled economic growth in the state. A similar cap-and-trade program would be unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled state Senate.
New revenue streams, again
Shapiro will again try to fill the state’s projected $4.3 billion budget gap with new revenue streams — although none of them would be likely to be up and running in time for the start of the new fiscal year on July 1.
Last year was the first time Pennsylvania’s state budget ever topped $50 billion. Its revenue still has yet to hit that milestone, and is unlikely to do so this fiscal year. The Independent Fiscal Office estimates the state will bring in nearly $49 billion, a 1.3% increase in revenue over the last fiscal year.
The budget gap is among the biggest challenges for Shapiro in upcoming negotiations with top legislative leaders, as Senate Republicans say it’s their top priority to spend within the state’s means.
Shapiro last year proposed tapping into the state’s Rainy Day Fund — approximately $7 billion set aside for emergencies — that the state has been stockpiling in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s unclear whether he will pitch using some of the fund again for the 2026-27 fiscal year.
Last year, Shapiro proposed a 20% tax on adult-use cannabis that he predicted would bring in $535.6 million in its first year, largely from licensing fees. He projected it could bring in $1.3 billion in the first five years, noting that only one of Pennsylvania’s neighboring states, West Virginia, hasn’t legalized recreational marijuana, essentially allowing Pennsylvania to lose out on tax revenue as residents cross state lines to buy it.
A legal marijuana purchase in Deptford, N.J. on April 21, 2022.
Shapiro has proposed regulating skill games in his last two budgets, asking last year that the unregulated gaming machines be taxed at 52%, which is the same tax rate as slot machines in casinos or gas stations. He estimated then that skill games would bring in nearly $369 million in its first year.
(The skill games industry has continuously rejected a high tax rate, arguing that it would hurt the industry and small business owners that carry the machines, like bars and corner stores.)
A possibly quicker resolution
There is one bright spot for the schools, counties, and nonprofits that rely on state funding and which last year had to wait more than four months for that money when lawmakers couldn’t agree: It’s an election year.
Election years often result in quicker budget resolutions, as lawmakers and officials want to secure money for their districts before they go home to campaign for reelection.
Sign posted by the PA Senate at the Pennsylvania State Capitol in Harrisburg Aug. 26, 2025, reminds visitors of the state’s “multi-billion dollar structural deficit.”
In 2018, when former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf was up for reelection, he signed the state budget on June 23 — a week ahead of the July 1 deadline.
This year, Shapiro is up for reelection, likely to face a November challenge from State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the state Republican Party-endorsed candidate. And many other state lawmakers are in the same boat.
All 203 seats in the state House and half the 50 seats in the state Senate are on the ballotin November. Several lawmakers have announced that they will not seek reelection, allowing for competitive elections to fill the vacancies.
