Blue Pennsylvania: Reflections on 2025, and a TODO List for 2026

Hope everyone is having a good holiday (Are we still allowed to use the word “holiday”?).

First, in preparation for 2026, Let’s do a brief review of the past year.  While 2025 at the federal level had been a real stinker, it had been a stellar year at the local level – especially for Blue Pennsylvania.  Our group had two goals this year:

1.   To allow another 10-year term for the three Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices who were up for retention in 2025, and,

2.   To assure that Pennsylvania’s under-resourced school districts receive this year’s full annual installment of money ($537 million) in a process that should bring them up to adequacy by 2031.

Given the political hue of the commonwealth at the beginning of 2025, neither goal appeared to be easily obtainable, but members of Blue Pennsylvania began hitting the streets last January, informing people that the retention of the state supreme court justices would be the most important issue on the November 2025 ballot.  Our research on the topic was adopted and adapted by numerous groups in the ensuing months, assuring that voters were well informed about judicial retention before the general election, and in November, each of the three justices received over 60% of the vote on the questions regarding their particular retention.

The outcomes on the judicial retention votes, along with Democratic wins up and down the ballot all over the state were probably responsible for our Republican dominated state senate giving in to Democratic demands to provide more money this year for underfunded schools, and finalizing a budget several weeks after the November election. 

This capitulation on the Republicans’ part, however, came with a price.  Democrats agreed to pull out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) – the cap-and-trade program administered by 11 states, that has  significantly decreased greenhouse gas emissions in the northeastern U.S. while simultaneously increasing revenues in those states.

The budget also saw no new funds for SEPTA and other mass-transit agencies in the state.  Weakening mass transit further exacerbates greenhouse gas production.

Finally, Pennsylvania’s minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour – another concession that Democrats made from Governor Shapiro’s proposal of raising it to $15/hour in his budget address last year.  Pennsylvania and New Hampshire are the only two Northeastern states that have not raised their minimum wage above the federal level, and the Earned Income Tax Credit for low-wage workers included in this year’s budget is hardly sufficient to offset the damage caused by such a low wage floor.

This is problematic for several reasons.  Such low wages are far below subsistence levels.  A recent study by realtor.com revealed that employees making $7.25 in the Philadelphia metropolitan area would need to work 96 hours a week in order to afford a small apartment.

Another reason for raising the minimum wage is that it would bring additional revenue (through income taxes) into the state, which is already experiencing a structural deficit. 

Strategy for 2026

The prospects for Democrats taking control of the state senate and extending their majority in the state house next November look very good right now.  But the Republican incumbents are hardly ready to go down without creating a false narrative around their tenure. 

Republican Senator Tracy Pennycuick, for example, told the Inquirer that she welcomes the upcoming campaign “’as an opportunity’ to talk about the successes she has achieved while serving in the state Senate, such as her support for public education funding…”  Yet she voted twice this year to deny new money for underfunded school districts like Pottstown, which falls under her purview.  Then she bragged about her actions on Facebook.

Since she intends to run for re-election in November, she, as well as other so-called moderate Republicans will probably vote for additional educational dollars in the next budget without the delays that they put the commonwealth through this year. 

That is why it will be important to press these senators to support increases in public education funding not only for 2026/27, but for automatic increases every year leading up until 2031, in the same manner that they approved legislation to automatically reduce business taxes by ½ a percent across the commonwealth over the next seven years,

We also need to press for more money for mass transit, a return to RGGI, and a minimum wage increase – but honestly, we may need to wait until the Democrats have majorities in both chambers before we are able to achieve those goals (along with other laws regulating firearms and protecting women’s health and the LGBTQ+ community).

Nevertheless, we need to galvanize folks early this year around these issues – possibly using Earth Month (April) to emphasize how important RGGI and mass transit are to the environment, rather than using that time as a marketing opportunity for PECO.  We can also use Earth Month to alert constituents how their legislators had voted on bills that affect the environment,

Meanwhile, let’s not forget about the misbehavior of the Republican Congressional delegation from Pennsylvania this year.  They had all voted for some version of the tax and spending bill that included major cuts to food stamps and Medicaid, and subsequently voted for the Continuing Resolution in November that contained no extension of the ACA premium subsidies that Pennsylvanians counted on to purchase affordable healthcare. 

Bob Bresnahan, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Ryan MacKenzie are all going to claim otherwise, but we need to work with groups active in those congressional districts, as well as groups active in Scott Perry’s district, to end the tenure of these representatives.

If we include these actions in our Calls to Action, then 2026 should definitely be one

Happy New Year!!!

Thanks,

Coleman