Democrat Joe Hohenstein is leaning toward running for state representative again, and Beth Grossman wants to debate Larry Krasner.
Democrat Joe Hohenstein, who last year challenged veteran Republican state Rep. John Taylor, is inching toward a rematch.
On Saturday, Hohenstein attended The Block Gives Back’s Peace and Play Day at Carmella Playground in Frankford. He thanked members for promoting an anti-violence message and later played some volleyball.
In between, he discussed a possible 2018 campaign. Last year, he took 44.85 percent of the vote against Taylor, who was first elected in 1984.
In that race, Hohenstein won four of the seven wards. But Taylor won the 45th Ward by 2,732 votes while winning overall by 2,637 votes.
An immigration lawyer, Hohenstein said he has been busy at work since the election of President Donald Trump.
So, will he be back on the ballot next year?
“I haven’t 100 percent made a decision, but I think I will,” he said. “There will be a more formal announcement around Labor Day. I’m definitely leaning toward it. The neighborhoods need something different. They keep getting more of the same.”
Hohenstein ran unopposed in last year’s primary, but might not have that luxury next year. Sean Patrick Wayland is also expected to seek the Democratic nomination.
Calling Taylor a “heavyweight,” Hohenstein said he is the strongest Democrat to take on the incumbent, in part, because he has deep roots in the community.
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Beth Grossman, the Republican nominee for district attorney, is hoping to debate Democrat Larry Krasner at least once before the Nov. 7 election.
A 21-year prosecutor, she has been campaigning on a platform of public safety.
“It would be my pleasure and privilege to attend any debate with Larry Krasner,” she said. “I think Mr. Krasner understands that the district attorney serves all of the people of Philadelphia, and it is the right of the people to hear what their candidates have to offer.”
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Veteran lawyer and former Upper Dublin Township Commissioner Jules Mermelstein beat last week’s deadline to qualify as a third-party candidate for November’s statewide judicial elections.
Mermelstein needed 2,500 signatures to gain a spot on the ballot as a Green Party candidate for Superior Court.
The candidate turned in more than 4,300 signatures from 44 counties.
There are nine candidates seeking four seats.
The other candidates are Democrats Carolyn Nichols, Geoff Moulton, Maria McLaughlin and Debbie Kunselman and Republicans Emil Giordano, Craig Stedman, Wade Kagarise and Mary Murray.
Mermelstein, who has been practicing law since 1980, is counting on support from the more than 1 million Pennsylvanians who are registered with neither the Democratic nor Republican parties.
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Ken Krawchuk will be the Libertarian Party candidate for governor in 2018.
Krawchuk, 64, was raised in Feltonville and is a 1971 graduate of Cardinal Dougherty High School. He lives in Abington and is the founder and president of an information technology consulting firm. He serves as a business architect for the pharmaceutical, insurance and financial markets.
Over the years, he has run for office many times. He’s been on the ballot for the U.S. and state House of Representatives, Abington commissioner and governor (in 1998 and 2002).
If elected governor, he would veto all tax increases, aggressively use the line item veto to control spending, phase out the personal income tax, abolish property taxes, eliminate parole for violent criminals, pardon all nonviolent drug offenders, decriminalize marijuana and support gun rights.
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The Fair Districts PA Far Northeast Working Group, an arm of the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania, will hold its first meeting on Monday, Aug. 21, from 6:15 to 7:45 p.m. at Torresdale Library, 3079 Holme Ave.
The group seeks to end congressional gerrymandering in Pennsylvania. It advocates for a change to the state Constitution that would create a redistricting committee after each census.
At present, the legislature passes a congressional redistricting bill, which must be signed by the governor.
For more information, go to www.fairdistrictspa.com
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John McCann, a former local candidate for state representative, is now running a write-in campaign for mayor of Yardley.
McCann ran in the 2012 Republican primary in the 169th Legislative District. He took 32 percent of the vote against Dave Kralle. The seat was vacated earlier that year by Denny O’Brien, who had been elected to City Council.
McCann, a teacher and lawyer who attended St. Dominic and Father Judge, moved from Torresdale to Yardley “to seek a better life for his wife and four children,” his campaign website says.
McCann, with backing from Democrats, is challenging Republican Mayor Chris Harding. ••
