16th Senate District: Pinsley wins Democratic nod, setting up rematch with incumbent Coleman
Mark Pinsley won the Democratic nomination in the state’s 16th Senate District on Tuesday, setting up a rematch with incumbent Republican Jarrett Coleman on Nov. 5.
Pinsley, who is Lehigh County’s controller, posted 11,771 votes to Bradley Merkl-Gump’s 10,083, according to unofficial results from Lehigh and Bucks counties. The vote was split along county lines, with early returns showing Pinsley garnering 72% of the vote in Lehigh and Merkl-Gump with 71% in Bucks.
“The fight is still ahead of us,” Pinsley, 56, said in a Facebook post late on election night. “This November, we’re going to need a Democratic trifecta in the State Senate, State House, and Governor’s Mansion to Get S—- Done for every Pennsylvania family that’s struggling right now. Let’s flip this seat for the people!”
Merkl-Gump posted a similar sentiment on his own campaign’s Facebook page, pledging to support Pinsley “as he works to finish the job.”
“We didn’t win tonight, but our ideas are going to win in November. I ran to talk about the cost of living and access to excellent public education, and Mark Pinsley and I share those ideals,” Merkl-Gump said in the post. “This race was about finding the best candidate to defeat Jarrett Coleman and giving the voters of Lehigh and Bucks counties the representation they deserve in the legislature.”
The 16th runs from the northern tip of Lehigh County and along its western edge to upper Bucks County.
Pinsley sought the position in the 16th twice before. He had an unsuccessful bid in 2022, garnering 57,844 votes to Coleman’s 68,344. He also fell short in 2018 against former incumbent Republican Pat Browne, who got 48,897 votes to Pinsley’s 46,200.
He was elected county controller twice and previously served on the South Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners.
Pinsley ran on his record as an elected official with a track record of helping taxpayers. He said he cut the county’s healthcare tab by $3 million by identifying cost overruns.
He also released a report on “an abnormally high” number of cases of child medical abuse coming from the Lehigh Valley Health Network’s John Van Brakle Child Advocacy, which the county used to investigate child abuse allegations. The report led to the filing of lawsuits by impacted families, a recently announced revamping of its child advocacy center and saw the departure of the director of the center.
His endorsements included Lehigh County Executive Josh Siegel, who once worked for Pinsley in the controller’s office, Lehigh Commissioners Sarah Fevig, Jon Irons and April Riddick and Lehigh Coroner Dan Buglio. Other endorsements include the Democratic Socialists of America, Transport Workers of America Union Local 234, Make the Road Action and Lehigh Valley Stands Up.
Merkl-Gump, 39, of Perkasie is a history teacher in Montgomery County’s Perkiomen School District. He was elected to the Pennridge School Board in 2023 when five Democrats won all five seats. The wins followed the board’s decision to hire a consultant linked to a conservative Christian college to rewrite the district’s curriculum.
He had the backing of multiple Democratic state lawmakers in both counties, including state Sen. Nick Miller (14th) and Reps. Mike Schlossberg (132nd) and Peter Schweyer (133rd), as well as support from Allentown Mayor Matt Tuerk and former Lehigh County Executive Phil Armstrong.
The Senate Democratic Campaign Committee and seven senators, including Miller, gave him nearly $195,000 in cash and in-kind contributions. Pinsley’s latest state campaign finance report listed a $1,000 contribution from the International Union of Elevator Constructors Local. He said he transferred $20,000 from his federal campaign committee, part of the money he had raised before he dropped out of the 7th Congressional District race.
At one time, there were four candidates running in the 16th. Wayne Codner, mayor of Richlandtown Borough, and Juan Vargas, owner of Nowhere Coffee Co. in Allentown, left the race in March.
Pinsley will run against Coleman in a district where the party breakdown is about 46% Republican, 35% Democrat and 19% independent or third-party members. Coleman, who was unchallenged on Tuesday, won the seat in 2022 after he bested Browne in the primary election.
Coleman is a formidable fundraiser. His committee, Patriots for Coleman, had $606,339 in cash at the start of the year and raised another $494,535, including $305,000 from the Operators for Skill PAC. He spent $549,031, leaving him with $551,843 as of May 4.
Douglas Rickards of Harrisburg is the treasurer of Operators for Skill as well as Protecting Our Democracy, a newly formed PACt that sent fliers to voters urging them to vote against Merkl-Gump. One showed a picture of the Israeli flag and said Merkl-Gump’s main backer is Bucks state Sen. Steve Santarsiero, who issued a statement calling it antisemitic. Another encouraged voters to choose Pinsley.
State senators serve four-year terms. The yearly base salary is about $113,591.
The 16th District:
Lehigh County: Allentown (Wards 13 and 18 only); townships of Heidelberg, Lower Macungie, Lower Milford, Lowhill, Lynn, North Whitehall, South Whitehall (Districts 03, 06 and 08 only), Upper Macungie, Upper Milford, Upper Saucon, Washington and Weisenberg; boroughs of Alburtis, Coopersburg, Macungie and Slatington.
Bucks County: Townships of Bedminster, Bridgeton, Durham, East Rockhill, Haycock, Hilltown, Milford, Nockamixon, Richland, Springfield, Tinicum and West Rockhill; boroughs of Dublin, Perkasie, Quakertown, Richlandtown, Riegelsville, Sellersville, Silverdale, Telford (Bucks County portion only) and Trumbauersville.
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