Democrat Joshua Siegel to seek reelection in 22nd House District
State Rep. Joshua Siegel announced he will seek election to a second term in the 22nd House District, which includes parts of Allentown and Salisbury Township.
“I’m running to continue to address the crisis of affordability that Pennsylvanians are facing here in the Lehigh Valley and across the Commonwealth,” Siegel, a 30-year-old Democrat, said Friday in a press release.
In his first year in office, Siegel said he was proud to support adopted legislation that increased the property tax rebate for seniors for the first time since 2007, raised the maximum amount for the child tax credit to $1,050 for one child or $2,100 for two or more children, and gave school districts the largest basic education increase in the history of the state.
“This session, I’ll be introducing historic and first of its kind housing attainability legislation to help reduce the cost of housing in the Lehigh Valley, promoting smart growth and development to preserve our quality of life, continuing to support and strengthen our unions, working to increase investments in public safety and gun violence prevention and fighting to address the historic underfunding of our public schools,” Siegel said.
Siegel was an Allentown City Council member when he was elected to the 22nd House District in 2022. He defeated Republican Robert E. Smith Jr.,a former Allentown School Board member, by capturing 63% of the vote. The district had no incumbent due to mandated redistricting.
As a council member, he advocated for progressive causes, including sponsoring a unanimously passed bill that grants six weeks of paid leave to non-union employees who give birth, father children or adopt children as long as they have worked for the city for a year.
The district includes East Allentown, neighborhoods in Center City Allentown, including all areas east of 12th Street and north of Hamilton Street, and Salisbury Township, east of South 4th Street.