Incumbent vs. incumbent in GOP state House primary in 187th District
Day, Mackenzie in rare primary battle
Republican voters in the 187th state House district face an unusual choice in the May 17 primary: Two incumbents are on the ballot.
Rep. Gary Day has served the district since being elected in 2008. His opponent, Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, has represented the adjacent 134th District since winning a special election in April 2012.
The candidates, with a total of 23 years of service in Harrisburg between them, ended up facing each other in this year’s primary because of the once-a-decade redistricting that shifted part of Mackenzie’s 134th District, including Lower Macungie Township where he lives, into the 187th.
The Day-Mackenzie primary showdown is one of only three statewide pitting incumbent vs. incumbent, according to online publication City & State PA. All 203 House district seats are up for election this year.
No candidate is running in the Democratic 187th primary so the winner of the GOP contest is virtually guaranteed to represent the district.
The new 187th District comprises Heidelberg, Lower Macungie, Lynn, Washington and Weisenberg townships and Alburtis and Macungie along with part of Upper Macungie Township (Districts 03, 07 and 08). Both the 134th, which now stretches into part of Allentown, and the 187th no longer include parts of Berks County and are entirely contained in Lehigh County.
Based on population comparisons, a majority of residents — about 57% — from Mackenzie’s current district, the 134th, now live in the new 187th, possibly giving Mackenzie an advantage.
Neither Day nor Mackenzie has faced many primary battles. Until this year, Day had only one primary challenger — in 2008 when he first ran for state representative. Mackenzie has had two — when he ran for a full term in the general election in 2012 and again in 2018 when he handily defeated a primary challenger. Both have easily won reelection each time.
Last year, Mackenzie announced he would run for Congress from the Lehigh Valley’s 7th District but decided instead to seek reelection to the state House.
“I have been interested in pursuing federal office in the past because I see the impact that federal legislation has on Pennsylvania and the whole country,” he said in an email when asked about his decision. “After looking at both federal and state races though, I decided the place where I can have the most positive impact at this time is still at the state level.”
He considered running for Congress from the Lehigh Valley in 2018 but chose to run for reelection to the state House after seeing how the congressional district had been changed by the state Supreme Court.
Both Mackenzie and Day began the year with sizable amounts of cash for their campaigns, according to reports filed with the state. Mackenzie’s campaign committee held a slight advantage, however, reporting $102,723 in the bank while Day’s campaign had $89,214. The first campaign expense reports for the primary are due this week.
Gary Day
Day, who was born in Baltimore, is 55. He graduated from Penn State University with a bachelor’s degree in economics in 1990. Before beginning his first term as state representative, he worked as director of marketing and human resources for Service Electric Cable for eight years and before that served as executive assistant to Allentown Mayor William Heydt for more than five years.
He and his wife, Susan, live in Heidelberg Township and have three children. Day has been involved in the community as a member of the Goodwill Fire Company No. 1 and as a youth sports coach. He is also a member of the National Rifle Association. He previously served on the board of the YMCA and was a member of the Upper Lehigh Lions Club.
Day is chairman of the Aging and Older Adult Services Committee and a member of the Professional Licensure Committee. He earlier served as chairman of the House Select Committee on School Safety and Security.
Day, who does not have a campaign website or Facebook page, never responded to two email requests for an interview. Information about him came from his state representative website and research into legislation he sponsored.
Issues
Military: Day was the prime sponsor of a bill that became law in June 2021 that extended paid leaves of absence to Pennsylvania citizens who serve in another state's National Guard, according to Day’s sponsorship memo. Members of the National Guard in Pennsylvania already received those protections.
Roads: A bill sponsored by Day requires homeowners who access their properties through a private road to contribute to the maintenance of the road. This proposal would eliminate barriers to certain mortgages for homeowners who use private roads to get to their property, according to his sponsoring memo. The bill was signed into law in October 2021.
The elderly: As chairman of the Aging and Older Adult Services Committee, Day helped push through a package of bills that became law last year to protect older Pennsylvanians who receive care from others.
He co-sponsored one of the bills, which established harsh criminal penalties for caregivers or those who manage funds of an elderly person and are convicted of taking the person's money.
Another bill signed into law made it a crime for caregiver employees to post pictures on social media of an elderly person without permission.
Voting: Last year, Day sponsored a package of bills related to elections and voting — HB 29, to require that paper ballots contain timing marks and/or QR codes and also have specific size requirements and watermarks; HB 30 to require any mail-in ballot application include a sworn affidavit attesting to the voter’s residence and identity, and counties must be able to track mail-in ballot problems; HB 31 to add security measures to ballot drop-off boxes, such as recording the date and time the ballot was delivered. The bills were referred to the State Government Committee, where they have stayed without action since June 2021.
Ryan Mackenzie
Mackenzie, who was born in Allentown, is 39. His mother, Milou Mackenzie of Lower Saucon Township is the Republican state representative from the 131st District and is running for reelection to a second term.
He graduated from Parkland High School in 2000 and from New York University in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in finance and international business. He received a master of business administration degree from Harvard University in 2010.
He worked on the U.S. Senate campaign of Pat Toomey in 2004 and for the U.S. Labor Department in 2007. He was director of Pennsylvania’s Republican Victory Program in 2010, and later was director of policy for the state Department of Labor and Industry.
President Trump appointed him to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Local Government Advisory Committee and as a commissioner on the nonpartisan President's Commission on White House Fellowships.
Mackenzie serves on the board of the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce and the executive council of the Lehigh Career & Technical Institute. In the state House, he has served as deputy whip since 2015. He serves on the Consumer Affairs, Environmental Resources & Energy, Labor & Industry, and State Government committees.
He has written several bills that became law, including Act 169 of 2012, which streamlined government operations and reduced unnecessary regulations; Act 52 of 2013, which, among other provisions, closed tax loopholes and eliminated the inheritance tax for small, family-owned businesses; Act 38 of 2017 to reduce fraud by local tax collectors; and Act 70 of 2021 that, among other things, increases transparency in state spending and strengthens lobbyist disclosure requirements.
Information about Mackenzie was gleaned from websites for his campaign and his state representative page and responses to questions via email.
Issues
Veterans: His bill, Pennsylvania Startups for Soldiers, makes it easier for veterans to begin businesses and was signed into law in 2016.
Energy: Opposes cap-and-trade proposals because he believes they would increase energy costs.
Voting: Supports Voter ID requirements. In December 2020, he was one of 64 state senators and representatives sent a letter to the state’s congressional delegation and urged them to object to Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes for President Joe Biden because of how the election was conducted in the state.
Asked about the letter, he explained his decision in an email: “Governor Wolf and his Department of State ignored the law in multiple instances and chose to make changes to election processes during the course of the election. These included allowing for the counting of mail ballots received after Election Day and ignoring the process of signature verification to ensure election integrity. Counties also violated the law, including some areas that blocked the lawful watching of the counting of votes by outside observers. These late changes that violated Pennsylvania’s election law created an unfair and uneven election.”
Abortion
Both Day and Mackenzie have voted in favor of legislation that would restrict abortions:
House Bill 321: In 2019, the House and Senate passed the bill to prohibit abortions because of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. The measure was vetoed by Gov. Wolf, and it was reintroduced in the House in 2021, with Day as a co-sponsor, and passed. The bill was sent to the Senate, where it was withdrawn in April.
Senate Bill 857: Bill would provide for telemedicine, authorizing the regulation of telemedicine by professional licensing boards and providing for insurance coverage of telemedicine. An amendment barred the use of telemedicine to prescribe mifepristone, which is used to induce medical abortions. It passed in the House and also the Senate. Wolf vetoed the measure in 2020.
Senate Bill 3: In 2017, the House and Senate passed a bill that would have prohibited abortions beyond 20 weeks of gestational age. Wolf vetoed the measure in 2018.