Lehigh County Democrats to pick 22nd House candidate on Jan. 3
Democratic precinct captains from the 22nd House District will meet on Jan. 3 to pick a candidate for a special election being held to fill the seat vacated by Democrat Josh Siegel, who was elected Lehigh County executive last month.
The meeting of the Lehigh County Democratic Party’s ad hoc nomination recommendation committee is planned for 10 a.m. and is closed to the public.
The captains, also known as precinct committee members, will interview people who formally submit interest forms and then will vote on a recommendation.
The name of the candidate will be passed on to the executive committee of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party before being submitted to the Department of State by Jan. 5, according to a calendar for the election.
Registered Democrats who live in the 22nd are eligible to submit an interest form. The deadline to do so is 5 p.m. on Jan. 1.
The special election will be held on Feb. 24 for voters in the 22nd, which includes East Allentown and parts of center city Allentown and a portion of Salisbury Township. Whoever wins will serve out the remainder of Siegel’s term, which ends Nov. 30. Siegel resigned on Dec. 17, kicking off the special election process.
The Lehigh County Republican Committee did not respond to a request on how it will select a candidate but must follow calendar deadlines as well.
With 31,543 voters, the 22nd District is a heavily Democratic district. It has 16,709 Democrats compared to 6,628 Republicans. At 7,149 voters, independents outnumber Republicans by 521 registrants. There are also 1,057 people registered to other parties.
Special election for state House 22nd District set for Feb. 24
So far Ce-Ce Gerlach, an Allentown city councilwoman, and Julian Guridy, a constituent representative for state Sen. Nick Miller, a Democrat who serves in the 14th District, said they plan to apply to be their party’s candidate.
Both also said they will run in the May 19 primary election for a full two-year term.
Lori McFarland, chair of the county Democratic committee, said the process for selecting a nominee for a special election is spelled out in the party’s county and state bylaws.
Gerlach has been on Facebook challenging the makeup of the ad-hoc recommendation committee, saying there are numerous precinct captain vacancies and thus the 22nd won’t be fully represented. She has been encouraging Democrats in the 22nd to apply to become one.
She also thinks voters in the 22nd should be allowed to be at the interview process.
“This process needs to be open and transparent,” she said in a post.
McFarland said the ad hoc committee has 20 members. They include Siegel, who has been a captain, and Guridy, whom McFarland said she appointed to fill a vacancy more than a year ago before Siegel announced plans to run for county executive. Guridy is also a state committee member, who is automatically part of the selection process.
She acknowledged that Guridy will be able to vote for himself, saying candidates running for office are allowed to do so.
McFarland said there are 28 precinct captain vacancies. Typically, two from each precinct are elected in the Democratic primary in the spring of the year of the Pennsylvania gubernatorial election.
She said it’s hard to get people to run for the position. As party chair, she said she is allowed to fill vacancies. She can also remove captains who miss three quarterly meetings or are not in good standing.
McFarland said she closed the process for filling vacancies as of December to prevent the appearance of vote stacking. She acknowledged filling a few positions in November.
McFarland also dismissed the idea of allowing the public to watch the candidate selection process for the special election.
“It’s party business,” she said.
Besides complaints by Gerlach, there is also a change.org petition asking the county party to “commit to having an open Primary decided by Democratic voters in May 2026.”
The petition refers to the county Democratic party’s support of incumbents over challengers in primary elections. In cases where there is no incumbent, the party will not choose one candidate over the other to endorse, which is considered an open primary.
“It’s in our bylaws,” McFarland said.
McFarland said the county party has been getting the word to persons interested in being considered through its website, social media and emails. There are also plans for media advertising.
She said the ideal candidate is a party member in good standing who embraces the party’s platform, is experienced in serving people, can be the face of the constituents in Harrisburg and can work collaboratively in a bipartisan fashion when needed.