Pinsley, Coleman battle for seat long held by Sen. Browne

With incumbent's primary loss, voters must choose between candidates far apart on issues.

Photos from candidates, presentation by Donna Fisher

A pair of politicians with opposing views for Pennsylvania’s future will face off in the race for the 16th Senate district this Election Day.

Voters in portions of Bucks and Lehigh counties will choose between Democrat Mark Pinsley, the Lehigh County controller, and Republican Jarrett Coleman, a Parkland School Board director, as the state senator for the newly redrawn district.

Coleman upset longtime incumbent Pat Browne in the Republican primary, guaranteeing the district will have a new official for the first time since 2005.

Republicans account for 52.6% of registered voters while Democrats make up 45.1%, according to the website Dave’s Redistricting.

The new 16th District comprises parts of Lehigh County (Heidelberg, Lower Macungie, Lower Milford, Lowhill, Lynn, North Whitehall, Upper Macungie, Upper Milford, Upper Saucon, Washington and Weisenberg townships, Alburtis, Coopersburg, Macungie and Slatington along with parts of South Whitehall Township and Allentown) and Bucks County (Bedminster, Bridgeton, Durham, East Rockhill, Haycock, Hilltown, Milford, Nockamixon, Richland, Springfield, Tinicum and West Rockhill townships and Dublin, Perkasie, Quakertown, Richlandtown, Riegelsville, Sellersville, Silverdale and Trumbauersville along with the Bucks portion of Telford).

Jarrett Coleman

The 32-year-old Upper Macungie Township resident was elected to the Parkland School Board in 2021 on a campaign criticizing the district’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Emergency policies forced families into remote learning without input while harming children educationally, psychologically and emotionally, Coleman said.

He also lobbied against mask mandates and was the only school board director to vote against making masks optional this February, saying the policy needed to ban them all together.

Since he has been on the school board, Coleman has been a fiscal conservative. According to the Lehigh Valley Press, he voted against the district’s 2022-23 budget, which contained a tax hike, as well as budgets for Lehigh Career and Technical Institute, Lehigh Carbon Community College and Carbon Lehigh Intermediate Unit 21. He voted against approving the annual 0.1 mill tax for the Parkland Community Library. He was a no vote on approving architectural and construction contracts for the district’s new operations center and, according to Lehigh Valley News, voted against buying a new $80,000 LED scoreboard for the pool.

Coleman was the only primary challenger for Browne, chair of the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and a member of the Republican leadership team. Coleman painted the incumbent as a career politician who needed to be removed from office. The attack ads worked — Coleman pulled out a 24-vote victory that stunned political observers across the commonwealth. 

The surprise victory was powered in part by Jeffrey Yass, the co-founder of the Susquehanna International Group and Pennsylvania’s richest resident. Yass has thrown millions of dollars into political races across the country, and supporters say he is driven by school spending reform. 

Browne reportedly angered Yass for his willingness to negotiate on education funding with Gov. Tom Wolf in recent budgets. 

In the spring, Coleman received more than $360,053 in in-kind services for mailers and media buys from Citizens Alliance PA PAC, the political action committee linked to Yass’ Students First PAC.

Coleman also received $36,500 in loans from William Bachenberg and his wife Laura, owners of Lehigh Valley Sporting Clays in North Whitehall Township. 

William Bachenberg drew headlines earlier this year after the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection subpoenaed him to testify about his involvement in the effort to overturn the 2020 election. The committee said it learned Bachenberg chaired a meeting of Republicans who prepared a signed list of alternate electors to be appointed to the Electoral College in the event that Trump won his court challenges.  

Coleman has called for creating term limits on state lawmakers, creating a gift ban and ending what he called a “Cadillac pension.” He said he would not support any tax hikes and would look to create tax relief programs. 

Mark Pinsley

Pinsley, 52, hasn’t steered away from the campaign trail since entering politics in 2017. A year after he was elected to the South Whitehall Township Board of Commissioners, he challenged Browne for Pennsylvania’s 16th Senate District. While Browne eked out a victory, it was the closest race of Browne’s career to that point. In 2019, Pinsley ousted Republican Glenn Eckhart as Lehigh County controller. Before entering this year’s race for the 16th District, Pinsley had been linked to a potential run for lieutenant governor.

Through it all, Pinsley has become a leading progressive voice in Lehigh County even as he’s broken established norms. While county controllers are elected officials, they’ve traditionally served as nonpartisan fiscal watchdogs away from the campaign trail. Pinsley’s actions have led to rebukes from even would-be political allies.

His handling of an audit into operations at the Lehigh County Jail created controversy, with even fellow Democrats warning he could face lawsuits or criminal charges for using his office to pursue political agendas outside his purview. Then-Lehigh County Judge Edward Reibman said he was sympathetic to his efforts but warned Pinsley that his activities could be considered an abuse of office.

Pinsley said his actions are certainly within his purview, saying he is allowed to investigate any money coming in or going out of the county.

Regardless of how he’s viewed, Pinsley has been clear about his stances. In Lehigh County, he may be best known for his support of criminal justice reform. In office, he has advocated for eliminating cash bail and criticized the incarceration of nonviolent offenders. On his campaign website, he calls for stricter enforcement of white-collar crime, outlawing solitary confinement and decriminalizing marijuana.

Pinsley, a vocal ally of the Black Lives Matter movement, has vowed to fight against discrimination. On his campaign website, he said he supports a state law making it illegal to discriminate against members of the LGBTQ community. Pinsley also supports reproductive rights, saying on his campaign website that Pennsylvania should allow safe, legal abortions and respect women’s bodily autonomy. 

As controller, Pinsley in July called for Lehigh County to end its business relationship with Wells Fargo, which held more than $140 million of county funds. In a letter to county officials, Pinsley criticized the bank for contributing to organizations and candidates that were anti-abortion, didn’t support gun safety measures and do not believe in climate change. In an interview with Pennsylvania Capital-Star, Pinsley cited as an example Wells Fargo’s support of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who has signed laws that limit abortions and ordered state agencies to open child abuse investigations of parents with transgender children receiving gender-affirming care.  

“These are our taxpayer dollars that we have in the bank — let’s remove the $145 million from from Wells Fargo, and put it into a bank that does not invest in politics,” he told the Capital-Star. “Let’s hold these corporations accountable for who they are investing in.

Along with serving as Lehigh County controller, Pinsley works as the president of DermaMed Solutions, a skin-care company he and his business partner acquired in 2011. 

Pinsley was unopposed in the May 17 primary and did little fundraising. But shortly before the primary, he did spend $14,046 for radio ads - the largest expense during that reporting period - which contributed to his campaign having a negative cash balance of $9,905 on June 6, according to his campaign finance report. 

Finance reports for this year show he has heavily funded his political campaign. Since 2019, he made seven loans totaling $18,382, which have yet to be repaid, and gave $5,500 to the 16th District campaign in two installments - $3,500 in February and $2,500 in March.

Issues

Curriculum:  

Pinsley: Supports posting curriculum online for parents to review. “Parents should be able to see book lists and concepts that their kids will be learning throughout the school year. I still believe that teachers are professionals when it comes to education. I don't believe in banning history books that touch on difficult content. Still, parents should be able to see the curriculum that their kids will be studying. I am the Controller, and I believe in transparency.”

Coleman: The candidate did not respond to several requests for interviews and an email questionnaire that was sent to him.

Teaching about gender, diversity,  racism,  and sex education in classroom
Pinsley: Said schools should teach the truth. “Sometimes the truth is ugly. Sometimes the truth is that America interned the Japanese, enslaved Africans, and turned away Jews during the Holocaust. But these truths should be taught. Without learning the truth, the ugly will just repeat itself. Regarding sex education, as with all the items listed and any education, age is highly important. Parental consent is also highly important. This is the system that we already have in Pennsylvania, and it works.”

Coleman: Did not respond.

Vouchers:
Pinsley: Does not support giving parents basic education dollars in the form of vouchers.  “Schools shouldn't have money removed from their budget. This is exactly what school vouchers would do. Our main goal should be boosting student achievement. This is vital for America's future.” Pinsley said vouchers would hurt the Allentown School District. “Parents in Allentown wouldn't be able to afford the difference of going to a better school system, so would just stay in Allentown. … The district might not even survive.”

Coleman: Told WFMZ that public education dollars should follow the students not schools.  "School choice allows schools that are succeeding to see an increase in enrollment and an increase in funding. The schools that are not performing well or for whatever reason the parents, simply, the parents decide not to send their kids there will have to improve their product to offer a better product then regain those students," Coleman told WFMZ. 

Abortion:
Pinsley: Says women “should be able to have abortions as they did before the overturning of Roe - before viability.”

Coleman: On this campaign website, Coleman said, “I believe in protecting the unique and precious life in a mother’s womb. I also understand and support common sense exemptions for instances of rape, incest or when the life of the mother is at risk.”

Guns:
Pinsley: When asked if he would ban assault weapons, he said his preference is that modern weapons of war should not be kept at home, but stored at gun ranges and other regulated environments. He supports banning such sales to persons under age 21. He supports expanding background checks, opposes allowing municipalities to create their own gun control laws, supports expanding concealed carry laws, supports requiring owners to report lost or stolen weapons, and for requiring the proper storage of guns. 

Coleman: Was endorsed by Gun Owners of America, which gave him a 100% score on his survey and invited him to speak at a gun raffle event in September that he couldn’t attend. The GOA quoted Coleman as saying, “The Second Amendment of the US Constitution and Article 1, Section 21 of the Pennsylvania Constitution outline our rights to keep and bear arms. Under no circumstances should our rights be infringed upon.  As your State Senator, I will always do everything in my power to ensure your voice is heard, and your rights are upheld.”

Voting:
Pinsley: Supports Act 77, which allows no-excuse, mail-in voting, and the use of county drop boxes for mail-in ballots. 

Coleman: On his campaign website, Coleman said he wants to repeal mail-in voting stating it has “zero safeguards against voter fraud.” He also supports voter IDs and allowing absentee ballots only on request. 

Transgender athletes:
Pinsley: Says allowing transgender women to play sports should not be a political decision. Sports teams should and do get to decide who plays on their team. Politicians don't need to get involved in the decision-making of the rules of these games. Organizations like the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association and others like it should work with parents to determine rules that promote the best outcome for all students. I tend to believe we should try to be as inclusive as possible. 

Coleman: Did not respond.