{"id":11045342,"date":"2026-01-01T11:44:43","date_gmt":"2026-01-01T16:44:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/?p=11045342&preview=true&preview_id=11045342"},"modified":"2026-01-02T21:01:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T02:01:05","slug":"pa-house-22nd-district-special-election-candidate-drops-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2026\/01\/01\/pa-house-22nd-district-special-election-candidate-drops-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Candidate in Pa. House special election in Lehigh Valley drops out in frustration"},"content":{"rendered":"

After left-leaning political advocates alleged the Lehigh County Democratic Party is unfairly supporting one candidate for the upcoming special election<\/a> to fill a state House seat, another candidate has exited the race.<\/p>\n

Douglas Kunkle notified the special election committee via email on New Year\u2019s Eve that he is withdrawing his name from consideration.<\/p>\n

Kunkle was one of five candidates vying to represent the 22nd District seat vacated after Josh Siegel was elected Lehigh County executive. Siegel will be sworn in Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Julian Guridy, a constituent services representative with state Sen. Nick Miller\u2019s office and former Democratic delegate in the 2024 election, and Allentown City Council member Ce-Ce Gerlach have launched public campaigns. Kunkle, Erlinda Aguilar and Lewis Shupe also applied but have not campaigned publicly.<\/p>\n

Kunkle said news coverage of the party\u2019s decision-making process influenced his decision to drop out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s come to my attention that a decision has already been made in confirmation of The Morning Call article by at least one member of the committee,\u201d Kunkle wrote. \u201cThis is not to say I have abandoned my interest but would rather spend my time in a more productive fashion taking my case directly to the electorate as I did when elected Constable in the future primary should I choose to run for the office.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Morning Call article<\/a> he referred to was about a Dec. 29 news conference at which party critics said leaders are unfairly supporting Guridy\u2019s candidacy by removing precinct committee persons and holding closed meetings.<\/p>\n

Precinct committee persons are members of the Democratic Party who are elected to represent their local voting district. They will meet Saturday to conduct candidate interviews and select a Democratic nominee, whose name will be on the Feb. 24 election ballot.<\/p>\n

Chair Lori McFarland has defended the selection process, saying that it aligns to state law and Democratic party bylaws.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One candidate says he is withdrawing from the Pa. House 22nd District special election to replace Josh Siegel over concerns about the Lehigh County Democratic Party’s selection process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8133435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2026-01-01T16:45:01Z","apple_news_api_id":"d7cd3fe4-1009-4f12-b908-cd02dc391c13","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2026-01-03T02:01:05Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/A180_5BAJTxK5CM0C3DkcEw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"subheadline":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[564,565,569,6761],"tags":[],"feature":[],"location":[372,370,113],"type-of-work":[],"coauthors":[6308],"class_list":["post-11045342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","category-politics","category-top-stories-tmc","location-allentown","location-lehigh-county","location-pennsylvania"],"post_status":"","edit_last":0,"edit_lock":0,"highlights":"","original_byline":"","original_canonical":"","original_category":"","original_email":"","original_id":0,"original_pubdate":"","original_source":"","primary_section":"569","primary_tag":0,"print_workflow_body":"","print_workflow_exported_ts":"","print_workflow_exported_username":"","print_workflow_shapes":"","print_workflow_side":"","really_short_title":"","short_title":"","syndication_source":{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2026\/01\/01\/pa-house-22nd-district-special-election-candidate-drops-out","id":"cG9zdDo4NzE3ODE=","siteName":"Slot","syndicationSourceStack":[{"canonical":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2026\/01\/01\/pa-house-22nd-district-special-election-candidate-drops-out","id":"cG9zdDo4NzE3ODE=","siteName":"Slot","sourceUrl":"https:\/\/slot.medianewsgroup.com"}],"source_url":"https:\/\/slot.medianewsgroup.com","print_workflow_exported_ts":true},"market_neutral_title":"","social_title":"","dfm_hub_post_id":0,"paywall_level":"","featured_media_content":{"content_type":"image","content":{"id":8133435,"title":"TMC-Z-VotingInexperience-0221-01jpeg_180160748","filename":"TMC-Z-VotingInexperience-0221-01jpeg_180160748-1.jpg","url":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/TMC-Z-VotingInexperience-0221-01jpeg_180160748-1.jpg","link":"https:\/\/www.mcall.com\/2025\/09\/11\/municipal-elections-101-judge-of-elections-and-other-key-voting-positions-on-pa-s-november-ballot\/tmc-z-votinginexperience-0221-01jpeg_180160748\/","alt":"","author":"2","description":"","caption":"A poll worker holds voting stickers for community members Nov. 7, 2023, at Central Elementary School in Allentown. 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