Global Courant 2023-05-15 23:09:16
Heather Boyd and Katie Ford face off in the primary to fill a vacant seat in the state’s House of Representatives on May 16, 2023. President Joe Biden announced he would support Boyd in the primary, citing abortion rights as his reason for Ford’s campaign chairman claiming Biden’s endorsement indicates Democrats fear the contest will be close.
A Democrat running for a vacant seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives received President Joe Biden’s endorsement on Monday in a race likely to determine control of the legislative chamber, with implications for abortion rights, the 2024 presidential race and Governor Josh Shapiro’s agenda.
Biden cited House majority interests and referenced abortion rights when he supported Heather Boyd in a special election against Republican Katie Ford in Delaware County, a Philadelphia suburb.
Biden’s statement said the outcome of Tuesday’s vote “will determine the future of so many fundamental freedoms that Pennsylvanians hold dear” and called Boyd “a veteran public servant who will protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions.” stand up for common sense gun safety laws and expand access to voting rights.”
Boyd and Ford are seeking to replace Representative Mike Zabel, a Democrat who resigned in March after a labor lobbyist accused him of sexually harassing her. Ford is a military veteran, school volunteer, and behavioral therapist; Boyd is a former congressional and state legislative assistant.
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Ford campaign chairman Jamie Santora, a Republican who held the House seat until 2018, said Monday that Biden’s endorsement indicates Democrats fear the contest is close.
A campaign statement from Santora said Biden “just backed a person who spent four years covering up a sexual harassment scandal. This is just another one of his failures that is destroying this country.”
After 12 years of majority Republican control in the House, Democrats overturned a 12-seat net in November and then maintained a one-vote majority by winning three special elections in February. Tuesday’s vote will fill a second vacancy, a Republican-majority district in central Pennsylvania that is not expected to change hands.
Campaign signs for Heather Boyd and Katie Ford are on display May 4, 2023 in Aldan, Pennsylvania. President Biden has announced his support for Boyd in the special election scheduled for May 16, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
Not counting the two open seats, the Democrats have a 101-100 majority in the House, so a Ford win would likely give the Republicans enough votes to bring back one of their own speakers and change the voting calendar and agenda of the House control. The state Senate has a Republican majority.
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Pennsylvania is a swing state, but the vast majority of House Republicans hold conservative positions on social issues, suffrage, and government spending. If Democrats lost the chamber, it would be harder for Shapiro, a Democrat in his freshman year, to pursue his agenda just as intense negotiations begin before the state budget deadline of June 30.
Boyd has focused much of her campaign on her support for abortion rights, a critical issue in the House as Republicans are one vote away from submitting to voters a referendum that would say the Pennsylvania Constitution does not grant rights warranties regarding abortion or public funding of abortions. Proposed constitutional amendments do not require a governor’s signature and cannot be vetoed.
Ford has said she personally opposes abortion but does not want to change the state law and would vote against bringing the referendum forward. She has criticized Boyd for not doing more after learning of the sexual harassment allegations against Zabel. Boyd has said she has honored and endorsed the lobbyist’s request for confidentiality.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee said Biden garners most of his support in state and federal elections, but sometimes he supports legislative candidates. Biden’s most recent endorsement in a special election for the Pennsylvania legislature was Democrat Marty Flynn in his successful race for the state Senate two years ago.
