Primary election 2021: Dauphin County races to watch include CD schools, Harrisburg council
Updated May 13, 2021;
Facebook Share
This may be an off-year election, but in many parts of Dauphin County it’s off to a running start.
The ballot is packed with an array of candidates for county, municipal, school district and district judge offices for Tuesday’s primary election. The action doesn’t just center on Harrisburg, either, although the ballots for the mayoral, city council and school board races in the city are crammed to bursting.
While Rogette Harris, the chairwoman of the county Democratic Committee, and her GOP counterpart David Feidt are usually at odds in the political sense, they are in agreement on one thing.
What would Harrisburg’s mayoral candidates do about policing in the city?
Posted May 13, 2021
Harrisburg Police Chief Thomas Carter stands between the police and the protestors in front of the Capitol steps during the Black Lives Rally protest in Harrisburg on May 30, 2020.
Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com
Facebook Share
One thing about this year’s Harrisburg mayor’s race:
Even though the Capitol City was host to a lot of criminal justice reform protests in the months after George Floyd’s May 25, 2020 murder while in the custody of the Minneapolis police, most of the Democratic candidates for mayor are not inclined - when it comes to law and order - to step too far out onto some of the more progressive criminal justice paths.
Should Harrisburg provide guaranteed income to some residents? The mayor wants to give it a shot
Updated 6:19 AM;
Today 5:30 AM
On the campaign trail, Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse is calling for using federal funds to build a guaranteed income program for the city s poorest residents.
Facebook Share
Harrisburg Mayor Eric Papenfuse, with the help of a mighty $48.8 million breeze blowing in from Washington, D.C., is calling for the establishment of a guaranteed income program in Harrisburg to help the city’s poorest residents and attack generational poverty.
Papenfuse says the plan, which is little more than a campaign pledge in the midst of a hotly contested primary at the moment, but one he expects to develop into a proposal for City Council’s consideration later this spring, would send monthly payments for up to two years to residents living below yet-to-be-determined income-eligibility thresholds.
Harrisburg mayoral candidates to meet in forum co-hosted by PennLive, CBS 21 News
Posted Apr 29, 2021
The five candidates for Harrisburg mayor will field questions from PennLive and CBS21 News on May 5.
Harrisburg’s voters get to choose a new mayor this year, and PennLive and CBS 21 News are joining forces to help you learn more about your choices.
On May 5, the news outlets will co-host “Candidates Conversation: The Harrisburg Mayoral Race.” All five candidates seeking the Democratic nomination Eric Papenfuse, Wanda Williams, Otto Banks, Dave Shankweiler and Kevyn Knox have indicated said they plan to participate.
The forum will be streamed at 7 p.m. that day on PennLive and CBS 21 News websites and their social media sites. It will be available for viewing until the ballots are cast in the May 18 primary election.
Five Democrats spar in lively Harrisburg mayoral debate
Updated 10:57 PM;
The five Democratic candidates for Harrisburg mayor squared off in their first debate Saturday night, and the battle for votes was charged and pointed.
Challengers Otto Banks and David Schankweiler spent the night on the attack against incumbent Mayor Eric Papenfuse, charging him with failing to fix the city’s most basic problems, and failing to serve all of the city’s residents equally.
Papenfuse, meanwhile, gave a ringing defense of his administration’s work, arguing city government is working better than it has in a generation under his leadership, and that his first eight years have left Harrisburg poised for a new era of growth that he is best-positioned to guide.