Winners & Losers

This week’s biggest Winners & Losers

Who’s up and who’s down this week?

Celebrities have made their way into politics running for office around the country. In Georgia, there’s football great Herschel Walker, and here in the commonwealth, Dr. Mehmet Oz has his eyes on Sen. Pat Toomey’s coveted seat in Congress. But who else did we almost see on the ballot? How about ESPN commentator and television personality Stephen A. Smith. 

Smith, who spent more than 15 years covering the 76ers, said on former Sixer J.J. Reddick’s podcast that former Gov. Ed Rendell approached him a decade ago about running for U.S. Senate. It looks like we just missed the timeline where Smith and Lynn Swann were the faces of Pennsylvania politics. 

Scroll down for more of this week’s Winners & Losers!

WINNERS:

Scott Martin -

State Sen. Scott Martin will now have a larger role in overseeing the environmental needs of the Chesapeake Bay. The Lancaster County state senator was announced as the new chair of the Chesapeake Bay Commission’s Pennsylvania delegation this week, a promotion that probably left Martin in a buoyant mood.

Brendan McPhillips -

As Lt. Gov. John Fetterman returns to the campaign trail in his run for U.S. Senate, he’ll have a familiar face by his side. Fetterman announced Brendan McPhillips as his new campaign manager this week. McPhillips, who ran President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign operation in Pennsylvania, also ran Fetterman’s first run at the Senate in 2016. Fetterman also officiated McPhillips’ wedding to his wife, Jan Slusser, a former chief of staff to Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney.

Thomas Neafcy -

Who says write-in votes don’t matter? Thomas Neafcy, the former Limerick Township Supervisor, is set to face off against state Rep. Joe Ciresi once again in the race for the 146th legislative district. Neafcy, who lost to Ciresi in 2020, earned the Republican nomination by garnering the most write-in votes on Election Day. Neafcy’s new campaign slogan could be “right on with the write-in.”

LOSERS:

Mike Regan -

The Cumberland County Republican Party has voted to censure state Sen. Mike Regan over Regan’s support for two legislative candidates that ran against committee-backed candidates, according to a report from PennLive. Regan received a letter from the local party accusing him of taking actions that “undermine” the committee’s work, but the GOP state senator doesn’t seem to care. He told PennLive that the censure “means probably about as much as a cloudy day.”

Tara Zrinski -

Weeks after the polls closed in the state’s primary election, Democrat Tara Zrinski conceded in a race for state Senate after learning that a lawsuit over mail-in ballots wouldn’t save her primary campaign, WFMZ reports. However, the election loss isn’t a total loss in Zrinski’s eyes, as she said the lawsuit settlement means that more votes will be counted in Lehigh Valley moving forward.

Kenelm L. Shirk III -

Shirk III, a former attorney and the former solicitor for Akron Borough, was recently sentenced to 16 months and 20 days in prison for threatening to kill members of the U.S. Senate. The Lancaster County man was arrested in January while headed to Washington D.C. with two handguns, an AR-15 rifle and hundreds of rounds of magazines in his vehicle. It’s safe to say he won’t be shirking responsibility for this one.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.