Just when it seemed like Senator Pat Browne would go unopposed, there are two Democrats circulating petitions. Of course, everyone recognizes Rick Orloski's name, and I think that he's a great guy, but the Morning Call will have a field day with his having run for regional and statewide offices eight times previously and heading for a ninth loss. The other candidate is Louie Belletieri, who ran in last year's mayoral primary, owns Louie's pasta restaurants and line of sauces and pasta, and is also a candidate for LCDC Chairman.
Regardless of who wins the primary, as long as the South and East Sides of Allentown continue to think that Browne is the best thing for their neighborhoods since sliced bread, he has a lock on the seat. He received over twice as many votes as Jennifer Mann in those neighborhoods in the special election. If you take those neighborhoods out of the Lehigh County portion of the 16th, Mann narrowly carried the remainder of the 16th. It's too bad that Lehigh County Commissioner Kurt Derr won't run for this seat, since he serves the South and East Sides.
Of course, a primary cannot be good news for Democrats in a race like this, although it may help Belletieri with name recognition in the Northampton and Monroe portions of the district, should he win the nomination.
To be more specific, I meant Belletieri ran in the Allentown mayoral primary and Mann carried the Lehigh portion of the 16th minus the South and East Sides of the city. Orloski ran for this seat in 2002, only to be trounced by Charlie Dent.
Add a third candidate, Drake Minder. He ran as an independent in the special Senate election and the special House election in the 131st. Minder recently changed his registration to Democrat. Let's see if he gets enough signatures.
Rick Orloski won with a little over twice as many votes as Minder. The Democratic Senate Campaign Committee and all five Lehigh and Northampton County State Reps had endorsed Orloski.
