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State Senator, 18th District

Vote for
1
Term
4 years
Candidates
2
Election
Nov 3, 2026

What this office does: A state senator votes on Pennsylvania laws and the state budget and confirms many of the Governor's appointments.

27 of Northampton County's 38 municipalities, including the cities of Bethlehem and Easton, the Slate Belt, the Nazareth area and the Saucon Valley — every municipality except Allen, Bushkill, East Allen, Hanover, Lehigh and Moore townships and Bath, Chapman, North Catasauqua, Northampton and Walnutport boroughs (State Senate 14). Also includes the Lehigh County part of Bethlehem.

CandidatesCompare by issue

Taxes & budget

  • Scott JanneyRepublican

    • Calls for no new state spending beyond current revenue and lower taxes.

  • Lisa BoscolaDemocratic

    • Introduced legislation to move Pennsylvania to a two-year state budget cycle.
    • Proposed suspending the state gas tax for 60 days and a back-to-school sales tax holiday.
    • Supports eliminating local school property taxes.

Public safety

  • Scott JanneyRepublican

    • Supports enforcing immigration laws and backing law enforcement with training and resources.
    • Supports the right of law-abiding citizens to own guns for self-protection.

  • Lisa BoscolaDemocratic

    • Proposes banning misuse of license plate readers and other surveillance systems for personal purposes.In office

Education

  • Scott JanneyRepublican

    • Supports school choice across public, private and hybrid options.

  • Lisa BoscolaDemocratic

    No documented position found.

Economy & jobs

  • Scott JanneyRepublican

    • Supports faster permits for drilling and new pipelines, and opposes regional energy mandates.

  • Lisa BoscolaDemocratic

    No documented position found.

Roads & infrastructure

  • Scott JanneyRepublican

    No documented position found.

  • Lisa BoscolaDemocratic

    • Proposed data center bills making data centers pay their own infrastructure costs.

Environment & parks

  • Scott JanneyRepublican

    • Supports state laws requiring data centers to use closed-system cooling and supply their own power.

  • Lisa BoscolaDemocratic

    No documented position found.

Health & human services

  • Scott JanneyRepublican

    No documented position found.

  • Lisa BoscolaDemocratic

    • Proposes requiring labels when PFAS chemicals are intentionally added to consumer products.In office

Government & transparency

  • Scott JanneyRepublican

    • Supports voter ID and moving away from unrestricted mail-in voting toward defined absentee ballots.
    • Pledges to serve no more than two terms in the state Senate.

  • Lisa BoscolaDemocratic

    • Proposes shrinking the legislature to 101 House and 38 Senate seats.
    • Supports letting independents vote in primaries, ballot initiatives and updating mail-in voting rules.

Challengers are listed first and incumbents last; otherwise candidates appear in ballot order. The Gist does not rank, rate or endorse candidates. Only positions backed by a cited source are shown; 8 issues covered in this race.