The Pennsylvania primary is around the corner.
As we all hopefully agree, we want a large turnout of informed voters. The ballot will be fairly crowded with different races up for election and, in many cases, a large slate of candidates for each position. As such, Chester County Marching Forward, and members of its Social Justice Committee, would like to propose that candidates communicate their core beliefs so that Chester County citizens, of both major parties, can become educated voters.
We are looking to start off this process by submitting just four questions specially designed to better understand each candidate and their overall view of democracy in the United States and around the world:
Was the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021 “legitimate political discourse” as described by the national Republican Committee? Do you agree with former President Donald Trump that it was “wonderful,” “so smart,” and even “genius” for Russian Premier Vladimir Putin to “declare a big portion of Ukraine … as independent” and that now he should “go in” and “be a peacekeeper? Do you agree with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell when he said, “There’s no place in the Republican Party for white supremacists or anti-Semitism?” Do you believe that Joe Biden won the presidential election in 2020?
We hope we will see responses. In February we sent letters about the “legitimate political discourse” statement to all local Republican elected state representatives including John A. Lawrence, Tim Hennessey, and Craig Williams, as well as U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey and the Republican Committee of Chester County. These went unanswered.
We ask all candidates running in Chester County to answer these basic four questions.
Lynn Strauss of West Chester
Lani Frank of Willistown
Susan Miner of Downingtown
The authors are members of Chester County Marching Forward, a progressive voting rights group formed in 2017.
