🌫️ A Smoky Thursday. A huge opinion day is coming at the Supreme Court.

PA Weather
Bethel Park | Areas of smoke, 83
Camp Hill | Haze, 85
Horsham | Haze, 83

PA Sports
Phillies (42-37) | Cubs 8-5 | W-Th at Chicago
Pirates (37-42) | San Diego 7-1 | W-Th at San Diego

What We’re Hearing
“A lot of us feel very led to this particular fight for our children’s innocence.” – Jamie Tromba

What’s Happening
The House will convene at 11a. The Senate will convene at 6p.

Delivered Right To Your Inbox
Get all the political news you need to start your morning. Sign up for your free subscription to the PoliticsPA Playbook and we’ll email you every weekday morning.

Top Story

1. GOP Presidential Candidates Want The Moms For Liberty Vote In PA

“The top GOP presidential contenders are all heading to Philadelphia this week to address one of the most powerful factions of the Republican Party: parents.

Even though Moms for Liberty doesn’t plan to endorse a candidate in the presidential race, the 2024 candidates are coming to court the group — in large part because of the outsize influence its chapters have had on the local level. Candidates endorsed by the nonprofit have swept dozens of school board races and have begun making big changes in K-12 schools.” (NBC News)

Related

Moms For Liberty Annual Summit Comes To Philly. The Moms For Liberty “Joyful Warriors National Summit 2023” comes to Philadelphia this weekend and will feature many of the most prominent figures in Republican politics. (PoliticsPA)

What To Know About This Weekend’s Moms For Liberty Summit In Philadelphia. “Moms for Liberty, the controversial “parental rights” group, is descending on Philadelphia on Thursday for several days of speeches from GOP presidential contenders and sessions about sex education, “gender ideology” and capturing school board seats.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Why Trump, DeSantis And GOP Rivals Are Flocking To Moms For Liberty Convention In Philadelphia. “The biggest presidential primary event this week isn’t in New Hampshire or Iowa. It’s in the Grand Ballroom at the Philadelphia Marriott before hundreds of moms.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Philadelphia Residents And Activists Get Ready For Weekend Of Actions Outside The Moms For Liberty Conference. “Backlash against the conference has been simmering for months as local elected officials have asked the hotel to cancel the event.” (The Keystone)

Tens Of Thousands Of PA Mail Ballots Will Be Thrown Out In The 2024 Presidential Election. “Those rejected votes — coming disproportionately from Democrats, older voters, and Black, Latino, and low-income neighborhoods — can be hugely impactful in a tightly contested swing state.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Electoral College Ratings: Expect Another Highly Competitive Election. “We consider a rematch of the 2020 election — Joe Biden versus Donald Trump — as the likeliest matchup, but not one that is set in stone.” (Sabato’s Crystal Ball)

State

2. Poll: Shapiro Gets High Marks; Biden-Trump Virtual Tie

Gov. Josh Shapiro received high marks, while former president Donald Trump also showed well in a Quinnipiac University poll of Pennsylvania voters that was released Wednesday.

Fresh off his handling of the I-95 collapse in Philadelphia, Shapiro’s job approval rating was 57 percent with 23 percent disapproving.

In a hypothetical matchup for president in 2024 between Trump and President Joe Biden, the pair were in a virtual deadlock with Trump at 47 percent and Biden at 46. (PoliticsPA)

Related

PA Voters Give Shapiro High Marks In New Poll – But Not So Much For John Fetterman. “Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro begins his first term with high approval ratings, helped by the speed in which the state reopened a collapsed section of Interstate 95, according to a poll released Wednesday.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Cabinet: Schmidt, Arkoosh, Browne In; Bogen, Hammer Out. A split decision for Gov. Josh Shapiro’s cabinet appointees on the 25th legislative day that the Pennsylvania State Senate has been in session. (PoliticsPA)

Shapiro Quietly Recalls Pick For PA Department Of Health Secretary. “Gov. Josh Shapiro silently rescinded his choice for the next Department of Health secretary Tuesday evening because she did not yet have the necessary Senate votes to be confirmed.” (Philadelphia Inquirer)

Mehalchick Nominated To U.S. District Court For PA’s Middle District. Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senators Bob Casey Jr. and John Fetterman announced that President Joe Biden has nominated Judge Karoline Mehalchick to serve on the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. (PoliticsPA)

As PA Budget Deadline Nears, School Vouchers Are At Heart Of Fight. “Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is trying to wrap up his first budget by Saturday’s start of the new fiscal year, as he works to balance Pennsylvania’s politically divided Legislature in perhaps the biggest test yet of his political skills under the Capitol dome.” (AP)

House Committee Clears Bill That Would Nix Constitutional Questions In Off-Year Elections. “Pennsylvania House Democrats on Wednesday passed a bill through committee that would restrict constitutional amendment referenda to general election ballots only, a response to the recent rash of politically controversial constitutional questions.” (PennLive)

Bill To Mandate Nurse Staffing Levels At Hospitals Moves Closer To Reality In PA. “The bill would set minimum nurse-patient ratios that would vary by unit depending on the level of sickness of the typical patient cared for in the unit.” (PennLive)

PA Senators Vote To Require All High School Seniors To Fill Out Financial Aid Form. “High school seniors in Pennsylvania would be required to fill out a form that determines eligibility for financial aid for postsecondary programs under a bill passed by the state Senate on Wednesday.” (AP)

Around The Commonwealth

3. Fitzgerald Files Action Over Allegheny County Wage Hike

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced Wednesday that he has filed an action for declaratory judgment with the Court of Common Pleas regarding the County Council’s wage hike for county employees. (PoliticsPA)

Related

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald Files A Legal Challenge To The Minimum Wage Increase Bill. “The filing is the latest back-and-forth in the saga between Fitzgerald and the County Council on increasing the pay for county workers. ” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Refining The PA Turnpike’s Toll Collection And Rate Increases Are On The Soon-To-Be Commissioner’s Radar. “Keith Leaphart, a physician, entrepreneur, and philanthropist, received a unanimous and favorable recommendation from the Senate Transportation Committee on Tuesday for the Turnpike commissioner position.” (The Center Square)

Joe Rockey To Sara Innamorato: Debate Me. “Joe Rockey wants to debate. More than four months before the November general election, the Republican nominee for Allegheny County executive challenged his Democratic rival, state Rep. Sara Innamorato, to a series of five debates.” (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

Why We Should Care About Moore v. Harper – And The Independent State Legislature Doctrine. “Esteemed former jurist and current educator John E. Jones III explains what SCOTUS’ decision means for us — and what else we need to do to preserve our democracy.” (Philadelphia Citizen)

Thrasher To Resign As Westmoreland Commissioner. “Gina Cerilli Thrasher will resign from her elected position as the lone Democrat on Westmoreland County’s board of commissioners, her chief of staff Don O’Brien said Wednesday.” (Tribune-Review)

Northampton County Executive Vetoes Term Limit Referendum. “Alleging an apparent “drafting oversight” in legislation that could place three referendums to alter Northampton County officials’ term limits in front of voters in November has been vetoed, county Executive Lamont McClure said.” (LehighValleyLive)

Editorial

4. What They’re Saying

• Hey PA Lawmakers, Opportunity’s Knocking. (John Baer)
• The I-95 Rebuild Was Local Politics At Its Best. (Ernest Owens)
• How Conservative Is Pittsburgh? (Ruth Ann Dailey)
• Why American Politics Is So Divisive And Polarized. (Morris Fiorina)
• Dobbs At One Year: A Celebration Of Life And Call To Action In PA. (Jeanne Mancini)
• Say No To The Status Quo: It’s Time To Fight For A Better Post-Roe PA. (Tara Murtha)
• Here’s What The Supreme Court’s New Election Law Ruling Means For PA. (Patrick Beaty)
• The Supreme Court And Elections. (Wall Street Journal)
• The Left’s Campaign To Destroy The Supreme Court. (Rich Lowry)
• The Lose-Lose Situation Of The $15 PA Minimum Wage. (Colin McNickle) 
• Schmidt Confirmation Hearings Provide Disturbing Clues About Future Of PA Elections. (Linda A. Kerns)
• Quoting Hitler An Example Of Shift On The Right. (Elwood Watson)

1 Thing

5. Mad Cow!

A bull that escaped from a farm in northeastern Berks County is apparently still on the loose.

The latest sighting was reported early Wednesday on the Kutztown University campus.

The bull was first spotted running down Main Street in Kutztown on Sunday evening before making its way on the university’s North Campus. That prompted a series of alerts by university police, who described the bull as an “aggressive cow.” (Reading Eagle)

Thanks for starting your day with us.
What did you think of today’s newsletter?
Please invite your colleagues
to subscribe to the PoliticsPA Playbook