Staffers, Chairs and Council Members. See who made this week’s Ups & Downs!

Val DiGiorgio. The Chester County politico has become the clear favorite to be the next Chair of the Pennsylvania Republican Party. DiGiorgio first started laying the groundwork to take over for incumbent Chair Rob Gleason back in the summer. His offensive intensified after the November election in order to stay ahead of competitors like lawyer Lawrence Tabas. DiGiorgio’s biggest score, though, was the endorsement of Senator Pat Toomey. It’s now the Chester native’s to win or lose.

Bill Peduto. The Pittsburgh Mayor has been generally successful implementing his progressive agenda in the Steel City. A major reason for that has been his allies in the City Council. Then on Thursday on of those partners, Natalia Rudiak, revealed she won’t be running for re-election in 2017. Perhaps the Mayor will ultimately prevail, but for now this opponents have a prime opportunity in the city’s 4th district.

Gwen Camp. Joe Torsella was one of the few success stories for the Democrats on November 8th. The former Deputy Mayor of Philadelphia was able to pick up the valuable statewide post of State Treasurer. On Wednesday, Torsella announced that Gwen Camp would be his Chief of Staff. Camp, who is coming off her position as Senator Casey’s State Director, will be tasked with working alongside Torsella as they rebuild the Treasury Department in the wake of Rob McCord.

J.J. Abbott. The Governor’s Office announced Wednesday that Press Secretary Jeffrey Sheridan will be stepping down at the end of the year. Shortly afterward, Sheridan confirmed that he’ll be managing Wolf’s 2018 re-election campaign. The opening will be filled by the Governor’s Deputy Press Secretary J.J. Abbott, who’ll move up to the top spot on January 1st. Good luck to Mr. Abbott, because legislative Republicans will do all the can to make sure it’s not a happy new year for the Administration.

Eric Papenfuse. We’ll be giving the Harrisburg Mayor a down arrow every week until he lifts his ridiculous ban of PennLive. We’re now up to week twenty-eight.

The tweet of the week goes to BillyPenn for this A+ GIF.

Post-White House, Uncle Joe's comin' to Philly, y'all https://t.co/r3wSymdbii (He'll set up with his staff at Penn) pic.twitter.com/txJgFRyt1s

— Billy Penn (@billy_penn) December 21, 2016