Dear Neighbor,
Thank you for reading my District Round-up. As your candidate for Pennsylvania’s 13th Congressional District, it is my honor and pleasure to deliver to you where I’ve been and what issues I’ve tackled in the past week. Criss-crossing the counties of Adams, Franklin, Fulton, Bedford, Cambria, Blair, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Cumberland, and Somerset gives me great opportunities to meet with voters, hear what is on your hearts and minds, and the chance to voice my fight for Everyday Americans. If you would like to contribute to my campaign, please donate here: https://secure.actblue.com/donate/beth-farnham-for-congress-1
Now that nearly all results from the November 4th election have been reported, I’ve been able to notice a few encouraging patterns. Of great note is the pattern of decreased Republican vote share, compared to that of 2024 for races at the top of the ticket (Trump – 2024, Neuman – 2025) across the District. Including information from the ten full counties of Adams, Franklin, Fulton, Bedford, Cambria, Blair, Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry, but not that of the partial counties of Somerset and Cumberland, the average decrease of Republican vote share equaled about 13 points. This was apparent especially where Democrats won contested elections, like Chad-Alan Carr for Mayor of Gettysburg, the Reverend Sylvia King for Mayor of Johnstown and startlingly – in Chambersburg where Lu Butler, Andrew Kilbride, David Wilson, and Curtis Shoup flipped four incumbant Republican seats, changing their borough council makeup from 8 Republicans and 2 Democrats to 5 and 5! In fact, the biggest swings happened in three out of four of our most populated districts.
Of lesser note, but still encouraging, the average voter turnout of the ten full counties increased by 3.8% when we compare it to the municipal election of 2023.
While we still have a ways to go, votes are moving in the right direction. And, it seems, the voters are more engaged.
Wednesday, November 12th, 2025, was a very busy news day. On that day:
The longest partial government shutdown in US history ended.
The 4 month Pennsylvania state budget impasse ended.
After a Republican-imposed 50 day wait, US Representative Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) was sworn into Congress.
After being sworn in, Congresswoman Grijalva provided the 218th petition signature needed to bring a vote to the US House floor to release the Epstein files.
Emails from pedofile Jeffrey Epstein that repeatedly refer to Trump’s knowledge of his pal Epstein sexually assaulting children were released by some members of Congress.
For many there were mixed feelings, especially concerning the seven Democratic senators who changed their minds and voted for the Republican resolution. In my opinion, those particular Democrats betrayed all of the sacrifices of those who had held the line the entire time. I recognize that the starvation of Americans could not continue, but the American people clearly recognized Republican cruelty through their election rebuke. I believe “scabs” is too kind a term for them, but I do understand that there are many feelings to sort through.
On one hand, Americans in need are more likely to receive their food assistance, federal workers will be paid for their labor, and air travel will be less fraught. On the other hand, Trump and his sick cronies, including our own US Representative, multimillionaire John Joyce, have learned that hungry Americans can be used as pawns to deny help to other Americans. With a convicted felon running our country and a Republican Congress ceding all of their power to him, all of us lose.
The biggest losers will be those who need Affordable Care Act (ACA, Obamacare, Pennie) subsidies to continue but will only experience skyrocketing premiums when instead, those subsidies end this year. The Republicans pinky-promised they would revisit the issue in December, but only a fool would believe them now.
The next group of losers are the rest of the American people as the continuing resolution for most agencies will only be funded through January 30th of next year. That will get us through the holidays, but then, who knows? At least Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) is on paper to be funded through next September, the hemorraging of our federal workers is supposed to stop, and those federal workers who hadn’t been paid are entitled to backpay through the deal that passed the House. However, with the Trump administration fighting as hard as it did to fund SNAP during the shutdown, I do not trust him as far as I can throw him to ensure SNAP remains funded.
At least the state of Pennsylvania passed its budget. The clear winner was Public Education – congratulations to Susan Spicka and her team of Education Voters of PA! Public school districts will send $178 million less to cyber schools and the poorest public schools will receive $565 million to close an “adequacy gap.”
Unfortunately, the Educational Improvedment Tax Credit (EITC) will increase to $590 million to underwrite scholarships for Pennsylvania students to attend private schools which have neither the transparency, nor the accountability that public schools have.
Sadly, Pennsylvania ended its participation in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that capped carbon pollution.
Lastly, “Pennsylvanians will be able to claim the state’s Working Pennsylvanian’s Tax Credit if they claim the federal tax credit in the same year.”
Thank you to everyone who is looking out for Everyday Americans. Together, we #ChooseDemocracy!
Sources:
https://www.spotlightpa.org/…/rggi-climate-program…/
https://www.cnbc.com/…/government-shutdown-house-vote…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/house-democrats…/
https://www.axios.com/…/mike-johnson-adelita-grijalva…
Clock starts on Epstein files vote in House as Adelita Grijalva is sworn in
On Saturday, Team Beth Farnham for Congress decorated a campaign tree at the Franklin County Visitors Bureau for the Festival of Trees. Soon, community members will be able to bid on it and others to take home or to their place of business. Proceeds benefit the Cumberland Valley Breast Care Alliance. Many, many thanks to team members Sandy, Jack, Maribeth, and Ike for working so hard.
If you’re like me, you love this country as much as I do and work to make a positive difference. In the midst of this Constitutional Crisis, please consider reaching out to your local Democratic committees or Democratic candidates so that we can strengthen our Democracy instead of letting it slide into fascism.
We don’t just #ChooseDemocracy, we choose Pennsylvania, we choose The United States of America, we choose Humanity and I am deeply glad to work along side you.
Sincerely,
Beth
Beth Farnham for Congress 