District Round-up 03.15.26
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
Petition Season Success!
Many, many thanks to All Who Signed Petitions and especial thanks to Those Who Circulated Petitions.
Team Beth Farnham for Congress turned in 2,243 signatures to Harrisburg on Monday, overperforming the required number by 123% and 2024’s number by several hundred signatures!
Because of you, my name will be printed on the Democratic ballot for the May 19th primary election.
Special shout-out to Campaign Manager Jack Stansbury who was with me every step of the way!
For registered Republicans – please write my name on the ballot for US Representative 13th District and color in the corresponding oval instead of voting for multimillionaire John Joyce who votes against us Everyday Americans in his pitiful deference to Trump.
Together, we #ChooseDemocracy !
Photo credit: Jack Stansbury
Wondering how I would vote compared to multimillionaire John Joyce? Here’s a snapshot. More detailed information can be found near the end of this newsletter.
Doorknocking for Caleb McCoy!
Many thanks to the Team Caleb for PA for a terrific door-knocking session to get out the vote for Caleb McCoy in PA House District 79 on March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day!
It was a productive time speaking to voters about Caleb’s fight to lower costs for hard-working families and provide services like childcare and expanded community college options.
I even got to catch up with PADEMS Chair, Eugene Depasquale who ran for PA Attorney General in 2024! Bonus – I got to meet Representative Napoleon Nelson of Pennsylvania’s 154th State House District.
Together, we #ChooseDemocracy!
Photo credit: Liz Green
Volunteering at Little Daisy’s Closet
Yesterday, I volunteered at Little Daisy’s Closet in Chambersburg. Families in need in Franklin County can take away quality clothes, shoes, and other essential items for free.
Because our current representative, multimillionaire John Joyce, voted to remove Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits from over six thousand constituents in our 13th District, families in need will increase their spending on food and therefore decrease their spending on other important items like clothes for growing children. Indeed, charity shops like Little Daisy’s Closet are seeing an uptick in numbers of those whom they serve.
Please vote me into office on November 3rd so we can actually:
- Help the poor
- Feed the hungry
- Heal the sick
- Welcome the Stranger.
No matter how they arrived at those circumstances.
Together, we #ChooseDemocracy!
Photo credits: V. Horst and D.Ortiz
Two PA State House Districts in PA-13!
Lastly, the Special Election on March 17th isn’t just for voters in the 79th State House District of PA, it’s also for voters in the 193rd State House District of PA. Please vote for Todd Crawley if you live in the 193rd District on Tuesday.
Both elections will be an indicator of how our 13th Congressional District is increasing Democratic voteshare on the way to November’s election. May our neighbors #ChooseDemocracy!
Legislative Comparison
Check out how Joyce recently voted, how I would have voted in comparison and why!
| Legislation | Joyce’s vote | US House Result | How Beth would have voted | Rationale for Beth’s vote |
| H Con Res 38 Directing the President pursuant to section 5(c) of the War Powers Resolution to remove United States Armed Forces from unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran | No | Failed | Yes | Only Congress has the power to declare war and with good reason. Many representatives of The People must agree it is in the best interests of our nation to invoke the high costs, threats to our national security, and tests of our allyship with other nations that a war often brings. Most certainly, war should not be declared by the whims of a mad king. |
| H Res 1099 Reaffirming Iran remains the largest state sponsor of terrorism | Yes | Passed | Yes | Based on alleged training, fincancing, providing weapons, and safe havens of Islamic Jihad, Hamas, Hezbollah, and Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, it is reasonable to believe that Iran remains the largest state sponsor of terrorism. This did not justify Trump’s attack without a plan on Iran, however. |
| HR 7744 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026 | Yes | Passed | No | Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (I.C.E.) must be abolished and Customs and Border Protection must be reformed before DHS is granted another penny. With the staggeringly low standards in hiring practices for ICE, there is no redemption for those who will readily forgo Due Process. Moreover, overstaying one’s visa to the point of an “illegal” status is a misdemeanor and not worthy of the incredible cruelty and defiance of human rights and dignity that ICE currently persues. Immigration courts must be properly staffed and the immigrant-to-citizen path must be clearer to obtain. |
| H Res 1100 Directing the Committee on Ethics to preserve and publicly release records of the Committee’s review of violations or alleged violations of clause 9 (as it pertains to acts of sexual harassment) and clause 18 of rule XXIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives | Yes | Motion Agreed | Yes | Publicly releasing such records too soon can compromise the identity of victims. |
| HR 6472 – Territorial Student Access to Higher Education Act | Yes | Passed | Yes | Students in US territories should not have to pay more than in-state tuition to attend institutions of higher learning. |
| S 723 – Tribal Trust Land Homeownership Act of 2025 | Yes | Passed | Yes | Native Americans deserve the opportunity to own property on tribal land through the mortgage process. |
| HR 4758 – Homeowner Energy Freedom Act | Yes | Passed | No | This Bill repeals many home efficiency programs that helped homeowners save energy by ending: the high-efficiency electric home rebate program, efficiency contractor training grants, funding for specific state building codes. |
| HR 4626 – Don’t Mess With My Home Appliances Act | Yes | Passed | No | The Bill eliminates the DOE look back for reviewing and making periodic standards every six years in addition to revoking standards of efficiency. |
| HR 6329 – Information Quality Assurance Act of 2025 | Yes | Passed | Yes | It’s just common sense to for the Office of Management and Budget to revise policy and require federal agencies to rely on the best reasonably available information and evidence. |
| S 2503 – Rotorcraft Operations Transparency and Oversight Reform (ROTOR) Act | No | Failed | Yes | Relatives of those killed in the January 2025 crash supported this bipartisan Senate Bill because it is more stringent than the Graves House Bill. |
| HR 2189 – Law-Enforcement Innovate to De-Escalate Act | Yes | Passed | No | While less-than-lethal weapons are ostensibly less lethal than many firearms, they can still be lethal, especially when converted through kits designed for that pu rpose. Repealing the power of the Gun Control Act to now allow convicted criminals, including domestic abusers, to create these “ghost guns” increases danger to American communities, especially by those who have not changed their ways. |
| H J Res 72 – Relating to a national emergency by the President on February 1, 2025 | No | Passed | Yes | Agree with Rep. Bacon that Trump’s unjustified tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada “have been a ‘net negative’ for the economy and are a significant tax that American consumers, manufacturers, and farmers are paying.” and that “Article I of the Constitution places authority over taxes and tariffs with Congress for a reason, but for too long, we have handed that authority to the executive branch. It’s time for Congress to reclaim that responsibility.” |
| S 1383 – Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act | Yes | Passed | No | Suppresses the votes of married women especially whose names do not match those on their birth certificates by requiring passports as proof of citizenship instead, in the event of registration for change of address, name change, change of political party, or unjust removal from voter rolls. Cost and burden of passport is virtually poll tax with disparate impact against women. |
| HR 1531 – Pressure Regulatory Organizations To End Chinese Threats to (PROTECT) Taiwan Act | Yes | Passed | Yes | Requires Department of the Treasury, the Federal Reserve, and the Securities and Exchange Commission to exclude China from the Group of Twenty; the Bank for International Settlements; the Financial Stability Board; the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision; the International Association of Insurance Supervisors; and the International Organization of Securities Commissions, if China poses threat to Tawain or US interests. |
| HR 6644 – To increase the supply of housing in America, and for other purposes | Yes | Passed | Yes | Expanding available finance programs for affordable housing. Restricts veterans’ disability benefits from being considered as source of income. |
| H J Res 142 – Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the D.C. Income and Franchise Tax Conformity and Revision Temporary Amendment Act of 2025 | Yes | Passed | No | OBBBA decreased DC’s “overall stability and revenue streams of economic base” and the decoupling was allowable through Home Rule. |
| HR 4090 – Critical Mineral Dominance Act | Yes | Passed | No | Sweetheart deals to foreign mining corporations is contrary to American interests and security. Nor should we violate our protected public and tribal lands to do it. |
| HR 7148 – Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 | Yes | Passed | No | Because there has been no correction of masked agents of I.C.E. using lethal force for imaginary reasons, I.C.E. must be abolished. It is unconscionable that the United States keep supplying funding to masked agents of the state who murder Americans on our public streets with no accountability. This is contrary to ideals born of the American Revolution. |
| HR 3123 – Ernest Peltz Accrued Veterans Benefits Act | Yes | Passed | Yes | Living dependents of the veteran who died deserve the pension payment that was destined to him/her, yet unpaid. |
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
