HARRISBURG, PA. (WENY) - The New Year is right around the corner, and 2022 will be an eventful year for Pennsylvania elections.
The 2022 Congressional midterms are expected to attract many Pennsylvania voters. However, statewide races for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and State Assembly races are all taking place as well.
And with 2022 just a few weeks away, candidates and their campaigns are in action.
Former Republican State Representative Jeff Coleman will be running for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania.
Coleman founded Churchill Strategies in 2005 after deciding to retire from the Pennsylvania House at the end of his second term. During his time as a strategist, his mission was to elect principled, conservative candidates in Pennsylvania.
The former two-term representative was first elected at age 25 in 2000. Now, roughly two decades later, he hopes to return to public office.
Coleman hopes his campaign’s message “leadership that brings us together” will resonate with Pennsylvania voters.
“I think it's almost an urgency to rebuild the kind of civil, kind, decent dialogue in in politics,” said Coleman.
And it’s also why he decided to return to the public-eye after 17 years.
“I think what has changed in the 17 years that I have been out of politics, is that the civility, the public square where we have debate has almost imploded,” said Coleman.
Coleman discussed several of his priorities at a campaign event in Harrisburg on Friday.
Among the top on his list, revitalizing smaller communities.
“We have a big crisis when it comes to small towns, like my hometown of Apollo, that are almost falling off the face of the earth economically. We've got to do something to invite young people to come back to small towns,” said Coleman.
Coleman also emphasized the mental health challenges that teens and young adults are facing across Pennsylvania and the entire county, exacerbated by the Pandemic.
Another important priority for Coleman is providing access to quality public education for all Pennsylvania students.
“If you're in economically depressed communities, you have a very different experience,” said Coleman. “The dollars have to follow the child.”
Using prison reform to address and alleviate the workforce crisis is also atop the list for Coleman.
“To have job training, skill development, mentorship, to be welcomed back into society after they've paid their debt, that's one of the ways I think we solve the workforce crisis,” said Coleman.
Perhaps his largest priority, which extends beyond his campaign platform, is attracting more voters to his party.
“I would love for the Republican Party to be open and inclusive again to people that have really almost never met Republicans,” Coleman said.