HARRISBURG, Pa. — A state judge has ordered Andrew Tupone, a Bethlehem Township man who sought to run for Congress as a Green, off the November ballot in Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District after the state Green Party disavowed him.
Commonwealth Court Judge Stella M. Tsai issued the order Friday. Tupone said Friday night he will appeal to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and, if that fails, run as a write-in candidate.
For now, the ruling leaves a two-way race between Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie and Democrat Bob Brooks, a retired firefighter and union leader. The district, covering Lehigh, Northampton and Carbon counties and part of Monroe County, is rated a toss-up by the Cook Political Report. Democrats had accused Tupone of being a Republican plant meant to pull votes from Brooks.
Tupone, 37, submitted 10,586 signatures, well above the 4,074 required. Tsai ruled that signatures were not enough without the party’s consent.
“The Election Code vests with political parties and political bodies the right to ‘nominate’ — i.e., ‘select’ — the candidates they wish to place on the ballot in the General Election,” Tsai wrote, according to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star. The order directs the Secretary of the Commonwealth to remove Tupone’s name and notify the four county election boards.
“The establishment parties are fighting to keep me off the ballot, but I’m not backing down,” Tupone said in a statement. “I will continue this fight and appeal this decision because the people of the 7th Congressional District deserve a real choice and a true progressive candidate who will stand up for them.”
The Green Party of Pennsylvania welcomed the ruling Saturday in a statement reported by Armchair Lehigh Valley.
“It also establishes an important precedent: Anyone seeking to run as a Green Party candidate in Pennsylvania must first obtain the endorsement of the state party,” party co-chair Colleen Schmotzer said.
Neither the Brooks nor the Mackenzie campaign had posted about the ruling on social media as of Saturday evening.
Why the Green Party fought its own candidate
Tupone was a registered Republican for years and ran for magisterial district judge in Northampton County as a Republican in 2021. He switched to Democrat in February and to Green on April 20, less than 30 days before the May 19 primary.
Party leaders said they had never heard of him until he began collecting signatures. Their Aug. 10 challenge argued his circulators misled voters into thinking they were signing for a party-backed candidate.
Tupone has denied being a plant and said he is running on universal health care and ending what he called the genocide in Gaza.
At an Aug. 21 hearing, Tupone testified he did not know who circulated his petitions. Of his 22 circulators, 21 lived outside Pennsylvania.
Tupone’s attorney, Wally Zimolong, has represented President Donald Trump and the Republican National Committee and has donated to Mackenzie’s campaign.
What happens next
The appeal would go to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Richard Winger of Ballot Access News wrote Saturday that the ruling appears to be the first time a Pennsylvania court has let a minor party block a candidate from using its name.
A second challenge, filed by three Lehigh County Democratic voters and targeting Tupone’s signatures on technical grounds, has not been ruled on.
Mackenzie unseated Democrat Susan Wild in 2024 by 4,062 votes, about 1 percentage point, and the last three elections in the district were decided by fewer than 3 percentage points.
The general election is Nov. 3.