Pa. election 2026: What to know about the 144th House District race in Bucks County

All 203 seats in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives are up for election in November. Democrats hold a three-seat majority in the lower chamber, following a Butler County special election upset in August.

The state House, like the state Senate, is responsible for drafting bills and helping the governor craft a budget. Each member is elected to serve a two-year term.

• Bucks County (part)
  • Ivyland Borough
  • New Britain Twp. (part, District South)
  • Warminster Twp.
  • Warrington Twp.

Following the introduction of a new legislative map, Democrats wrested control of the state House in 2022 for the first time in more than a decade.

Many of Pennsylvania’s legislative races are not considered to be competitive. Therefore, a handful of toss-up races will determine which party will control the chamber.

Democrats hold a 103-100 majority in the state House. Munroe flipped the 144th House District seat in 2022, defeating then-Republican incumbent Rep. Todd Polinchock.

In 2024, Munroe won reelection by a slim margin, defeating his Republican opponent Dan McPhillips by less than 3 percentage points after a heated campaign.

On the legislative front, Munroe has been a sponsor or cosponsor of legislation to expand health care, establish greater regulations on social media use for children, and support veterans and law enforcement.

Munroe serves on the House committees for commerce, consumer protection, technology & utilities, insurance, local government, professional licensure and veteran affairs and emergency preparedness.

He touted his efforts to push forward a bill he wrote with three high school students that would increase protections for children on social media platforms.

Munroe also highlighted his work with state Rep. Tina Davis, D-Bristol, and other Democrats in the House to expand the child tax credit and explore ways to address affordability concerns for residents in his district.

Munroe said he strives to be present in his district and respond to the approximately 1,000 constituent cases that come to his office each month.

Issues range from “people needing something as simple as a senior SEPTA card to someone whose child is dying in hospice and the insurance companies won’t pay for the child to die at their home,” Munroe said.

Six months into his first term, he realized his team was focused on responding to those immediate cases and concerns, and not necessarily seeing the root causes. To address that, Munroe created a staff position charged with identifying systemic shortcomings behind constituents’ concerns.

Out of that position came the office’s first Disability Resource Fair, as well as an e-waste event to complement ongoing shredding events.

Munroe said he has also focused on securing funding  for specific community groups, such as a recent $150,000 grant to Centennial Station for infrastructure improvements.

Near the top of the list, Munroe said, is advancing his bill banning firefighting-foam containing PFAS, so-called “forever chemicals,” in the state.

The legislation passed the House and was unanimously voted out of its assigned Senate committee in the spring, but has not been brought to a full vote in the Senate.

The people in his district have been personally impacted, Munroe said, with water contamination stemming from the use of PFAS-containing firefighting foam at former and active military bases in the area. 

“It’s a nonpartisan issue,” he said. “We’ve felt the impacts of losing our water and worrying about drinking [water]. My own wife, she had her blood tested, and she grew up in the area, and she was tested very high, and she has to have those discussions with her family doctor. There are communities elsewhere that are having the same thing happening to them, or will happen to them unless we take action.”

Munroe is looking to introduce another piece of legislation informed by his personal experience. Three months ago, he said that his father died without leaving behind a will. Munroe subsequently encountered a long and frustrating process in probate court to access his bills and estate.

Late fees on his father’s bills ultimately piled up, Munroe said, which is “not fair to any family going through a loss like that.”

He hopes to change that by passing a bill to limit companies’ ability to apply late fees when someone has died.

“Once you find out someone has passed away and is deceased, there should be no late fees,” he said. “Right now, there’s no bill that’s covering that.”

Munroe also said he wants to focus on strengthening worker protections, mitigating the rising cost of living and improving housing affordability. He’s trying to pass legislation that can “get [constituents] more money back in their pocket.”

He hopes that if Democrats flip the state Senate, partisan gridlock will be alleviated and more legislation will be moved through the General Assembly.

“The bipartisanship comes in when you just have that little bit more consensus of what bills are going to come up,” he said. “Right now, a lot of bills don’t come up in the Senate just because the Republican leadership up there does not pull them up for a vote. If you get to a close split in the Senate, that’s going to force a situation where people are going to pull things up for a vote, and then people are going to have to vote their conscience, especially in the Senate.”

Munroe said working across parties is vital. Some people even call him a “scratch-and-sniff Republican,” he said, due to his military and law enforcement background.

“I strive to represent this district as a moderate,” he said.

Munroe’s endorsements include:

• Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 40
• American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations of PA
• Service Employees International Union
• District Council 21 Union
• Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties/CAP
• American Federation of Teachers PA
• Planned Parenthood PA
• Care for PA
• VoteVets
• Center for Freethought Equality
• Sierra Club
• Climate Cabinet
• Conservation Voters of PA
• PA High School Democrats
• National Democratic Redistricting Committee
• Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Target Race
• Progressive Turnout Project
• The States Project
• Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses & Allied Professionals
• Clean Water Action

According to Murphy’s campaign website, the candidate is committed to addressing cost of living concerns with “common-sense fiscal discipline.”

Improving education and enhancing public safety by supporting law enforcement and first responders are also among his top priorities.

Murphy’s platform also emphasizes reducing health care costs, growing the job market and securing state grant funding for community needs.

Per his website, Murphy also wants to “end political games and partisanship.”

There are no endorsements listed on Murphy’s campaign website.