'Lisa being Lisa': State Sen. Lisa Boscola aligns with Forward Party

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — State Sen. Lisa Boscola, the Lehigh Valley's longtime Democratic legislator, is furthering her mile-wide independent streak by pledging her support to the Forward Party.

Standing in the Capitol Rotunda beside party co-founder Andrew Yang on Wednesday, Boscola said partisanship in Harrisburg is at an all-time high and is harming everyday Pennsylvanians.

• Sen. Lisa Boscola announced she'll affiliate with the Forward Party while remaining a member of the Democratic Party
• The Forward Party is less focused on specific policies than in engaging in dialogue to promote bipartisan solutions
• Boscola, first elected in 1994, is known for her independent streak and willingness to vote with Republicans

Lawmakers are more concerned about party purity than finding solutions to the problems facing their constituents, she said.

She and fellow state Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Philadelphia, said they would align themselves with the Forward Party and its goals to foster a dialogue to get away from the extremism of the mainstream parties.

"The sad reality is we can't solve any big problems or get any major policy done because we are electing people who are too beholden to their party ideals and less concerned about finding the middle ground," Boscola said.

A wild card

Boscola, whose district covers Bethlehem, Easton, the Slate Belt and much of the Nazareth area, has served as a legislator for nearly 30 years.

She has long been something of a wild card in state politics, but it hasn't dampened her support at home. Boscola, of Bethlehem Township, last won re-election in 2022 by nearly 18 points over Republican John Merhottein, a township commissioner.

In an interview Thursday, Boscola said she doesn't plan to leave the Democratic Party.

Instead, she viewed the Forward Party as the latest faction within mainstream politics, similar to the Tea Party within the GOP or the socialist wing of the Democratic Party. Both mainstream parties are more interested in making knee-jerk reactions to vilify the opposition and less interested in hearing out the other side, she said.

"This is the one that best suited me and my style of governing. I want to be part of governing better," she said.

In many ways, the Forward Party is less of a political party and more of a philosophy on governing. It's courting members from all sides of the political aisle, which means Forward Party members may hold diametrically opposed views on how to handle controversial issues.

Instead, its website and literature focus more on the process of governing and how the public engages with elected leaders. Along with Yang, the former Democratic presidential candidate, other well-known members include former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman and former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, both centrists.

"If you want a party that tells you how to think, there are other options out there. If you want a party that celebrates an open debate of ideas, then come join us," the Forward Party's site reads.

A closer look

The policies it does support are generally intended to weaken party control of the election process. The Forward Party backs making primaries open to independent or third-party voters, creating independent commissions to oversee legislative redistricting and promoting ranked choice elections. Ranked-choice elections, where voters provide secondary votes for their next-preferred candidates, are in place in Alaska and Maine as well as communities including New York City and San Francisco.

Those stances closely align with ones Boscola has promoted for decades. Earlier this spring, she sponsored bipartisan legislation to allow unaffiliated voters to participate in primary elections. She's also been a longtime proponent of reforming how the state's legislative districts are redrawn, saying a commission of voters should be in control of the process.

Last year, Boscola criticized a commission mostly comprised of Democratic and Republican party leadership for the new state legislative district maps, calling it a disgrace and "an assault on the Lehigh Valley." Boscola said that since announcing her alignment with the Forward Party, she's received feedback from constituents who recognize the common ground between her long-held stances and the infant political movement.

"This isn't a surprise, this is just Lisa being Lisa," Boscola said.

Independent streak

Boscola may be best known these days as the primary sponsor of Act 77 of 2019 — the law that allowed no-excuse mail-in voting in Pennsylvania. Her fellow Senate Democrats widely rejected the bill at the time because it eliminated party-line voting, and it only passed thanks to widespread Republican support. However, political roles reversed in 2020 when the pandemic struck, and then-President Donald Trump baselessly attacked mail-in voting as prone to fraud.

But that's far from the only time she's broken from her fellow Democrats. Last year, she voted to bar transgender student-athletes from competing on teams aligned to their gender identity. While she supports the LGBTQ community, she said, that status quo left cis female athletes at a disadvantage. The bill was almost exclusively supported by Republicans and was vetoed by then-Gov. Tom Wolf.

Boscola found herself in similar territory when Republicans pushed for a ballot referendum on whether the state constitution guarantees a right to an abortion. Boscola declared herself staunchly pro-choice but argued Pennsylvania voters ought to be the ones to make the call, not lawmakers in Harrisburg. She said she was disappointed when she was attacked by members of her own party even though they support the same policies.

"That's insanity, but that's what happens when you're not a purist. They make it seem like you're anti-education, anti-choice," Boscola said.