Man files to run as Green option for House 64th
CHERRY VALLEY — A Cherry Valley man who ran unsuccessfully for Butler County commissioner last year is running for the 64th District seat in the state House of Representatives.
Michael Bagdes-Canning said he decided to run for state office after seeing and hearing the dissatisfaction many residents have with government and the two-party system. He said he wants to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15, reform the tax code, and invest more money in infrastructure and clean energy.
Bagdes-Canning also said he wants to end unconventional drilling for natural gas known as “fracking.”
“For decades the plight of the working people of Pennsylvania has been ignored by both corporate parties,” Bagdes-Canning said in a press release announcing his candidacy.
He pledged not to take any money from corporations, and to work for $15 an hour or the median income of the 64th District, whichever is less.
Bagdes-Canning will run against Republican incumbent Rep. R. Lee James as a candidate of the Green Party. Election day is Nov. 8.
“I know people are angry,” he said. “I’ve knocked on a lot of peoples’ doors in the last two years, and there are a lot of Democrats and Republicans both that are unsatisfied with their choices. They don’t think they have a choice they can be excited about.”
Bagdes-Canning said he had submitted candidate petitions to the Pennsylvania Department of State. Monday was the deadline to file any challenges to candidates’ ballots with state officials.
Bagdes-Canning, 62, is the vice president of Cherry Valley Borough Council. He also is a planning group member of Marcellus Outreach Butler and a retired teacher.
He lives in Cherry Valley with his wife, Karen.
