Republican Scott Timko and Democrat Brandon Dukes answered the same seven questions from The 228 Times ahead of the Aug. 18 special election for Pennsylvania’s 12th Legislative District. The goal of this feature is to give voters an opportunity to compare each candidate’s positions on the issues before casting their ballots.
As part of The 228 Times’ commitment to fair, balanced and informative election coverage, both candidates were invited to participate in this question-and-answer feature.
Each candidate received the same seven questions and was provided equal time to submit responses. Before publication, both candidates were also offered the opportunity to review and update their answers to reflect any changes in their positions or priorities during the campaign.
The responses below are published in the candidates’ own words and have not been edited for content, except for minor corrections to spelling, punctuation and formatting where necessary.
Scott Timko, Republican Candidate for District 12
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District Priorities
What are your top three priorities for residents of the 12th District in your first year if elected?
- Restore Election Integrity, 2. Oppose Shapiro’s liberal agenda, 3. Lower taxes and restore affordability
First and foremost, my top priority is making life more affordable for families and seniors. I will fight to reduce property taxes, oppose unnecessary tax increases and work to lower tolls, energy bills and other costs that are squeezing household budgets.
Second, we must protect our communities from irresponsible development and overdevelopment. Growth must be carefully planned, controlled locally and supported by adequate roads, utilities and public services. Data Centers must pay their own way without shifting infrastructure or energy costs onto taxpayers and ratepayers.
Third, I will support public safety and stand with our police officers, firefighters, EMS personnel and other first responders by ensuring they have the resources, training and support necessary to keep our communities safe.
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Accountability
How will residents know you are effectively representing them? What does accountability mean to you as a state legislator?
Accountability begins with accessibility. Residents should not have to attend a fundraiser, hire a lobbyist or know the right person to reach their state representative.
I intend to be visible, approachable and actively engaged throughout the district. That means attending community events, responding promptly to constituents and clearly explaining my votes and positions.
Residents will know whether I am effectively representing them because I will communicate regularly about the work I am doing, the legislation I am supporting and how my decisions affect our communities.
Ultimately, accountability means remembering that the office belongs to the people, not the politician. I trust the residents of this district to ask difficult questions, challenge my decisions and hold me responsible for delivering results.
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Government Structure
Pennsylvania has one of the largest state legislatures in the country. Do you support reducing the size of the Pennsylvania General Assembly? Why or why not?
Yes. I support responsibly reducing the size and cost of the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
Pennsylvania taxpayers deserve a government that is efficient, transparent and focused on results. A smaller legislature could reduce administrative costs, streamline the legislative process and make it easier for residents to understand who is responsible for decisions in Harrisburg.
Any reduction must be carefully designed to preserve effective constituent services and ensure that growing, rural and suburban communities continue to receive fair representation.
The goal should not simply be fewer legislators. It should be a leaner, more accountable General Assembly that spends less money on itself and more time solving the problems facing Pennsylvania families.
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Education Policy
Do you support school choice legislation? How would you balance parental choice with protecting funding for public schools in suburban and rural districts like ours?
I strongly support school choice because parents should have the ability to choose the educational environment that best meets their child’s needs.
As a parent who sent my children to Catholic school, I understand the financial burden placed on families who pay school taxes while also paying private-school tuition. Educational opportunities should not be limited to only families who can afford to pay twice.
At the same time, school choice should not mean abandoning our public schools. Public schools must remain properly funded, particularly in suburban and rural communities where they serve as the center of the community. We must also protect funding for special education, career and technical education and essential classroom instruction.
I believe parental choice and strong public schools can coexist. Giving families more options will encourage innovation, raise expectations and create healthy competition that benefits every student.
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Election Administration
Under the U.S. Constitution, elections are primarily administered by states. Do you believe election administration in Pennsylvania should remain under state and local control, or should the federal government have a greater role? Please explain your position.
Election administration should remain under state and local control, as established by the Constitution. Local election officials understand their communities and should remain responsible for administering elections.
However, federal elections should also operate under clear, consistent standards that protect eligible voters and strengthen confidence in the results. States should have flexibility in administering elections while meeting basic requirements for citizenship verification, voter identification, ballot security and transparency.
I support passage of the SAVE America Act and its requirements regarding proof of citizenship and identification when voting.
Federal involvement should establish reasonable safeguards, not replace state and local election administration or create an unnecessary federal election bureaucracy.
Election Security Follow-Up
What specific policies would you support to ensure elections are secure, transparent, and trusted by voters?
I support requiring Voter ID, maintaining accurate voter-registration rolls and verifying citizenship when individuals register to vote.
Election officials should communicate clearly and consistently with voters, counties should report results as promptly and any administrative errors should be disclosed and corrected.
I would also support making Election Day a state holiday. This would give more working Pennsylvanians the opportunity to vote in person without sacrificing wages or using vacation time.
Secure elections and accessible elections are not competing goals. Pennsylvania can accomplish both.
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Route 228
What is one issue specific to the Route 228 corridor or southern Butler County that you believe is being overlooked at the state level?
The state is failing to ensure that infrastructure keeps pace with development along the Route 228 corridor.
Residents waited decades for Route 228 to be widened and improved. Now, rapid residential and commercial development threatens to overwhelm those improvements almost immediately.
I welcome responsible growth, but roads, intersections, utilities and public services must be planned before large developments are approved, not after congestion becomes unbearable. Growth should pay for growth, rather than forcing existing residents to absorb the costs.
Congestion on Route 228 is also pushing drivers onto secondary roads that were never designed for heavy traffic. This creates safety concerns, accelerates road deterioration and produces additional bottlenecks. Franklin Road is a clear example of a road that requires immediate attention.
The state must coordinate more effectively with municipalities, require realistic traffic-impact studies and fund infrastructure based on future development projections rather than outdated traffic counts.
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Cost of Living / Taxes
Many residents in our area are concerned about rising property taxes, reassessment, and overall cost of living. What specific actions would you support at the state level to help reduce the financial burden on homeowners and families… taxes, reassessment, and overall cost of living i.e. gas, food etc. ?
Pennsylvania must use its abundant energy resources to make life more affordable.
The cost of energy affects nearly everything families purchase. It impacts home heating and electricity bills, transportation, food production, manufacturing and the cost of delivering goods. Expanding responsible natural gas and coal production, improving pipeline capacity, modernizing the electrical grid and streamlining permitting can help increase supply and control costs.
Large energy users and new developments should also pay for the infrastructure they require. Existing families and small businesses should not be forced to subsidize projects that place additional strain on the grid.
I would support dedicating increased state revenue from energy development toward meaningful property-tax relief, especially for seniors and working families. I would also support stronger transparency and taxpayer protections during county reassessments, so homeowners are not blindsided by sudden increases.
Pennsylvania should stop treating its energy resources as a problem and start using them as an economic advantage that creates jobs, lowers costs and reduces the tax burden.
Brandon Dukes, Democratic Candidate for District 12
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District Priorities
What are your top three priorities for residents of the 12th District in your first year if elected?
My top three priorities for the residents of the 12th District are:
Fighting for working families by supporting legislation that raises wages, protects workers’ rights, and brings quality jobs to the district and not just low-wage jobs, but careers that let you buy a home, raise a family, and retire with dignity.
Funding our public schools by fighting to close the funding gap between wealthy and working-class districts and stop the budget games in Harrisburg that leave our schools scrambling. And no to voucher programs as well.
Infrastructure. The Route 228 corridor is choking and traffic congestion causes a lot of headaches for residents due to rapid growth. Our roads, bridges, and water systems (causing flooding at times) are aging. I’ll push hard for targeted state investment in southern Butler County so our region can grow.
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Accountability
How will residents know you are effectively representing them? What does accountability mean to you as a state legislator?
Showing up is half the job. If elected, I will hold town halls across the district, maintain an open-door constituent services office, and post my voting record with plain-language explanations online so every resident can see exactly where I stand and why.
I’ll publish a clear legislative agenda at the start of each session, report progress publicly, and actively solicit feedback from residents; not just at election time, but year-round.
Accountability also means being honest when I disagree with my own party. I represent the 12th District first. If a bill doesn’t serve working families here, I’ll say so. I’ll never hide behind party talking points. My neighbors deserve a straight answer, and that’s what they’ll get from me.
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Government Structure
Pennsylvania has one of the largest state legislatures in the country. Do you support reducing the size of the Pennsylvania General Assembly? Why or why not?
I support reducing the size of the Pennsylvania General Assembly. With 253 members, we have one of the largest and most expensive state legislatures in the entire country, all at the taxpayers expense.
That said, any reduction must be done carefully. We cannot allow redistricting of a smaller chamber to dilute the voice of rural communities, working-class neighborhoods, or communities of color. I would support a reform that includes independent redistricting to ensure fair representation remains intact.
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Education Policy
Do you support school choice legislation? How would you balance parental choice with protecting funding for public schools in suburban and rural districts like ours?
I support parental involvement in their children’s education; every parent should have a meaningful say. But so-called school choice voucher schemes that siphon taxpayer dollars away from public schools are not the answer, especially for suburban and rural districts.
Because when state money follows a student to a private school, the public schools left behind still has the same building, the same teachers, and the same fixed costs, but fewer resources to pay for them. That hurts every child who stays.
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Election Administration
Under the U.S. Constitution, elections are primarily administered by states. Do you believe election administration in Pennsylvania should remain under state and local control, or should the federal government have a greater role? Please explain your position.
Election administration should remain under state and local control. The U.S. Constitution is clear on this, and I believe our county boards of elections, with proper state oversight, are best positioned to manage elections that reflect local conditions and needs. Federal overreach into local election administration is a path I do not support.
Follow-up:
What specific policies would you support to ensure elections are secure, transparent, and trusted by voters?
I support mail in ballots and have them counted as they come in, not on the morning of Election day, early in person voting, open primaries, and same day voter registration. Because the more eligible citizens who participate in our elections, the more legitimate the result. Distrust grows when people feel locked out; I want every eligible Pennsylvanian in the 12th District to feel confident that their vote counts and is counted correctly.
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Route 228
What is one issue specific to the Route 228 corridor or southern Butler County that you believe is being overlooked at the state level?
The issue I believe is most overlooked at the state level is the impact of rapid residential/commercial development along the Route 228 corridor without updating the current infrastructure and public services to support it.
Southern Butler County has grown rapidly over the past few years. New housing developments keep going up, but our roads, especially Route 228, Route 19, and the connecting roads into Cranberry, are gridlocked. Which can cause our fire stations, emergency services, and school buildings to be strained.
It’s not just a local problem. The state approved the zoning frameworks that enabled this growth, and the state benefits from the tax base. I will push for a dedicated state infrastructure fund tied to high-growth corridors like ours, and demand that PennDOT fast-track the upgrades that southern Butler County has been waiting years for. Growth is a good thing, but only if the state keeps its end of the bargain.
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Cost of Living / Taxes
Many residents in our area are concerned about rising property taxes, reassessment, and overall cost of living. What specific actions would you support at the state level to help reduce the financial burden on homeowners and families… taxes, reassessment, and overall cost of living i.e. gas, food etc. ?
Rising property taxes and the soaring cost of everyday life are squeezing working families across our district, and I am not going to pretend that Harrisburg is off the hook. Pennsylvania’s broken school funding formula is a primary driver of high property taxes — we keep forcing local homeowners to fund state obligations, and that has to change.
I support shifting more of the burden of school funding from local property taxes to the state — funded through a fairer income-based system that asks the wealthy to pay their fair share. I also support homestead exemption expansions, targeted relief for seniors and fixed-income households, and genuine transparency in the reassessment process so families aren’t blindsided.
On cost of living more broadly: I’ll fight to lower prescription drug costs, push back against utility rate hikes, and support small businesses on Main Street that are getting crushed by the same pressures our families are. The economy should work for the people of the 12th District — not just for those at the top. That’s the fight I’m taking to Harrisburg.
The 228 Times’ special election coverage is made possible through the support of McDonald’s of Mars, Dunn & Dimond Insurance and Dimond Automotive. Their sponsorship helps keep local election news free and accessible to everyone in our community.