Joseph Soloski

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Joseph Soloski
Image of Joseph Soloski

Keystone Party of Pennsylvania

Elections and appointments
Last election

November 8, 2022

Education

Bachelor's

Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 1979

Personal
Birthplace
Kittanning, Pa.
Religion
Follower of Jesus Christ
Profession
Accountant
Contact

Joseph Soloski (Keystone Party of Pennsylvania) ran for election for Governor of Pennsylvania. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Soloski completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Joseph Soloski was born in Kittanning, Pennsylvania. Soloski earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from the Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1979. His career experience includes working as a certified public accountant and owning an accounting practice.[1]

2022 battleground election

See also: Pennsylvania gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2022

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) defeated state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) and three others in the general election for governor of Pennsylvania on November 8, 2022. Incumbent Tom Wolf (D) was term-limited.

Shapiro was elected as attorney general in 2016. He was the Montgomery County commissioner from 2011 to 2017 and served in the state House from 2005 to 2011. Shapiro's campaign focused on two key messages: his record as attorney general and his potential ability as governor to veto legislation the legislature's Republican majority passes. He said his experience in the criminal justice system and on cases related to LGBTQ issues, workers' issues, and election security were things he would continue to pursue as governor. Shapiro's campaign website said that he would veto certain legislation related to abortion and absentee/mail-in voting.[2]

Mastriano was elected as a state senator from the Cumberland Valley in 2018. He served in the United States Army from 1988 to 2017. Mastriano proposed a number of election policy changes, including eliminating no excuse absentee/mail-in voting and drop boxes, enacting universal voter identification, and prohibiting the use of private donations or grants for election administration. Following the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, Mastriano called on the Legislature to pass a bill banning abortion after the detection of a fetal heartbeat.[3] Mastriano said he would rescind any remaining mask and vaccine mandates related to the coronavirus pandemic on his first day in office and work to pass a law banning similar future mandates.[4]

How the state conducted elections was one focus of each candidate's campaign. As of November 2022, the governor of Pennsylvania appointed a secretary of state charged with certifying election results, determining which voting machines the state uses, and ordering recounts and recanvasses of elections.[5] Shapiro said, "[I will] appoint a pro-democracy Secretary of State to run our elections, expand pre-registration opportunities for young people, and implement same-day voter registration through Election Day."[6] Mastriano's website said he would "Appoint a Secretary of State with experience in securing elections from fraud."[4]

Heading into the election, Pennsylvania had a divided government, with a Democratic governor and Republican majorities in both legislative chambers. Shapiro's win preserved this divided government, while a Mastriano win would have left open the possibility of a Republican trifecta. A trifecta occurs when one political party holds the governorship and a majority in both legislative chambers. Across the country, there were 23 Republican trifectas, 14 Democratic trifectas, and 13 divided governments at the time of the election.

Minor party, independent, and write-in candidates included Christina Digiulio (G), Joseph Soloski (Keystone Party of Pennsylvania), and Matt Hackenburg (L).

Each candidate had a running mate for lieutenant governor. Shapiro's running mate was state Rep. Austin Davis, and Mastriano's running mate was state Rep. Carrie DelRosso. Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D) ran for U.S. Senate rather than seek re-election.

Elections

2022

See also: Pennsylvania gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2022

General election

General election for Governor of Pennsylvania

Josh Shapiro defeated Doug Mastriano, Matt Hackenburg, Christina Digiulio, and Joseph Soloski in the general election for Governor of Pennsylvania on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Josh Shapiro
Josh Shapiro (D)
 
56.5
 
3,031,137
Image of Doug Mastriano
Doug Mastriano (R)
 
41.7
 
2,238,477
Image of Matt Hackenburg
Matt Hackenburg (L) Candidate Connection
 
1.0
 
51,611
Image of Christina Digiulio
Christina Digiulio (G) Candidate Connection
 
0.5
 
24,436
Image of Joseph Soloski
Joseph Soloski (Keystone Party of Pennsylvania) Candidate Connection
 
0.4
 
20,518

Total votes: 5,366,179
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Pennsylvania

Josh Shapiro advanced from the Democratic primary for Governor of Pennsylvania on May 17, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Josh Shapiro
Josh Shapiro
 
100.0
 
1,227,151

Total votes: 1,227,151
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Pennsylvania

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for Governor of Pennsylvania on May 17, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Doug Mastriano
Doug Mastriano
 
43.8
 
591,240
Image of Lou Barletta
Lou Barletta
 
20.3
 
273,252
Image of Bill McSwain
Bill McSwain
 
15.8
 
212,886
Image of David White
David White
 
9.6
 
129,058
Image of Melissa Hart
Melissa Hart
 
4.1
 
54,752
Image of Joe Gale
Joe Gale
 
2.1
 
27,920
Image of Jake Corman III
Jake Corman III (Unofficially withdrew)
 
1.9
 
26,091
Image of Charlie Gerow
Charlie Gerow
 
1.3
 
17,922
Image of Nche Zama
Nche Zama
 
1.2
 
16,238

Total votes: 1,349,359
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Polls

See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls

Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.[7] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."[8] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.

Below we provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from FiveThirtyEight and RealClearPolitics, when available. Click here to read about FiveThirtyEight's criteria for including polls in its aggregation. We only report polls for which we can find a margin of error or credibility interval.


Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, 2022: General election polls
Poll Date Democratic Party Shapiro Republican Party Mastriano Undecided/Other Margin of error Sample size[9] Sponsor[10]
Research Co. November 4-6, 2022 51% 43% ± 4.6 450 LV N/A
InsiderAdvantage November 3, 2022 51% 43% 8%[11] ± 3.6 750 LV FOX 29
Remington Research Group November 1-2, 2022 52% 40% 7%[12] ± 2.8 1,180 LV N/A
Marist October 31-2, 2022 54% 40% ± 3.8 1,152 LV N/A
Beacon Research/Shaw & Company Research October 26-30, 2022 53% 37% 10%[13] ± 3.0 1,005 RV Fox News


The chart below shows RealClearPolitics polling averages in this race over time.


Campaign finance

General election

====Democratic primary====

Republican primary

Satellite spending

See also: Satellite spending

Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[36][37][38]

If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.

The Pennsylvania Secretary of State provides a list of all independent expenditure filings in the state. To view filings for this race, click here.

Spending news

  • September 30, 2022: The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Commonwealth Leaders Fund suspended its ads opposing Shapiro with $3.2 million remaining on its reservation.[40]
  • August 31, 2022: Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania Victory Fund and Natural Resource Defense Council Action Votes jointly purchased a $500,000 ad buy opposing Mastriano.[41]

Endorsements

Click the links below to see endorsement lists published on candidate campaign websites, if available. If you are aware of a website that should be included, please email us.

This section lists noteworthy endorsements issued in this election, including those made by high-profile individuals and organizations, cross-party endorsements, and endorsements made by newspaper editorial boards. Please note that this list is not exhaustive. If you are aware of endorsements that should be included, please email us.


Noteworthy endorsements
Endorser Democratic Party Josh Shapiro Republican Party Doug Mastriano
Government officials
President Joe Biden (D)  source  
Vice President Kamala D. Harris (D)  source  
Gov. Tom Wolf (D)  source  
Individuals
Frmr. U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff  source  
Frmr. state Rep. Mario Civera, Jr.  source  
Frmr. U.S. Rep. Charles W. Dent  source  
Frmr. U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood  source  
Frmr. Pres. Barack Obama  source  
Frmr. state Rep. Dennis O'Brien  source  
Frmr. Gov. Ed Rendell  source  
Frmr. Pres. Donald Trump  source  
Newspapers and editorials
The Philadelphia Inquirer  source  
Organizations
Boilermakers Local 154  source  
Pennsylvania State Troopers Association  source  
Philadelphia Firefighters’ and Paramedics’ Union Local 22  source  
Philadelphia Fraternal Order of Police  source  

Campaign finance

2020

See also: Pennsylvania Treasurer election, 2020

General election

General election for Pennsylvania Treasurer

Stacy Garrity defeated incumbent Joseph Torsella, Joseph Soloski, and Timothy Runkle in the general election for Pennsylvania Treasurer on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Stacy Garrity
Stacy Garrity (R)
 
48.7
 
3,291,877
Image of Joseph Torsella
Joseph Torsella (D)
 
47.9
 
3,239,331
Image of Joseph Soloski
Joseph Soloski (L)
 
2.2
 
148,614
Image of Timothy Runkle
Timothy Runkle (G) Candidate Connection
 
1.2
 
81,984

Total votes: 6,761,806
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pennsylvania Treasurer

Incumbent Joseph Torsella advanced from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania Treasurer on June 2, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Joseph Torsella
Joseph Torsella
 
100.0
 
1,381,763

Total votes: 1,381,763
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania Treasurer

Stacy Garrity advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania Treasurer on June 2, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Stacy Garrity
Stacy Garrity
 
100.0
 
1,047,510

Total votes: 1,047,510
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2018

See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 81

Incumbent Richard Irvin defeated Richard Rogers Sr. and Joseph Soloski in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 81 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Richard Irvin
Richard Irvin (R)
 
62.5
 
15,579
Image of Richard Rogers Sr.
Richard Rogers Sr. (D)
 
34.6
 
8,619
Image of Joseph Soloski
Joseph Soloski (L)
 
2.9
 
721

Total votes: 24,919
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 81

Richard Rogers Sr. advanced from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 81 on May 15, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Richard Rogers Sr.
Richard Rogers Sr.
 
100.0
 
2,562

Total votes: 2,562
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 81

Incumbent Richard Irvin advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 81 on May 15, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Richard Irvin
Richard Irvin
 
100.0
 
5,352

Total votes: 5,352
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Joseph Soloski completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Soloski's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I am a retired Certified Public Accountant, running for Governor of Pennsylvania. My website is joesoloski.com, which illustrates all of the primary issues that I am showcasing in my campaign. As the Keystone Party candidate for Governor, I am all about government reform, which is desperately needed.

  • I want to cut the Pennsylvania state budget by at least 5% per year. Our operating budget has more than doubled in the 20 years since 2002, rising from $20 billion per year to $42 billion per year. I will be leading from the top, by slashing my own salary as Governor from its current level of $205,000 per year to $70,000. This will make Pennsylvania having the lowest paid Governor in the nation. I want to see our Legislators' salaries slashed, a gift ban codified into law, and Ranked-Choice voting implemented.
  • I want to Pennsylvania become a tax haven. Business-friendly states don't have income taxes, so I will be leading the charge to eliminate the Personal Income Tax and the Corporate Net Income Tax. I also consider the Inheritance Tax to be immoral, as dying should give rise to a taxable event. I will be seeking the repeal of the Inheritance Tax.
  • We need to expand nuclear energy production in Pennsylvania. Nuclear energy is clean, efficient, cost-effective, and safe.

Reforming government, cutting the state budget, slashing taxation, eliminating unnecessary regulation, turning our Legislature into a part-time body, slashing the pay of our Legislators, implementing a gift ban for all elected officials, implementing Ranked-Choice voting, ending government prohibitions.

Jesus. He is my Lord and Savior and he was the greatest person to ever walk the Earth. I also love and admire my father, Edward L. Soloski, who was an amazing Dad and mentor for much of my life.

The principles of the smallest, most effective government. One that is laced with integrity and is always accountable to Pennsylvania residents. Honesty, integrity, accountability, and transparency are the characteristics that I feel are most important for any elected official.

All state departments are accountable to the Office of the Governor. All of those offices must operate under the principles of honesty, integrity, accountability, and transparency. There is no room for scandal and mismanagement. Impropriety, and even the appearance of impropriety, must be fought and avoided at all turns.I want all department to be run as efficiently and effectively as can be possible.

I would like to be the Governor that got the Pennsylvania budget back into sanity while I am in office. I want to see necessary spending cuts made. I want to slash taxation, implement a gift (bribe) ban for all elected officials. I want to have the legacy of Pennsylvania becoming a nuclear energy powerhouse in our nation.

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy. I was six years old and in the first grade at that time.

Caddy and clerk at the Kittanning Country Club when I was 14. I had that job for two years.

There are many, but I will mention "The 5000 Year Leap" by W. Cleon Skousen. It is history. It is about our Founding Fathers and their vision for our great nation.

I have also enjoyed reading David McCullough. I would be remiss if I did not mention The Bible.

'I Cheat the Hangman' by the Doobie Brothers.

I means that I have to respect the will of the people, regardless of how I advocate specific policies. I, personally, want to see major government reforms happen that make Pennsylvania government more accountable and transparent. I want to accomplish this by cutting state spending and taxation.

As I said in my previous respond, honoring the will of the people of Pennsylvania. As the Chief Executive, every state department runs under my watchful eye. I will be making sure that each of them are being managed in the most efficient way possible while achieving all of their responsibilities.

For me, I will be forwarding a proposed budget to our State Legislature every year, well before the June 30th deadline for its approval. If the Legislature does not implement a budget bill that includes the overall cuts that I am requesting, I will veto the bills that they forward to me until they get it right.

If the line items are not in agreement with my goals, and I also see that they are not in line with the desires of a majority of Pennsylvanians, then I will veto those line items until the Legislature forwards a revised bill to me.

The line-item veto is an efficient and powerful mechanism. It promotes efficiency in the budget approval process. I am an advocate of the line-item veto.

One of accountability, challenge, and a desire to work together to meet a desired end goal.

Pennsylvania is where I have lived for my entire life. Our state has rich history, beautiful vistas, and thriving commerce. I believe that our commerce could be greatly improved upon, but our businesses have succeeded, in spite of government overreach. I hold great affection and sentimentality for Pennsylvania.

Reigning in runaway government spending is the main challenge. Pennsylvania doesn't have a revenue problem; it's got a spending problem. Our government is always looking for higher taxes and new revenue streams and never looks itself in the mirror and attempts to cut it bloated spending. The Pennsylvania budget needs to be attacked and I am the only candidate talking about tackling the achievable challenge.

How inappropriate can I be? :D

Emergency powers should only be utilized for a period not to exceed 21 days. If, as Governor, I wanted to see those emergency powers extended, I would have to seek Legislative concurrence to accomplish that. Situations like natural disasters warrant Executive powers to assists the needs of communities.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.



2020

Joseph Soloski did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

See also


External links

Footnotes

  1. Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on October 4, 2022
  2. Josh Shapiro's 2022 campaign website, "Policy," accessed August 4, 2022
  3. Senator Mastriano, "Mastriano Provides Statement on the Impending Overturn of Roe v. Wade," May 3, 2022
  4. 4.0 4.1 Doug Mastriano's 2022 campaign website, "The Plan," accessed August 4, 2022
  5. Casetext, "25 Pa. Stat. § 2621," accessed August 8, 2022
  6. Josh Shapiro's 2022 campaign website, "Voting Rights," accessed August 4, 2022
  7. For more information on the difference between margins of error and credibility intervals, see explanations from the American Association for Public Opinion Research and Ipsos.
  8. Pew Research Center, "5 key things to know about the margin of error in election polls," September 8, 2016
  9. RV=Registered Voters
    LV=Likely Voters
  10. The sponsor is the person or group that funded all or part of the poll.
  11. Reported as "Someone else/Undecided/No opinion" (4%) and "Matt Hackenburg" (2%).
  12. Included results for "Undecided" (4%), "Matt Hackenburg" (2%), and "Christian Digiulio" (1%).
  13. Included results for "Don't know" (6%), "Wouldn't vote" (2%), and "Other" (2%).
  14. RV=Registered Voters
    LV=Likely Voters
  15. The sponsor is the person or group that funded all or part of the poll.
  16. Reported as "Undecided" (4%) and "Someone else" (4%).
  17. Reported as "Not Sure" (4%) and "Neither/Other" (2%).
  18. Reported as "Undecided" (6%) and "Someone else" (2%).
  19. Reported as "Matt Hackenburg" (4%) and "Someone else/Undecided/No opinion" (4%).
  20. Reported as "Undecided (10%)" and "Some other candidate" (6%).
  21. Included results for "Digiulio" (1%), "Hackenburg" (1%), and "Soloski" (1%).
  22. Included results for "Undecided" (6%), "Hackenburg" (2%), and "Someone else" (1%).
  23. Reported as "Undecided" (3%) and "Someone else" (2%).
  24. Includes the results for "Undecided" (4%), "Gerhardt (L)" (3%), and "Other" (1%).
  25. Included results for "Someone else" (2%) and "Undecided" (7%).
  26. Included results for "Other" (2%), "Wouldn't vote" (3%), and "Don't know" (5%).
  27. Included results for "Some other candidate" (4%) and "Do not know" (8%).
  28. Included results for "Hackenburg" (3.4%), "Someone else" (1.1%), and "Undecided/No Opinion" (6.5%).
  29. Included results for "Not Sure" (3%) and "Neither/Other" (1%).
  30. Included results for "Hackenburg" (2.8%), "Undecided" (2.8%), and "Other" (1.5%).
  31. Included results for "Undecided" (9%) and "Someone else" (4%).
  32. Included results for "Undecided" (6%) and "Someone else" (3%).
  33. Included results for "Aren't sure" (19%), "Hackenburg" (2%), "DiGiulio" (1%), "Other" (1%), and "Not going to vote" (1%).
  34. Included results for "Undecided" (4.8%), "Hackenburg" (1.1%), and "Other" (0.8%).
  35. Reported as "Unsure."
  36. OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
  37. OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
  38. National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
  39. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named pieverytown
  40. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named piclf
  41. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named cvpa