Campaign Attacks Blanket Lancaster County’s 36th Senate District Race
Voters in Lancaster County’s 36th Senate District face a barrage of television advertisements and mailers attacking the two candidates running for the seat: incumbent Democrat James Malone and Republican challenger Tom Jones, according to an LNP | LancasterOnline evaluation of campaign claims. The attacks target both candidates’ legislative records, municipal histories, and campaign funding sources, often omitting crucial context from state house votes and local government decisions.
Malone Gas Tax Vote Draws Scrutiny Over Data Center Exemptions
A mailer paid for by the Commonwealth Leaders Fund—a political action committee tied to Susquehanna International Group co-founder Jeffrey Yass—claims that Malone opposes cutting the gas tax and favors tax breaks for data centers. LNP | LancasterOnline reported that this claim is partly true but lacks context.
Malone joined 22 Democrats and four Republicans in June to table a gas tax cut proposed as an amendment to a broader state House tax reform bill. Senate Democrats argued the amendment would not yield real savings for drivers and would instead benefit oil companies, while using money from data center equipment sales to plug the resulting state revenue gap. Jake Dupont, a spokesperson for Malone’s campaign, stated that the amendment failed to lower gas prices and gutted a bill designed to cap utility prices. Malone ultimately voted for the final version of the bill, which eliminated state sales tax exemptions for data center developers.
Jones First Responder Record and Pension Votes Disputed
A print mailer funded by Malone’s campaign claims that Jones voted against funding police, firefighters, and EMS workers, as well as voting against raising their pay. LNP | LancasterOnline found this claim to be true but missing context regarding specific legislative votes.
One referenced bill, which created grant funding opportunities for volunteer fire departments and rescue teams, passed the House on June 27, 2024, in a 102-100 party-line vote where every Republican voted no and every Democrat voted yes. Jones also voted against a bill providing a cost-of-living adjustment for police and firefighter pensions. Jones characterized these proposals as gotcha legislation, pointing to his local track record as a former police commissioner for the Susquehanna Regional Police Department, where he helped negotiate an eight-year contract with annual cost-of-living adjustments, voted for the Municipal Emergency Services Authority of Lancaster County, and helped secure over $2 million in equipment purchases for volunteer firefighters. Jones did support a nearly unanimous bill that became law allowing police officers who transfer departments to buy back their pensions.
ARPA Funding and Pickleball Court Claims Clarified
A political mailer from the Pennsylvania Republican Party asserted that Malone took $120,000 in COVID-19 relief money and built a pickleball court. LNP | LancasterOnline verified this claim is false.
East Petersburg Borough, where Malone served as mayor for five years before his election to the state Senate in 2025, received more than $471,000 in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. Borough officials discussed allocating $120,000 of those funds toward a pickleball court in 2023 but ultimately rejected using ARPA grants for recreation, directing the money toward firehouse and water pump station improvements instead. As mayor, Malone did not have a vote on borough council and could not formally decide how the funds were used. Several other Lancaster County municipalities did use ARPA money for recreational turf fields and pickleball courts, including East Donegal Township, which voted to spend funds on pickleball courts after Jones concluded his four-year tenure as a supervisor in 2022.
Childcare Tax Credit Opposition and Bipartisan Bill History
Print mailers funded by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and Malone’s campaign claim that Jones voted against tax breaks for families and seniors and opposed expanding the childcare tax credit. LNP | LancasterOnline confirmed this is true.
Jones voted against a bill that would have increased Pennsylvania’s 30% childcare tax credit by 5 percentage points annually through 2027, raising it to 50%. That bill passed the House 141-62 with bipartisan support before stalling in the Senate Finance Committee. Over the past four years, Jones has opposed staff recruitment and retention bonuses, carbon monoxide alarm regulations, expanded childcare tax credit eligibility, statewide family and medical leave, and a new employer childcare tax deduction. He did support a largely unanimous bill allowing families to retain some childcare benefits after their income rises, though that legislation has remained in the Senate Aging and Youth Committee for over a year.
Fireworks Facebook Post From 2019 Resurfaces in Ads
A mailer sent by Jones’ campaign claims Malone told East Petersburg residents celebrating the Fourth of July to grow up. LNP | LancasterOnline reported this is true but lacks context.
The ad references a Facebook post Malone wrote in 2019 during his first term as mayor, in which he criticized residents setting off illegal fireworks. Malone urged people to stop, warning that illegal fireworks waste borough resources and threaten lives and property. Writing that residents lived in a high-density area, his post stated: “You live in a high density area; GROW UP!”
Billionaire Campaign Contributions and Dark Money Allegations
A television ad paid for by Malone’s campaign states that Jones is bankrolled by dark money from a Philadelphia billionaire. LNP | LancasterOnline found this true but missing context.
Jones received a $500 in-kind contribution in 2023 from the Commonwealth Leaders Fund—which receives 96% of its funding from Yass—representing the cost of using event space for a fundraiser. In May, Jones received a $29,500 in-kind survey contribution from the PA Education Choice Fund, which was funded by a $4.2 million donation from the Students First PAC, which itself received more than $20 million from Yass this year. Jones stated in a September interview that he has never met and has no personal dealings with Yass. Campaign finance records show Jones’ other donors include county residents, local Republican officials, a skill games industry PAC, and the Better Pennsylvania PAC.
Keep reading