“ChangePA was the game-changer for my campaign.”
— Rep. Joe Webster
Hear Lisa Borowski, winning candidate for House District 168, Delaware County, thank ChangePA for its support.
ChangePA
TIME FOR CHANGE
Hear Rep. Jennifer O’Mara explain how she flipped a traditionally GOP seat.
“ChangePA’s support gave me the financial boost I needed—to spend my time at the doors, listening and speaking with people, instead of having to ask for money.”
— Rep. Melissa Shusterman
Who We Are
Time for Change
We are a Political Action Committee dedicated to growing a Democratic majority in the Pennsylvania State House.
ChangePA actively raises money year round because we believe early money is critical. We find and support strong candidates in Republican-held districts that have the potential to be flipped. Using a rigorous candidate selection process, ChangePA is able to contribute where funds will make the biggest difference and at the time the candidates most need help. We have no paid staff, so every dollar we raise above expenses goes to candidates.
ChangePA focuses on State House races because they receive less public attention and less funding than elections to the U.S. Congress—so ChangePA’s contributions have a big impact.
Great Job ChangePA!
Democrats have now achieved parity in the State House and ended 12 years of Republican dominance. We didn’t do it alone, but 15 new Democratic legislators have been elected with your help through ChangePA.
In the 2022 elections, eight ChangePA-supported challengers were elected along with all seven of the incumbents ChangePA supported.
“ChangePA helped us to level the playing field. Thank you, thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart!”
— Rep. Danielle Friel Otten
As part of our analysis of the 2022 transformative election we present some preliminary results.
Here is a map of the legislators your contributions helped to elect to change the Pennsylvania State House.
Before ChangePA determines which candidates to support, potential candidates are surveyed. One question we ask is how many votes they think they need to win. Obviously, any successful campaign needs an accurate goal. The chart below compares their estimates with actual votes.
Some candidates were right on. Others set high goals. Candidates who had run before or held local elected office exceeded their estimates of the votes they needed.
Now more than ever we need to continue our previous efforts to ensure support of our new Governor, Democrat Josh Shapiro. The election of 2024 is just around the corner!
Thank you for your support! You made the difference!!!
Donations by check should be made out to ChangePA and mailed to
ChangePA, 3006 Foxx Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19144.
Hon. Mark Bernstein (Ret.)
Laslo Boyd, Ph.D.
Anne Hagele
Margaret Harris
Peshe Kuriloff
Kim Oxholm
Hon. Flora Wolf (Ret.)
Candidates
We are pleased to announce that eight of the challengers ChangePA supported in the 2022 elections were victorious, as were all seven of the ChangePA-supported incumbents.
Through a rigorous evaluation process conducted by our Selection Committee and ratified by our Steering Committee, we identified districts that, by the data, appeared to be competitive and good candidates who fit their districts and had strong strategies for winning.
Following the conclusion reached in our post-2020 Election Report, these distributions came much earlier than in previous elections. We started contributing to candidates in June 2022 by supporting five challengers and the six incumbents we supported in previous elections. We thereafter contributed to an additional six candidates, for a total of 17.
We raised over $300,000 for this cycle, and our contributions made a big impact in each race.
Here are the candidates who received new donations from ChangePA and won:
Lisa Borowski, HD 168, Delaware County
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She has been a Commissioner in Radnor for four years
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Previously on the School Board
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The House Democratic Campaign Committee calls this a "Red to Blue" district (their highest recommendation)
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Attorney General Josh Shapiro won 56% of the vote in this district the last time he ran
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President Biden won 61% of the vote in this district in 2020
Tim Brennan, HD 29, Bucks County
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Doylestown Borough Council member
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Represents injured workers as specialist in workers’ compensation law
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“Red to Blue” district
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Shapiro 55%
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Biden 58%
Johanny Cepeda-Freytiz, HD 129, Berks County
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President of Reading City Council
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Entrepreneur running Mi Casa Su Casa Café in multiple locations
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“Red to Blue” district
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Shapiro 62%
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Biden 60%
Melissa Cerrato, HD 151, Montgomery County
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District Director under State Representative Liz Hanbidge
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“Red to Blue” district
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Shapiro 62%
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Biden 62%
Paul Friel, HD 26, Chester and Delaware Counties
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Second time running
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President of local school board
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“Red to Blue” district
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Shapiro 53%
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Biden 56%
Joe Hohenstein, HD 177, Philadelphia County
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Incumbent first elected in 2018
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Immigration attorney who developed first immigration law clinic at Temple law school
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15 years service on board of Frankford Friends School
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Shapiro 65%
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Biden 64%
Christopher Pielli, HD 156, Chester County
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Democratic State Committee member
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West Goshen Township Supervisor
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First Democrat elected as Chester County Recorder of Deeds
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The incumbent Democrat has retired so this is a district we need to hold
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Shapiro 57%
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Biden 61%
Tarah Probst, HD 189, Monroe and Pike Counties
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Three term Mayor of Stroudsburg
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“Red to Blue” district
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Shapiro 56%
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Biden 61%
Paul Takac, HD 82, Centre County
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Member of College Township Council
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Vice-Chair of both the Spring Creek Watershed Commission and the Public Safety Committee of the Centre Region Council of Government
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No incumbent
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Shapiro 51%
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Biden 52%
And, of course, each of the incumbents we helped to flip Republican seats in previous elections:
Nancy Guenst, HD 152, Montgomery County
Liz Hanbidge, HD 61, Montgomery County
Jennifer O’Mara, HD 165, Delaware County
Danielle Friel Otten, HD 155, Chester County
Melissa Shusterman, HD 157, Chester County
Joe Webster, HD 150, Montgomery County
Events & News
For this report, three leaders of ChangePA and the PA Blue Victory Fund interviewed 30 individuals involved in the 2020 elections, including 14 Democratic challengers and five incumbents.
State Representative Matt Bradford called the report, “about as thoughtful and high-level summary of what went on as I read from some of the best political strategists who would pretend to give advice to us as legislative leaders.” Here are some of the report’s highlights.
The election was dominated by the presence of Donald Trump at the top of the Republican ticket. Although all the candidates we interviewed achieved higher vote totals in their districts than ever before, record high Republican voter turnout, combined with gerrymandered districts, created a perfect storm for Democratic candidates for the Pennsylvania State House. Meanwhile, polling was generally way off the mark.
Lessons for 2022
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Campaigning needs to start well before the year of the election.
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Candidate messaging needs to incorporate on-the-ground and personal knowledge of the district.
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Early money is critical. Rather than holding most funds until the last months, candidates need resources early to define themselves to voters and to respond to attack ads.
Next Steps for ChangePA
The mission of ChangePA remains unchanged:
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Win a Democratic State House majority.
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Commit to a year-round, cycle-to-cycle, two-year effort within target districts.
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Build and sustain citizen focus on Pennsylvania state government.
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Expand fundraising to include efforts that support election infrastructure, messaging, and strategy.
Read the full report here.
Latest News
Ezra Klein Says That Steve Bannon Is Onto Something
January 10, 2022 —The right pays attention to where power lies in the American system. Bannon calls this “the precinct strategy,” and it’s working. To protect democracy, Democrats have to win more elections. To do that, they need to make sure the country’s local electoral machinery isn’t corrupted by the Trumpist right.
What We Know About the High, Broad Turnout in the 2020 Election
May 13, 2021 — 66.8% of eligible voters cast ballots in 2020, up from 60.1% in 2016 and the highest turnout rate since 1900. The boost was especially large among groups who have voted at lower rates. That suggests the 2020 election not only inspired high turnout overall, but also drew broader participation.
The Trump G.O.P.’s Plot Against Liz Cheney — and Our Democracy
May 11, 2021 — The GOP has declared that Trump’s ability to energize its base is so irreplaceable that it justifies accepting his Big Lie about the 2020 election and leveraging that lie to impose voter-suppression laws and changes in the rules of who can certify elections in order to lock in minority control for Republicans if need be.
Blog
by Laslo Boyd, Ph.D.
