2024 Democratic Candidates

U.S. PRESIDENT

Kamala Harris

Vice President Kamala Harris has devoted her career to fighting for the people.

As the daughter of parents who brought her to civil rights marches in a stroller, she was inspired to tackle injustice from an early age. She took that mission to county courtrooms, the California Attorney General’s office, the United States Senate, and the White House.

Now she is running for President of the United States to continue protecting our freedoms, delivering justice, and expanding opportunity so that every American can not just get by, but get ahead.

As vice president, she’s been a trusted partner to President Joe Biden in their work to take on the powerful and make change for the people — from standing up against extremists to defending reproductive freedom to taking on Big Pharma to bring down prescription drug costs and cap the price of insulin at $35 a month for our seniors.

The Biden-Harris administration has achieved a historic record of accomplishment, including: bringing our economy back from the brink of disaster to create nearly 16 million new jobs; investing over $1 trillion in infrastructure projects like repairing roads and bridges, removing every lead pipe in America, improving public transit, and expanding access to high-speed internet; strengthening the Affordable Care Act and lowering health insurance premiums to save millions of Americans an average of $800 per year; expanding health care for veterans exposed to toxins; enacting the first meaningful gun safety reform in decades and bringing violent crime down to a near 50-year low; passing the largest-ever investment in tackling the climate crisis; and appointing the first Black woman to the United States Supreme Court.

Vice President Harris has proudly represented the United States on the global stage in meetings with over 150 world leaders and bolstered vital alliances against tyranny abroad — and she is just as committed to stopping would-be authoritarians and dictators at home. She is leading the charge to protect fundamental freedoms, including the right to an abortion and the right to vote.

In the U.S. Senate, she led on legislation to raise wages and bring down costs for American families — on housing, health care, child care, college, and more. Serving on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Select Committee On Intelligence, and Committee On Budget, she fought for critical causes like criminal justice reform, climate action, infrastructure investments, and election security. She also grilled Donald Trump’s nominees, including Justice Brett Kavanaugh, and Cabinet officials, including then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, to get answers for the American people.

As California’s attorney general, she went up against the big banks and won — securing $20 billion for middle class homeowners who were facing foreclosure during the Great Recession. She went up against predatory for-profit colleges and won — delivering a $1.1 billion settlement for students and veterans who got scammed. She went up against discrimination and won — leading the team that helped bring down California’s Proposition 8 at the U.S. Supreme Court and fighting for marriage equality nationwide. She prosecuted transnational gangs t​​hat exploited women and children and trafficked in guns, drugs, and human beings, and fought to require for-profit insurers to cover contraception and other reproductive health services.

Beginning her career in the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, she specialized in prosecuting child sexual assault cases. She later joined the San Francisco District Attorney’s office, and went on to win election to two terms as district attorney — where she started a program, “Back on Track,” to give first-time drug offenders the opportunity to earn high school diplomas and get jobs, that became a national model for decreasing recidivism rates.

Vice President Harris is a proud graduate of Howard University and the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.

In 2013, her best friend set her up on a blind date with Douglas Emhoff. The next year, she married him. Their large blended family includes their children, Ella and Cole, who call her Momala.

Throughout her life, she’s broken barriers, and she’s now the first woman, first Black American, and first South Asian American to serve as vice president. She always remembers and acts on the words of her mother, Dr. Shyamala Gopalan Harris, a renowned breast cancer researcher:

“Kamala, you may be the first to do many things, but make sure you are not the last.”

On January 20, 2025, if we all do our part, she will once again make history — and she will make sure the doors of opportunity are wide open for all to follow.

U.S. SENATOR

Bob Casey

Bob Casey was born and raised in Scranton, where he still lives today. He brings the Pennsylvania values of hard work and perseverance to his service in the U.S. Senate every day. He believes that all of us must strive to make Pennsylvania a Commonwealth in life as well as in name, facing our biggest challenges head-on, and facing them together. The stories, struggles, and aspirations of Pennsylvanians inspire Bob Casey to keep fighting to level the playing field for our working families and deliver results for the Commonwealth.

SERVING PENNSYLVANIA

“All public service is a trust, given in faith and accepted in honor.” Those are the words inscribed on the Finance Building in Harrisburg where Bob Casey started his work in public service, and the words that still guide him today. He has striven to honor that trust by working across the aisle to get things done and deliver for Pennsylvania’s working families. Whether it’s standing up to China, lowering costs for families, or funding critical infrastructure projects that will create tens of thousands of jobs in Pennsylvania, Bob Casey is fighting every day in Washington to improve the lives of the people he represents. One of the most bipartisan and effective members of the Senate, he introduced and passed into law more bills than nearly every other Senator in the last Congress.

FIGHTING FOR WORKERS AND WORKING FAMILIES

Bob Casey’s fight for workers and families is shaped by his own family’s story. His grandfather, Alphonsus Liguori Casey, worked as an 11-year-old in a coal mine near Scranton to help support his family. Today, his grandson is leading the fight in Washington to extend the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund for Pennsylvania’s coal miners, save pensions for tens of thousands of Pennsylvania workers, and put an end to tax breaks for union busting. Bob is also fighting to hold big corporations accountable for raising prices on middle-class families, stop the flow of fentanyl into our communities, and fight back against China’s cheating practices that hurt Pennsylvania workers.

CHAMPION FOR CHILDREN, SENIORS, VETERANS, AND PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

Bob Casey has dedicated his career to fighting for the most vulnerable among us. His ABLE Act, which allows people with disabilities to save for their future, has been called the most significant disability legislation passed into law since the Americans with Disabilities Act. He worked to cap the cost of insulin at $35 for seniors, and helped pass the PACT Act to provide care to veterans who have suffered after being exposed to toxic burn pits. Throughout his time in public service, Bob Casey has been a steadfast and nationally recognized advocate for Pennsylvania’s children.

Since 1991, Bob and his wife, Terese have lived in the Hill section of Scranton in the same home where they raised their four daughters. Representing Pennsylvania in the Senate has been the honor of Bob’s lifetime, but his favorite job is being “Bomba” to his two grandsons. A true son of our Commonwealth, Bob regularly visits each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties to talk to people about the issues that matter most to them. He has spent his life standing up for Pennsylvanians and his sleeves are rolled up to continue the fight.

ATTORNEY GENERAL

Eugene DePasquale

Just like any Pennsylvanian, Eugene doesn’t back down from a tough fight.

Whether it’s standing up for women’s reproductive freedoms, taking on police bureaucracy to reduce backlogs in untested rape kits, or holding polluters accountable for dirtying our air and water, Eugene has your back.

Born and raised in the blue-collar city of Pittsburgh, Eugene knows the value of hard work, putting himself through law school at night.

Eugene is a lifetime Democrat and principled leader who will stand up to both parties to protect Pennsylvanians.

He’s earned a reputation as a transparent, independent watchdog of the taxpayer’s money.

As a former state legislator and two-term Auditor General with a record of protecting Pennsylvanians by taking on tough challenges and holding each party accountable, Eugene asks for your support in his campaign for Attorney General.

PA AUDITOR GENERAL

Malcolm Kenyatta

Representative Malcolm Kenyatta is a third-generation North Philadelphia native, thought leader, and legislator, currently serving in the Pennsylvania General Assembly. He earned a B.A. in Public Communications and a minor in Political Science from Temple University, a M.S. in Strategic and Digital Communications from Drexel University and completed the Harvard Kennedy School’s Executives in State and Local Government program.

He has been chosen for multiple prestigious fellowships and international delegations including: the Bertelsmann Leadership Fellow in the Digital Economy, the bipartisan Hunt/Kean Leadership Fellow in Education, American Jewish Committee (AJC) Project Interchange.

Representative Kenyatta is a barrier-breaking public figure, becoming the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color and one of the youngest members elected to the PA General Assembly in 2018. In 2022, he became the first openly LGBTQ+ person of color to run for the U.S. Senate in American history.

Representative Kenyatta has been a vocal proponent of protecting workers’ rights, enacting common-sense gun safety policies, and rooting out government corruption and waste. He has multiple legislative leadership roles: member of the powerful State Government Committee with oversight on state agencies and elections, Chair of the Subcommittee on Campaign Finance and Elections, Chair of Automation and Technology in the Committee on Commerce, and a member of the Finance Committee. Since elected, he has additionally served on Governor Tom Wolf’s Suicide Prevention Task Force, and he has been a member of the Philadelphia Delegation leadership team. In the Spring of 2023, he was appointed as the chair of President Biden’s Presidential Advisory Commission on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence, and Economic Opportunity for Black Americans.

In 2020, he was chosen by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to give the keynote address at the Democratic National Convention along with a group of other ‘Rising Stars’. Representative Kenyatta appears regularly on local and national media outlets including 60 Minutes, CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News.

His political career and life have been the subject of two documentaries: an award-winning short, Going Forward and an Al Roker (Today Show)-produced feature length film, Kenyatta: Do Not Wait Your Turn. He lives in North Philadelphia with his husband Dr. Matthew Kenyatta and their dog Cleo.

PA TREASURER

Erin McClelland

A native of Western Pennsylvania and a lifelong Democrat, I was born, raised, and currently live in a working-class steel mill town on the outskirts of Allegheny County. I am the beneficiary of four generations of organized labor and relish the fact that my hometown still has an operational steel rolling mill. I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from the University of Pittsburgh in 1997 and my Master of Science concentrating in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from Chatham University (formerly Chatham College) in 2002.

I spent 15 years of my career as a substance abuse and mental health counselor and served as a program manager and director in treatment systems in multiple Western PA counties. In 2003, I began working at the Institute for Research, Education, and Training in Addiction (IRETA) as their Process Improvement Manager. My work was dedicated to reducing the 10-year information gap between best-practice research and clinical integration throughout Pennsylvania, New York, and New Jersey.

During that time, I had the privilege to train under the direction of former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, where I learned supply chain logistics and lean process improvement strategies to eliminate errors, increase effectiveness, reduce waste, and improve outcomes in large systems. While at IRETA, I served as an opiate addiction consultant on the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy’s (ONDCP) 25 Cities Initiative.

In 2006, I designed, successfully state-licensed and operated the first and only orthomolecular recovery program for addiction in Pennsylvania. This program raised nearly $2 million in venture capital funding and was featured twice in Industrial Engineer Magazine for using supply chain management principles and lean systems to improve effectiveness. Not willing to succumb to common claims of over-regulation in the substance abuse treatment system by some providers, I set a goal to achieve a perfect evaluation in the clinic’s annual state audit and achieved it.

In 2014 and 2016, I was the Democratic nominee for the United States Congress in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District serving Cambria, Somerset, Beaver, Westmoreland, Lawrence, and Allegheny Counties. Being on the ballot with Donald Trump and seeing first-hand the issues of rural and working-class voters ignored by my own party was an experience and a conscious awareness that I carry with me to this day.

In 2015 I began performing process improvement and policy work at the Allegheny County Department of Human Services (DHS). My work includes redesigning the organization’s employee performance management system, developing a merit-based hiring process and policy, writing the employee medical marijuana policy, and identifying points of systemic bias in the employee recruitment and retention processes. Every day I work to standardize employees’ work, eliminate systemic bias, and advocate for blame-free workplace principles that protect workers, improve morale, and decrease turnover and other forms of systemic loss.

I have thoroughly enjoyed starting and operating a small business and working to improve government systems, processes, and policies while advocating for our public sector workers. My experience has taught me, in any large complex adaptive system, it doesn’t matter how good your intentions are if you don’t have viable systemic answers to two fundamental questions: What problem are you trying to solve and what is the root cause of this problem? The devil lies completely in the details of the policy solutions you implement. And it’s time we elect a responsible, honest broker to oversee the Commonwealth’s Treasury who is committed to rebuilding our state’s supply chain with transparency and integrity and managing our taxpayer’s coffers with diligence and accountability.

Want to get involved? Visit our mobilize page to see upcoming volunteer opportunities.

U.S. Representative

Matt Cartwright

U.S. Representative Matt Cartwright represents Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District and was first sworn into Congress in 2013.
His priorities in Congress include strengthening the middle class, creating jobs, ensuring quality health care, protecting seniors, and supporting veterans and military families. A strong believer in working with members of both political parties, he has introduced more bills with Democratic and Republican support than any other House Democrat since he was first elected. As a result, he was named one of the most effective House Democrats by the nonpartisan Center for Effective Lawmaking and a "Bipartisan Champion" by the Common Ground Committee. So far, Rep. Cartwright has succeeded in authoring and passing 16 substantive bills into law, signed and enacted by the last three Presidents.

A senior member of the powerful House Committee on Appropriations, Rep. Cartwright serves as the Ranking Member of the Commerce, Justice and Science Subcommittee and the second-highest Democrat on the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee. This presents an excellent opportunity for him to bring every penny of his district’s fair share of federal tax dollars to Northeastern Pennsylvania. He was ranked No. 1 in Pennsylvania two years in a row and in 2022 he was No. 10 out of 435 congressional districts in the country for securing federal project dollars for his district.  

Local funding highlights include the expansion of medical and mental health services for women, children, families and the elderly; infrastructure upgrades in the form of water treatment, flood protection and paving projects; workforce development and job training; and new equipment, technology and operation centers for area police, firefighters and emergency responders. 

In the 118th Congress, he's more committed than ever to bringing federal funding home to drive regional economic growth, create jobs, fight crime, and provide much-needed public works projects.
Another of Rep. Cartwright’s priorities is restoring rail service from New York City to Scranton, PA, which Amtrak studies have shown will generate $84 million every year in new economic activity. His efforts include forming the Lackawanna Cut-Off Rail Restoration Caucus, a group of federal lawmakers from Pennsylvania and New Jersey with a focus on rebuilding track between Port Morris, New Jersey and Slateford, Pennsylvania. He also convened and continues to lead a bi-partisan coalition of nearly 50 federal, state, county and municipal leaders and economic development specialists in both states, working with officials from PennDOT, New Jersey Transit, the Pennsylvania Northeast Regional Railroad Authority, and the Federal Railroad Administration. 

Co-Chair of the Bipartisan House Military Depot Caucus and Dean of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Delegation, he is also the Vice Chair of the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition. He recently completed four years in House Leadership as Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee and remains a member of the Democratic Steering & Policy Committee, which makes committee assignments for all Congressional Democrats.

He graduated magna cum laude with a history degree from Hamilton College in 1983 and earned his J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1986, where he was a member of law review. 

Congressman Cartwright lives in Moosic, PA, with his wife, Marion. They have two sons, Jack and Matthew.

Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District includes Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike Counties and portions of Luzerne and Monroe Counties.

Pa State Representative

Robin Schooley Skibber

Robin Schooley Skibber is a dedicated community leader, advocate, and Democratic nominee running  to represent the 139th district in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives.

​​Robin was born and raised, and went to K-12 schools in Pike and Wayne Counties. With a lifetime of community volunteerism, more than 20 years as director of the Area Agency on Aging, and a passion for positive change, Robin is prepared to represent the 139th district in Harrisburg.

​The 139th District includes (in Pike): Blooming Grove, Greene, Lackawaxen, Milford, Palmyra, Shohola and Westfall Townships and Milford and Matamoras Boroughs, and (in Wayne), Cherry Ridge, Dreher, Lake, Lehigh, Palmyra, Paupack, Salem, South Canaan and Sterling Townships, and Hawley Borough.