Local Races: 161st Legislative District

Leanne Krueger. Photo courtesy of Leanne for PA

Incumbent: Leanne Krueger (D)

Leanne Krueger has represented Pennsylvania’s 161st legislative district since summer 2015. She says she is proud of standing up to powerful forces, including corporate interests and Republican control in Harrisburg. As an example she offers her vote against what she calls “a $700 million handout to big oil and gas,” a reference to House Bill 732, passed last summer, which gave tax credits to petrochemical and fertilizer manufacturers.

Krueger also points to her record of championing victims of sexual misconduct. “I have called for the resignation of colleagues — even those in my own party — for sexual misconduct and abuse,” she says. She introduced the #MeToo State House Act in 2019.

Krueger calls “the lack of focus on everyday families in government” the most important issue facing voters. She sees failures at all levels from the president down to the state legislature during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Krueger points to a record of providing services to constituents without regard to party. 

One of Krueger’s priorities is flipping the state legislature to Democratic control through recruiting and helping fund candidates who work for working families, across the commonwealth. She calls the current Pennsylvania legislature a place “where so much bad policy is currently made and where so much good policy goes to die.”

Before entering politics, Krueger worked for the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies. She also worked for eight years as executive director of the Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia. She lives in Wallingford.

Ralph Shicatano. Photo: Ralph Shicatano

Challenger: Ralph Shicatano (R)

Ralph Shicatano describes himself a pro-business, pro-worker, law-and-order candidate who will “defend the American dream by standing against the progressive creep toward socialism, tax-and-spend government, and job-killing environmental radicalism.”

Shicatano says people should vote for him rather than Krueger because, he claims, she has been swayed by a partisan agenda and failed to consider each vote objectively. “I believe it is the duty of an elected representative to work for all of the residents in the district,” he says.

In Harrisburg, Shicatano would be particularly eager to work on budget issues. He expects the legislature will have to make hard funding decisions and says he would “give top priority to funding emergency responders and education.” He adds, “I will push to cut non-essential spending and fight hard to hold the line on tax increases.”

Other priorities for Shicatano include bringing down healthcare costs by addressing waste, fraud, and abuse, and by promoting increased competition among insurance providers. He supports tax incentives for businesses to offer opportunities for high school students so they can make more informed career choices. He believes that “making Pennsylvania more business-friendly should be a high priority in the legislature.”

Shicatano began his career in engineering, then became a small business owner. He has worked for the past 15 years in website development and digital marketing. He has lived in Aston for 28 years.