Local Races: 9th State Senate District
Editor’s note: An article from last week’s paper on the 161st legislative district race is available here.
Incumbent: Tom Killion (R)
State Senator Tom Killion
Tom Killion has represented Pennsylvania’s 9th State Senate District since 2016. He says he is proud that, in contrast to his opponent, “my record includes actual accomplishments.” He points to his votes for a new state-based health insurance exchange and for a law to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers.
“I have authored more than a dozen pipeline-safety related bills,” Killion wrote in an email. “And I am the only state legislator who is a party to a pipeline safety complaint.” State funding of public education is another priority.
Killion calls the COVID-19 pandemic the single most important issue facing his constituents today and points to his work on the commonwealth’s multi-billion dollar COVID-19 recovery plan. His current pandemic-related priorities are protecting front-line and essential workers and the “most vulnerable”; reclaiming jobs lost when businesses closed; and safely educating schoolchildren. “We can and must protect both lives and livelihoods as we fight COVID-19,” he says.
Killion names his “broad and varied career” as well as his “experience as a husband, father, and grandfather” as giving him the ability to effectively advocate for his community. Before election to the state Senate, Killion represented the 168th state legislative district (2003-2016) and was a member of the Delaware County Council (1992-2000). He has worked as stockbroker and as vice president of the Wyatt Elevator Company. He lives in Middletown.
Challenger: John Kane (D)
State Senate Challenger John Kane
John Kane says Harrisburg is dominated by “lawyers and career politicians who only act when their campaign donors need something.” If elected, he says he would represent working people as well as the unemployed and anyone struggling with a medical condition.
Kane says people should vote for him because his opponent “is in lockstep with Trump Republicans.” He accuses the incumbent state senator of not having done enough to address the severity of the pandemic, which Kane calls the biggest issue facing voters in the 9th District. If elected, he says he would work with Governor Tom Wolf’s administration to invest in small business to help them adapt to the current moment; provide personal protective equipment for frontline workers; and offer relief to workers who lost their jobs due to COVID and can’t find work.
“We cannot get back to normal life until we get control of this virus,” he asserts. “That will not happen if the White House and Pennsylvania Republicans continue to downplay its severity.”
A plumber, Kane is business manager of the Plumbers Union Local 690. He is a recent cancer survivor who credits that experience with making him determined to fight for affordable health care for Pennsylvanians. Other priorities include addressing the opioid crisis, protecting a woman’s right to choose, expanding vocational education programs, and fighting climate change.
Kane grew up in Havertown and now lives in Ridley. He and his wife Lori have four children.
