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Kathy Dahlkemper
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Kathy Dahlkemper
Kathleen Ann Dahlkemper (née Steenberge; born December 10, 1957) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she was elected the county executive of Erie County, Pennsylvania in 2013 and served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district from 2009 to 2011.
Dahlkemper was born Kathleen Ann Steenberge in Erie, one of seven children of Carl W. and M. Janet Clarke Steenberge. She graduated in 1982 from Edinboro State College (now PennWest Edinboro) with a degree in dietetics.
After graduating, she worked as a clinical dietician for over 20 years, initially in Houston, Texas, and later in the Erie area. Since 1997, she has been part-owner, human resources manager, and special projects director of Dahlkemper Landscape Architects and Contractors, a major landscaping firm in the area. Also, she is a co-founder and director of the Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park.
Dahlkemper was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. She supported the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for the armed forces, and was a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as "Card check". Dahlkemper identifies as "pro-life", and was the "Hall of Fame" Award recipient at the 2009 Conference of Democrats for Life of America, an anti-abortion advocacy group. She supported the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, an anti-abortion amendment to America's Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 (HR 3962), but later voted in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act after President Obama issued an executive order that barred the use of federal funds for abortions.[citation needed]
Dahlkemper announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the 3rd District in October 2007. As a first-time candidate for political office, she won the primary by an unexpectedly wide 19-point margin.
In the general election, Dahlkemper faced seven-term Republican incumbent Phil English. During the campaign, she attacked English for breaking his original promise to only serve six terms in Congress, and also tied him to the Bush administration. She raised $872,000 to English's $2.2 million, but was aided by large spending by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In the November election, Dahlkemper won in an upset, taking 51.2 percent of the vote to English's 48.8 percent. Though she won only two of the district's seven counties (Erie and Mercer), Dahlkemper secured victory by running up a large margin in Erie County, which she won by nearly 16,000 votes.
Dahlkemper was the first Democrat to represent the 3rd and its predecessors since Joseph Vigorito was toppled by Marc L. Marks in 1976, and only the third Democrat to represent the district since 1893. Although the district is anchored by heavily Democratic Erie, the largest city in the district (no other city has more than 17,000 people), it has historically elected moderate Republicans (most notably Tom Ridge, who represented it from 1983 to 1995).
Dahlkemper was the first woman to represent northwest Pennsylvania in the House, and was one of two women in the 19-member delegation from Pennsylvania, the other being Allyson Schwartz of the Philadelphia area.
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Kathy Dahlkemper
Kathleen Ann Dahlkemper (née Steenberge; born December 10, 1957) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she was elected the county executive of Erie County, Pennsylvania in 2013 and served as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district from 2009 to 2011.
Dahlkemper was born Kathleen Ann Steenberge in Erie, one of seven children of Carl W. and M. Janet Clarke Steenberge. She graduated in 1982 from Edinboro State College (now PennWest Edinboro) with a degree in dietetics.
After graduating, she worked as a clinical dietician for over 20 years, initially in Houston, Texas, and later in the Erie area. Since 1997, she has been part-owner, human resources manager, and special projects director of Dahlkemper Landscape Architects and Contractors, a major landscaping firm in the area. Also, she is a co-founder and director of the Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park.
Dahlkemper was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. She supported the repeal of the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy for the armed forces, and was a co-sponsor of the Employee Free Choice Act, also known as "Card check". Dahlkemper identifies as "pro-life", and was the "Hall of Fame" Award recipient at the 2009 Conference of Democrats for Life of America, an anti-abortion advocacy group. She supported the Stupak-Pitts Amendment, an anti-abortion amendment to America's Affordable Health Care Act of 2009 (HR 3962), but later voted in favor of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act after President Obama issued an executive order that barred the use of federal funds for abortions.[citation needed]
Dahlkemper announced her candidacy for the Democratic nomination for the 3rd District in October 2007. As a first-time candidate for political office, she won the primary by an unexpectedly wide 19-point margin.
In the general election, Dahlkemper faced seven-term Republican incumbent Phil English. During the campaign, she attacked English for breaking his original promise to only serve six terms in Congress, and also tied him to the Bush administration. She raised $872,000 to English's $2.2 million, but was aided by large spending by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. In the November election, Dahlkemper won in an upset, taking 51.2 percent of the vote to English's 48.8 percent. Though she won only two of the district's seven counties (Erie and Mercer), Dahlkemper secured victory by running up a large margin in Erie County, which she won by nearly 16,000 votes.
Dahlkemper was the first Democrat to represent the 3rd and its predecessors since Joseph Vigorito was toppled by Marc L. Marks in 1976, and only the third Democrat to represent the district since 1893. Although the district is anchored by heavily Democratic Erie, the largest city in the district (no other city has more than 17,000 people), it has historically elected moderate Republicans (most notably Tom Ridge, who represented it from 1983 to 1995).
Dahlkemper was the first woman to represent northwest Pennsylvania in the House, and was one of two women in the 19-member delegation from Pennsylvania, the other being Allyson Schwartz of the Philadelphia area.
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