Mary Gay Scanlon
Mary Gay Scanlon | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1959 (age 65–66) Watertown, New York, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Residence | Swarthmore, Pennsylvania |
| Education | Colgate University (BA) University of Pennsylvania (JD) |
| Website | Campaign website |
Mary Gay Scanlon (born 1959) is an American attorney and politician. She is the Pennsylvania Democratic Party's nominee for U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 5th congressional district in 2018. She is also the Democratic nominee for the special election in Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district due to the resignation of Pat Meehan.[1]
Early life and education[edit]
Scanlon was born in Watertown, New York.[2] She is the daughter of Daniel Scanlon and Carol Florence Yehle and has two sisters, Elizabeth Lowe and M. Kathleen Scanlon. Her father was an attorney and was appointed part-time magistrate in 1971 and full-time magistrate in 1993.[3] Her maternal grandfather, Leo J. Yehle, was a family-court judge who helped write the first juvenile justice code in New York in the 1960s.[4] Mary Gay earned her bachelor's degree from Colgate University in 1980 and her juris doctor from the University of Pennsylvania in 1984. She immediately became a judicial clerk for the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.[5]
Legal career[edit]
In 1985, Scanlon was chosen by the Support Center for Child Advocates to represent a sexually abused 11-year-old named Denise in a dependency case. Scanlon helped win the child's trust as she navigated Philadelphia’s Department of Human Services and the two developed a relationship that lasted long beyond the legal proceedings. This was her first taste of public interest law, and she decided to make a career out of it. In 1994, she received the Fidelity Award, the highest award for public service from the Philadelphia Bar Association.[4]
Scanlon served as an attorney with the Education Law Center of Philadelphia, helping implement special education laws, before joining Ballard Spahr as pro bono counsel. As part of her job, she helped coordinate free legal services to low income recipients. She partnered with the Wills for Heroes Foundation, providing free legal documents free of charge to first responders. Another important case she undertook was helping a young woman with sickle-cell disease from Guinea obtain permanent residency.[4]
In 2006, she was appointed vice chair of the Tax Commission.[5] The following year, she joined the Wallingford-Swarthmore School District board.[2] In 2009, she became President of the school board, serving until 2011.[5] Scanlon improved sustainability in the school district and focused on school lunch nutrition.[6] She stepped down from the school board in 2015.[2]
2018 U.S. House campaign[edit]
On February 25, 2018, Scanlon launched her campaign for US Congress in Pennsylvania's 5th District in the 2018 election. The district had previously been the 7th, represented by four-term Republican Pat Meehan, who had announced a month earlier that he was not running for reelection. She kicked off the campaign by giving a speech at Swarthmore Rutledge School. The seat was created by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in a gerrymandering case and mainly consists of Delaware County. Scanlon said that her interest in running was also piqued by the fact that Pennsylvania has no women in its congressional delegation.[7] She was endorsed by former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell and the Philadelphia Inquirer.[6]
On May 15, Scanlon won the 10-person primary with 16,831 votes, or 28.4% of the vote share. Her closest competitor was Ashley Lunkenheimer, who received 9,060 votes or 15.3% of the share. She will face Pearl Kim in the general election in November.[8] “Tonight we can revel in this moment,” Scanlon said in her acceptance of the Democratic nomination. “You all here have once again rewritten history in Delaware County. Tonight, we made it possible for this new district for the first time to be represented by a Democrat in Congress and to be represented by a women in Congress.”[9] The district is more compact and Democratic than its predecessor; had it existed in 2016, Hillary Clinton would have won it with 63 percent of the vote, which would have been her third-best performance in the state and her strongest outside of the Philadelphia-based districts.[10] By comparison, Clinton won the old 7th with 49 percent of the vote.[11]
Meehan resigned from the House on April 27, 2018. Scanlon was named as the Democratic candidate in a special election for the old 7th. As a result, she will be running in two elections in November–a special election for the balance of Meehan's fourth term, and a regular election for a full two-year term.
Political positions[edit]
Scanlon identifies as progressive. Scanlon has voiced her opposition to the National Rifle Association and calls for greater gun control. Other important policies she champions are fair elections; affordable health care and public education; human rights for victims of economic and political oppression; and strong environmental regulations.[7] She is in favor of universal pre-K and supports marijuana decriminalization. In order to reduce the deficit, Scanlon wants to roll back Trump’s tax cuts to the wealthy. On the subject of a $15 minimum wage, she says she likes it “as a goal, but I do think we need to be careful and probably stage it."[6]
Personal life[edit]
Scanlon lives in Swarthmore with her husband, Mark Stewart. They have three grown children.
Publications[edit]
- "Doing Well While Doing Good: Pro Bono Work as an Integral Part of Associate Development," The Legal Intelligencer, August 2006
- "How Pro Bono Programs Build Law Firm Identity," The Legal Intelligencer, January 2008
- "Increasing Pro Bono Work in a Recession—Are You Kidding?!" The Legal Intelligencer, January 20, 2009
References[edit]
- ↑ Carey, Kathleen (May 26, 2018). "Dems tap Mary Gay Scanlon as candidate for 7th District special election". Daily Local News. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Watertown native runs for congress in Pennsylvania". Watertown Daily Times. May 1, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ↑ "Daniel Scanlon Jr., 69". Syracuse Post-Standard. July 20, 1998. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Sacharow, Fredda (2009). "Scanlon Finds Her Calling in the Family Business: Public Interest". Penn Law Journal. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Mary Gay Scanlon Pro Bono Counsel". Ballard Spahr LLP. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Otterbein, Holly (May 9, 2018). "Meet Mary Gay Scanlon, the education advocate and Ballard lawyer running for Congress". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 Sheehan, Neil (February 25, 2018). "Former Wallingford-Swarthmore school board president launches bid for Congress in the 5th". Delaware County Daily Times. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ↑ "Pennsylvania Primary Election Results". New York Times. May 17, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ↑ Carey, Kathleen (May 16, 2018). "Scanlon wins Dem contest in race for 5th District U.S. Congress seat". Delaware County Daily Times. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
- ↑ Presidential results by congressional district for districts used in 2018, from Daily Kos
- ↑ Presidential results by congressional district for districts used in 2016, from Daily Kos
External links[edit]
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