Dennin to run for state House
DOUGLASS (MONT.) >> Just five days after voters went to the polls ending the 2019 election cycle, a Boyertown School Board member has announced her candidacy for a 2020 race.
Democrat Jill Dennin announced her candidacy for the 147th District seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.
The seat is currently held by Republican Marcy Toepel.
Toepel has been in office since 2010 when she won a special election to fill the seat vacated by then-Rep. Bob Mensch, who resigned to run for the 24th District Pennsylvania Senate seat vacated by Rob Wonderling.
In 2018, Toepel fended off a challenge from first-time candidate Josh Camson by winning more than 56 percent of the votes.
The 147th District includes Douglass (Mont.), New Hanover, Upper Frederick, Lower Frederick, Marlborough, Upper Salford, Lower Salford, West Pottsgrove, Upper Pottsgrove townships, and Green Lane and Schwenksville boroughs.
Dennin’s term on the school board does not expire until 2021.
“For the last 25 years I have been volunteering for various organizations in this community,” Dennin said in a press release announcing her candidacy. “We are seeing a trend in Harrisburg that leaves behind many of the people for whom I have advocated over the years.”
Dennin said she plans to build on her years of volunteering, advocacy, and time working on the Boyertown School Board to promote solutions in Harrisburg for issues facing her community.
While property tax reform and state education funding are at the top of her list, she would also like to see solutions for infrastructure and the political gridlock in Harrisburg.
“A new voice for our community is needed in Harrisburg. Our friends, families, and neighbors deserve someone who will rise above partisan politics and special interests to address the problems that have been ignored for far too long,” Dennin said.
Dennin and her husband Ned have been married 33 years. They have four boys who are graduates of Boyertown Area School District and are now working in their chosen fields of study.
Since moving to the area in 1994, Dennin has volunteered at St. Columbkill Parish, Boyertown Elementary School PTO, Bear Fever, Boys Scouts and Girls Scouts of America, Meals on Wheels, Boyertown Area YMCA, Pottstown Cluster of Religious Communities, Kennedy House Catholic Soup Kitchen, Berks County Intermediate Unit, and the Pennsylvania School Board Association.
Dennin was a substitute teacher in the Boyertown Area School District until 2013 when she was elected to the school board. She currently substitutes parttime in the Daniel Boone School District.