Times Chronicle & Public Spirit
Election 2022: Cerrato challenges incumbent Stephens for 151st House seat
Democrat Melissa Cerrato vs. Republican Todd Stephens to represent constituents in Harrisburg
Incumbent State Rep. Todd Stephens has an opponent vying for the 151st Legislative District in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives.
The Republican incumbent faces Democrat Melissa Cerrato on the ballot for the Nov. 8 general election.
The district encompasses Horsham and Montgomery townships, as well as parts of Lower Gwynedd and Upper Dublin townships. Recent redistricting impacted about 288 people of the more than 60,000 constituents who reside within the district boundaries, according to the Legislative Guide to Redistricting in Pennsylvania
Both candidates provided responses to the following questions:
Cerrato Why should voters elect you and not your opponent?
I’m not a career politician. I’ve always been alienated by the polarization and divineness that characterizes our current political system. I was drawn to government and served as Rep. Liz Hanbidge’s Constituent Service Advisor because public service is, for me, about helping other people — regardless of what party they voted for.
That’s not the mentality in Harrisburg right now. The Republican majority in Harrisburg has held up over 1,200 pieces of legislation to ensure they never make to the floor vote a vote—all because they were introduced by Democrats. Instead, they’ve used their power to advance a platform of extremism — from legislation that would effectively ban abortion, to denying common-sense gun reform and fair funding for our public schools. After all, this is the same, radical Republican party that readily enabled Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Voters should elect me because I believe that state government matters. Harrisburg doesn’t have to be a cesspool of extremists that are beholden to special interests, and bills that are dead on arrival. Instead, we can advance an agenda that works for everyone.
Assuming your victory, choose a single issue you would prioritize in the coming term — name it and describe what you want to accomplish.
I have four daughters. If the Republican leadership in Harrisburg gets their way, my daughters will have fewer rights than me and my mother did—we can’t stand for that.
I am, and have always been, a champion of reproductive freedom and access to abortion. My day one priority is codifying these essential rights into our law and protecting the right to an abortion in our state.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Rov. Wade now leaves the decision about how to regulate abortions up to individual states. Describe the abortion legislation that you would like to see enacted in Pennsylvania?
As I said above, I want to see legislation enacted that would codify the right to access an abortion into our state constitution.
Currently, state-sponsored health insurance will only cover an abortion procedure if the life of a mother is in danger, of if a pregnancy resulted from rape or incest. I want to see legislation enacted that would expand that coverage to ensure that everyone, regardless of how much money they make, can access an abortion. I also want to see legislation enacted that would boost funding for health clinics that provide reproductive health services—including contraception, emergency contraception, and abortion-related services. Our last state budget allocated over $7 million to crisis pregnancy centers— pro-life organizations that masquerade as legitimate medical providers despite not actually offering any medical procedures or guidance.
Additionally, I would support a suite of other bills to protect patients and medical providers who provide reproductive health services to out of state patients who receive care in our state. I also support legislation that has been introduced that would bar healthcare providers from disclosing information about a patient’s reproductive health services without consent.
Pennsylvania, like the rest of the nation, is suffering through a period of severe inflation. What specific steps do you believe need to be taken to address this issue?
As Rep. Hanbidge’s Constituent Services Advisor, I was the designated person on the other end of the phone line day after day, helping our constituents through the economic devastation of the pandemic. I myself have lost a home, and I know the crushing reality of crawling my way out of debt. I also know firsthand that Harrisburg is sitting on millions of dollars that could help people continue to pay their bills and put food on the table right now—I helped hundreds of people access that money when I was in Rep. Hanbidge’s office. But we need to be doing more. I support raising the minimum wage to at least $15 to help working Pennsylvanians across our state. We have an affordability crisis. In the world’s wealthiest democracy people shouldn’t have to work multiple jobs to only find themselves struggling to make ends meet.
Stephens Why should voters elect you and not your opponent?
I’ve been an effective and independent leader who has worked across the aisle to deliver real results for our families. When our water was contaminated with harmful PFAS chemicals I worked with Governor Wolf to create an innovative new program which has funded clean water projects in or for Montgomery, Horsham, and Upper Dublin Townships as well as Ambler Borough.
When there were gaps in our child protection laws, I used my experience
as a child abuse prosecutor and worked with Attorney General Josh Shapiro to close the loopholes to better to protect our children. As a former federal firearms and domestic violence prosecutor I’ve used my experience to improve our background check system, write the law increasing penalties for repeat offenders and lead the effort to ensure domestic abusers can’t obtain firearms. I also supported hundreds of millions of dollars in school safety grants and expanded mental health services for our schools to better protect our students.
Finally, I wrote the bill to create extreme risk protection orders in Pennsylvania. I’ve helped protect families from inflation by increasing property tax/ rent rebates for our seniors, creating a child care tax credit for working families, working with Governor Wolf to reduce taxes on our small businesses and fighting back efforts to increase the state income and sales taxes.
Assuming your victory, choose a single issue you would prioritize in the coming term — name it and describe what you want to accomplish.
I have consistently voted to defend a woman’s right to choose. We must ensure women retain the right to choose in Pennsylvania and that these decisions remain between women and their doctors.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade now leaves the decision about how to regulate abortions up to individual states.Describe the
abortion legislation that you would like to see enacted in Pennsylvania?
I have consistently voted to defend a woman’s right to choose and would oppose efforts to add restrictions in Pennsylvania. Further, I would support an amendment to our Constitution ensuring women retain the right to make their own healthcare decisions as is presently the case in Pennsylvania. These decisions must remain between women and their doctors.
Pennsylvania, like the rest of the nation, is suffering through a period of severe inflation. What specific steps do you believe need to be taken to address this issue?
We have taken steps to provide a safety net for our most vulnerable citizens by expanding the property tax/rent rebate program for seniors, increasing funding for low income heating subsidies, creating a child care tax credit for working families and working with Governor Wolf to reduce the tax burden on our familyowned small businesses.
By holding the line on excessive government spending we have the largest amount of funding in our “rainy-day” fund in state history. Holding this funding in reserve helps protect taxpayers from additional inflation impacts as well as any economic downturn. We need to continue investing in these types of safety net programs and manage our finances responsibly to protect our families from the impacts of inflation.