HARRISBURG, Pa. — Editor's note: The above video is from Nov. 2, 2022.
Current State Representative Patty Kim (D-103) announced today that she will seek election to the Pennsylvania State Senate in 2024.
Kim will run to represent Senate District 15, the district including all of Dauphin County except municipalities north of Middle Paxton and East Hanover townships.
“I am so energized by the opportunity to represent even more citizens and families in this community,” Kim said in a press release. “This is my home and this county has shaped my adult life. My kids worked at Hershey Park, my husband and I hike the Stony Valley Rail Trail and I covered news across the county for years while working at a local television station. I know intimately the issues facing my neighbors here because they are the people I live next door to, do community projects with, see at the grocery store, restaurants and worship with.”
The district has been represented by Republican John Disanto since 2016. Kim's office says Disanto appears poised to run for another term, despite making a pledge in 2016 to retire when his second term expires in 2024.
“Senator DiSanto has failed us with his eight years of low energy, a narrow mind, and no good ideas,” Kim said. “It’s time for Dauphin County to have an energetic champion, and I promise you that’s what I’ll be for all families of this district. This community knows who I am and they’ve seen how I fight for them.”
Kim has served District 103 in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the last 10 years, since 2012. She says she will not seek re-election to the House in order to focus on her Senate run.
“My public service started in 2005 with a run for Harrisburg City Council when my daughter was just one year old. I wanted to help improve the city she was growing up in,” Kim said. “In 2012, I came to the state House with the opportunity to serve a broader portion of this community. I’ve fought for policies to help working families - raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, providing paid family leave, addressing the rise of gun violence, and expanding access and affordability of healthcare. But under Republican leadership, those bills never even got a vote. This year under new leadership in the House, my proposed legislation has been adopted, but then went on to languish in the Republican-controlled Senate. I’m running to finish the work I’ve started.”
Kim's office says that through her tenure in the House, she has kept pledges to return every automatic legislative COLA, opt out of the special legislative pension and post all of her legislative expenses online.
The current Representative lives in Harrisburg with her husband and son, and her daughter is a student at Temple University.