Kathleen Ann Dahlkemper (
née
A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...
Steenberge; born December 10, 1957) is an American politician. A member of the
Democratic Party, she was elected the
county executive
A county executive, county manager or county mayor is the head of the executive branch of government in a United States county.
The executive may be an elected or an appointed position. When elected, the executive typically functions either as a ...
of
Erie County, Pennsylvania
Erie County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is the northernmost county in Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 270,876. Its county seat is Erie. The county was created in 1800 and later organized in 1803.
...
, in 2013 and served as the
U.S. representative for from 2009 to 2011.
Early life and education
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
A dietitian, medical dietitian, or dietician is an expert in identifying and treating disease-related malnutrition and in conducting medical nutrition therapy, for example designing an enteral tube feeding regimen or mitigating the effects of ...
.
Early career
After graduating, she worked for more than 20 years as a clinical dietician, first briefly in
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
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
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following:
# Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal o ...
firm in the area. She is a co-founder/director of the
Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park.
U.S. House of Representatives
Committee assignments
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Committee on Agriculture
**
Subcommittee on Conservation, Credit, Energy, and Research
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Subcommittee on Department Operations, Oversight, Nutrition and Forestry
*
Committee on Science and Technology
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Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight
*
Committee on Small Business
**
Subcommittee on Regulations, Healthcare and Trade (Chairwoman)
**
Subcommittee on Rural and Urban Entrepreneurship
Tenure
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
The Employee Free Choice Act is the name for several legislative bills on US labor law (, , , , , , , , .) which have been proposed and sometimes introduced into one or both chambers of the U.S. Congress.
The bill's purpose, as taken from the 20 ...
, 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
Democrats for Life of America (DFLA) is a 501(c)(4) American political advocacy nonprofit organization that seeks to elect anti-abortion Democrats and to encourage the Democratic Party to oppose euthanasia, capital punishment, and abortion. DF ...
, 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
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), formally known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and colloquially known as Obamacare, is a landmark U.S. federal statute enacted by the 111th United States Congress and signed into law by Pres ...
after President Obama issued an executive order that barred the use of federal funds for abortions.
Political campaigns
2008 congressional campaign
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
Philip Sheridan English (born June 20, 1956) is an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995–2009 from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, representing the state's 3rd Congr ...
. 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
Thomas Joseph Ridge (born August 26, 1945) is an American politician and author who served as the Assistant to the President for Homeland Security from 2001 to 2003, and the first United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2003 to 2005. ...
, 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
Allyson Schwartz (née Young; born October 3, 1948) is an American Democratic Party politician who represented parts of Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia in the United States House of Representatives from 2005 to 2015 and Northeast a ...
of the
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sin ...
area.
Her husband, Dan, was elected the first male President of the Congressional Spouses’ freshman class in 2009.
2010 congressional re-election campaign
Dahlkemper was defeated by Republican
Mike Kelly, a car dealer from the far southern portion of the district by 11.4%, the highest margin of defeat for any incumbent congressperson from Pennsylvania in 2010. While she carried Erie County, she lost badly in the rest of the district. Since Dahlkemper left office, a Democrat has come within single digits in the district, now numbered as the
16th District, only once.
2013 Erie County executive campaign
In March 2013, Dahlkemper announced her candidacy for Erie County executive, challenging incumbent Democrat Barry Grossman. She defeated Grossman in the May 21 Democratic primary with 52% of the vote. In the November general election, Dahlkemper defeated Republican nominee Don Tucci, winning 57% of the vote. She took office as county executive on January 6, 2014.
2017 Erie County executive campaign
Dahlkemper ran for reelection in 2017, winning by 307 votes, with 50.15 percent of the vote over her Republican opponent, Art Oligeri, who garnered 49.64 percent. She weathered a strong tide against her in the county's more conservative eastern portion.
Personal life
Dahlkemper married her first husband while in college; they divorced when the marriage became abusive, and she raised her son as a single mother on food stamp assistance.
She later married Dan Dahlkemper, who adopted her son; they had four additional children.
Electoral history
See also
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Women in the United States House of Representatives
References
External links
Kathy Dahlkemper for Congress''official campaign site''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dahlkemper, Kathy
1957 births
Living people
County executives in Pennsylvania
Politicians from Erie, Pennsylvania
Democratic Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
Female members of the United States House of Representatives
Women in Pennsylvania politics
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians
2020 United States presidential electors