William Gregory Rothman (born December 10, 1966) is an American politician who has served as chairman of the

Pennsylvania Republican Party The Pennsylvania Republican Party (PAGOP) is the affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in the state of Pennsylvania, headquartered in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Harrisburg. Its chairman is state senator Greg Rothman. ...

since 2025. He is also serving as a state senator for

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

's 34th District since 2023, and previously a member of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

from 2015 to 2022, representing the 87th District.

Early life and education

Rothman was born on December 10, 1966, in

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Harrisburg ( ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the seat of Dauphin County. With a population of 50,099 as of 2020, Harrisburg is the ninth-most populous city in Pennsylvania. It is the larger of the two pr ...

. He graduated from Cumberland Valley High School in 1985, received a B.S. in political science from the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

in 1989, and an M.S. in real estate from

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

in 2005. He served in the

Marine Corps Reserves The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the Reserve components of the United States armed forces, reserve force of the United State ...

Political career

Rothman was chair of the Bush-Cheney 2004 re-election campaign in

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Cumberland County is a County (United States), county in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 259,469. Its county seat is Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Carlis ...

. He was a volunteer aide on the Rick Santorum's 2012 presidential campaign, often appearing in Santorum's entourage. In August 2015, Rothman was elected to the

in a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

to fill a vacancy in the 87th House district. The vacancy arose from the resignation of

Glen Grell Glen R. Grell (born December 28, 1956) is a former Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 87th District who was elected in 2004 and served until his resignation on April 30, 2015. Career Grell was the deputy gen ...

, who stepped down to become executive director of the

Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System The Public School Employees’ Retirement System (PSERS) is a pension fund for public school employees in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Eligible members include all full-time public school employees, part-time hourly public school employees wh ...

. The district included Camp Hill, East Pennsboro Township, and Hampden Township, as well as a part of Silver Spring Township; Rothman lives in Silver Spring Township. He was reelected in 2016, 2018, and 2020. In 2016, Rothman was the chair of the Cumberland County Republican Party. He supported Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, and was on Trump's team at the

2016 Republican National Convention The 2016 Republican National Convention, in which delegates of the United States Republican Party (United States), Republican Party chose the party's nominees for President of the United States, president and Vice President of the United Sta ...

arranging convention operations. He defended Republican Senator

Pat Toomey Patrick Joseph Toomey Jr. (born November 17, 1961) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party, he served three terms as the U.S. represen ...

from intra-party critics who asserted that Toomey was insufficiently pro-Trump. In 2020, Rothman was chair of the House Republican Campaign Committee, leading the campaign efforts for the Pennsylvania House Republicans. In 2019, Rothman sponsored legislation to shorten the time period for

evictions Eviction is the removal of a Tenement (law), tenant from leasehold estate, rental property by the landlord. In some jurisdictions it may also involve the removal of persons from premises that were foreclosure, foreclosed by a mortgagee (often ...

in Pennsylvania. The bill was supported by landlords' organizations and opposed by tenant and low-income housing advocacy organizations. He supports a reduction in Pennsylvania's corporate net income tax and abolition of the state's

inheritance tax International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and pro ...

. Rothman was the leading supporter of legislation, signed into law in 2019, that established 21 as the minimum age to purchase tobacco products, including

e-cigarette An electronic cigarette (e-cigarette), or vape, is a device that simulates smoking. It consists of an atomizer, a power source such as a battery, and a container such as a cartridge or tank. Instead of smoke, the user inhales vapor. As such ...

s, except for active-duty military personnel and honorably discharged veterans, for which the minimum age remained 18. The exemption was criticized by

tobacco control Tobacco control is a field of international public health science, policy and practice dedicated to addressing tobacco use and thereby reducing the morbidity and mortality it causes. Since most cigarettes and cigars and hookahs contain or us ...

groups. After

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

was defeated by

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

in the 2020 presidential election, Rothman was one of 26 Pennsylvania House Republicans who wrote a letter calling for the election to be overturned by withdrawing Pennsylvania's certification of its

presidential electors In the United States, the Electoral College is the group of presidential electors that is formed every four years for the sole purpose of voting for the president and vice president in the presidential election. This process is described in ...

, despite the fact that Biden won by over 80,000 votes in Pennsylvania. The group of Republicans erroneously claimed that the election was marred by fraud. The letter came after Trump's campaign lost multiple court cases due to lack of evidence. In 2021, as part of

Republican efforts to restrict voting following the 2020 presidential election Following the 2020 United States presidential election and the unsuccessful attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election, attempts by Donald Trump and various other Republican officials to overturn it, Republican Party (US), ...

, Rothman supported a bill to rewrite Pennsylvania's election laws by requiring voter ID.

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

Tom Wolf Thomas Westerman Wolf (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 47th governor of Pennsylvania from 2015 to 2023. He previously served as chairman and CEO of his business, The Wolf Organization, and l ...

vetoed the bill. In

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, Rothman was elected to represent the 34th District in the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four-year terms, stagger ...

. In December 2024, Lawrence Tabas, chairman of the

, announced he would not seek reelection, Rothman declared a run for the chairmanship. He gained the support from U.S. Senator

Dave McCormick David Harold McCormick (born August 17, 1965) is an American politician, businessman, and former United States Army, Army officer serving since 2025 as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senato ...

and Congressman

Dan Meuser Daniel Philip Meuser ( ; born February 10, 1964) is an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist serving as the U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 9th congressional district since 2019. A Republican, he previously served as the ...

. In February 2025, Rothman was elected chairman of the Pennsylvania Republican Party.

Personal life

Rothman has spent several decades in the

real estate business Real estate business is the profession of buying, leasing, managing, or selling real estate (commercial, industrial, residential, or mixed-use development, mixed-use premises)."Real estate": Oxford English Dictionary online: Retrieved September 18 ...

. He was a

real estate agent Real estate agents and real estate brokers are people who represent sellers or buyers of real estate or real property. While a broker may work independently, an agent usually works under a licensed broker to represent clients. Brokers and age ...

and then CEO of RSR Realtors, a real estate company based in Lemoyne. Rothman was also part owner of the

Harrisburg Senators The Harrisburg Senators are a Minor League Baseball team who play in the Eastern League, and are the Double-A affiliate of the Washington Nationals. The team is based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and play their home games at FNB Field on Cit ...

minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

team.Robert J. Vickers
Election 2012: Sticking close to Rick Santorum is Senators co-owner and Harrisburg-area Realtor Greg Rothman
''PennLive'' (April 8, 2012). In 1991, Rothman pled guilty to a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit forgery. The conviction was later expunged by governor

Ed Rendell Edward Gene Rendell (; born January 5, 1944) is an American politician, author, and former prosecutor who served as the 45th governor of Pennsylvania from 2003 to 2011. He previously served as chair of the national Democratic Party from 1999 to 2 ...

who issued Rothman a pardon in January 2011. In 2015, Rothman said that he had learned from his mistake and took responsibility for it.

Electoral history

References

External links

Official campaign websiteOfficial Pennsylvania House of Representatives profile
* * , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Rothman, Greg 1966 births 21st-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly Chairs of the Republican State Committee of Pennsylvania Johns Hopkins University alumni Living people Pennsylvania Republicans People from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania Politicians from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Republican Party Pennsylvania state senators University of Massachusetts Amherst alumni