State Rep.-elect Nate Davidson (D-Dauphin) (Contributed photo)
After five years as a legislative staff member, Harrisburg’s Nate Davidson will join the Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a lawmaker next year.
Davidson prevailed in a five-way Democratic primary for Rep. Patty Kim’s seat in the 103rd Legislative District. He defeated his Republican opponent, East Pennsboro Area School board member Cynthia Ward, in the general election last month. Kim was elected to the Dauphin County state Senate seat left open by Republican Sen. John DiSanto’s retirement
As a House staffer, Davidson worked as floor manager of the Democratic Caucus and senior advisor to the Democratic chair of the House Appropriations Committee. Before joining the legislative staff, Davidson ran the House Democratic Campaign Committee.
He received endorsements for a diverse group of supporters including Harrisburg Mayor Wanda Williams and other Dauphin and Cumberland county officials, the Pennsylvania State Education Association and eight other unions and advocacy groups including Planned Parenthood PA and Conservation Voters of PA.
“I was working with the senior leadership staff and the leaders on a day-to-day basis, so I have some of that institutional knowledge baked in from the past decade,” Davidson said. “That experience factor was one of the reasons a lot of the various groups, organizations or individuals came to support me in the campaign.”
The 103rd District includes part of the city of Harrisburg and part of Cumberland County including Camp Hill, Lemoyne, Wormleysburg and East Pennsboro Township.
Capital-Star: What would you say is most unique about your district?
Davidson: For the first time we have a state House seat that crosses the Susquehanna River.
Generally the east shore, west shore divide is well known in these parts. I view it as a real opportunity. I was born and raised in Dauphin County then I went to college in Cumberland County, and every day in my community, people get in their cars or get on the bus and they cross the bridge.
Too often in the past, there’s been that parochial view that the west shore takes care of itself, and the east shore, they take care of themselves, and they fight about this and that. But I really do think we’re one of the fastest growing areas in the commonwealth right now. We really need to be working together to capture that energy and harness the opportunities that present themselves.
Historically, rewind 50 or 60 years, much of Cumberland County hadn’t been developed. It was not a suburban community. It was farms for the most part. So I think as population growth has changed the communities, there was a population shift out of the city into bedroom communities.
These communities are all connected, whether you live in a bedroom community or you live in the city, or live on the west shore, work on the east shore, we’re all tied together.
C-S: What do you think are the most pressing issues in the 103rd district?
Davidson: One of the challenges that my district faces is the scale of needs in various parts of the district. You know, the city has some real needs and unique challenges because of our taxing situation. About half the property of the city is non taxable because it’s commonwealth owned or nonprofit. And that’s unlike any other municipality in the state.
There are more things that bind us together than separate us. Everybody wants healthy and safe communities, right? That starts with good schools, regardless of where you live. That starts with safe streets. That starts with safe communities and access to health care.
Some of the more acute things that will be impacting this region is we’re about to repair two bridges that cross the Susquehanna in the coming years, the Interstate 83 south bridge and the Market Street Bridge. It’s tough to see into the future on the calendar for when they’re scheduled to be replaced exactly, but they’re probably going to happen very close together in time, which is just going to create a whole host of other challenges for the region.
We also have to pay for those projects. And transportation funding is a major issue right now in the commonwealth.
C-S: Is there a piece of legislation that you have in your back pocket that you plan to introduce on day one?
Davidson: I plan on introducing former House Speaker Mark Rozzi’s bills for sexual abuse survivors in the new session. Obviously we’re disappointed that the legislature did not act in the past session to get that across the finish line.
(C-S note: Rozzi, who did not run for reelection, introduced legislation to create an exception to the civil statute of limitations to allow adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse to sue those who abused them and their enablers. Although the proposal to amend the state constitution to create a two-year window to seek legal compensation passed with bipartisan support, it never went to voters for approval due to a procedural error. Attempts to pass the legislation again in the past session were unsuccessful after the state Senate amended it to include a voter ID requirement)
I’ve spoken with Rozzi, but also a number of the other members of our caucus who have been passionate on this issue, some of whom have shared their own survival stories publicly. Others have not, but I’ve spoken with them as well. It’s disappointing that there are those who made a choice to interject something like that into an issue that really is just common sense and obvious.
I’m doing my best not to point fingers and insert partisanship here, because I think if we’re ever going to get this across the finish line, it’s important to take a step back from those partisan lines, and remember that like this is a proposal that will serve the best interest of Pennsylvanians.
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