Just elected: The only Jewish woman in Pennsylvania’s legislature

By Jacob Kornbluh
February 8, 2023

A number of Jewish males sit within the Pennsylvania legislature however on Tuesday, after successful a particular election, Abigail Salisbury turned the physique’s solely Jewish lady. 

Salisbury, a Democratic legal professional and a councilmember from Swissvale, close to Pittsburgh, beat Republican police officer Robert Pagane with 87% of the vote to characterize a Home district that features elements of town.

It was vacated by Summer time Lee, who was elected to Congress in November after a bitter Democratic major that noticed impartial expenditure committees shaped by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and Democratic Majority for Israel shell out a mixed $11 million to spice up her Jewish opponent, Steven Irwin. AIPAC’s United Democracy Undertaking tremendous PAC spent an extra $1 million within the basic election towards Lee.

Salisbury misplaced to Lee in a Democratic major for the statehouse seat in 2021.

She and her husband are members of Temple Sinai, a Reform synagogue in Pittsburgh, the place they ran a younger grownup program and taught Torah courses, based on the Pittsburgh Jewish Chronicle. The couple beforehand attended different synagogues within the area — Rodef Shalom Congregation and Congregation Beth Shalom, which is affiliated with the Conservative motion. 

In the course of the marketing campaign, Salisbury stated her religion motivates her public service. Final April, she accused an area hearth chief of antisemitism throughout a public assembly of the Swissvale Borough Council. Chief Clyde Wilhelm remarked that her suggestion to supply residents with steerage about proof of vaccination required for  sure gatherings was “harking back to one thing that occurred a very long time in the past that didn’t prove very well.”

Salisbury stated the official was insinuating she was behaving like a Nazi, understanding she is Jewish. “I don’t suppose I must remind anyone in Pittsburgh — it’s a really actual type of discrimination that may be very harmful,” she stated. 

In an interview with an area publication, Salisbury stated ignorance usually results in antisemitism, and stated somebody instructed her she would have a straightforward time fundraising as a result of Jews are wealthy, and that others shared the parable that observant Jews have intercourse by way of a gap in a sheet.

Salisbury stated she was “excited” to see Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s third Jewish governor, announce that he would have a kosher kitchen within the governor’s official residence. “More often than not, Jewish observances are mysterious and holidays are type of an ‘also-ran,’ simply talked about in passing once they have some relationship in time with Christian holidays, and folks don’t actually even know what they’re,” she stated.

Her election makes Salisbury the primary Jew to characterize the district that borders the Squirrel Hill Jewish group. That neighborhood has been represented by State Rep. Dan Frankel, who’s Jewish, for the final 24 years. 

Democrats gained in all three Allegheny County particular elections on Tuesday, which gave the get together a 102-100 majority within the Pennsylvania Home. The Senate is managed by Republicans.