DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. – Democrat Heather Boyd has pulled a win in a special election in the Philadelphia suburbs could have had a big impact — determining which party controls the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in Harrisburg.
Boyd took on Republican Katie Ford to win the seat that opened in March after Democratic Rep. Mike Zabel resigned. He was caught up in multiple allegations of sexual harassment as he was starting his third term in the state House.
Libertarian Alfe Goodwin was also in the running. Her professional profile says she is a restorative justice expert, military veteran and retired cop.
Ford is a military veteran and behavioral therapist from Upper Darby Township. The wife of a police officer, Ford says she pledges to see violent crimes prosecuted, police given the tools they need and the community engaged in dialogue.
Last month, she called for officials to launch an effort to acquire the shuttered Delaware County Memorial Hospital, which she said could be used to meet a number of community and educational needs such as an expansion of the high school or a new vocational college.
Boyd was a high school and college arts teacher for 10 years, worked as chief of staff for Rep. Leanne Krueger and served as the district director and senior advisor for Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon. She founded the Delaware County chapter of the National Organization for Women and has served for six years as the chair of the Upper Darby Democratic Committee.
For three years, she also served on the Upper Darby school board, and says she will fight for laws and budgets that serve the district. Just a day before the election, President Joseph Biden endorsed Boyd, saying she will “protect a woman’s right to make her own health care decisions, stand up for common sense gun safety laws and expand access to voting rights.”
If Boyd had lost the race to Ford, the Pennsylvania House GOP could have grabbed control of the legislative chamber, which would have created a bigger challenge for Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro to gain support for his agenda, including his state budget, which has a June 30 deadline. The state Senate already has a Republican majority.