Biography

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Senator David G. Argall
29th District

“My Grandfather Argall once taught in a rural one-room schoolhouse where he was paid partially in vegetables. My mother was discriminated against because young mothers in the 1950s were told to ‘stay home, teach later.’ We’ve made considerable progress since those days, but our students, parents, teachers, and staff still face significant obstacles in too many of our schools, public and nonpublic.”

“My goal is to further improve the education of all Pennsylvania students, from pre-school to grad school, in our smallest towns and villages to our largest cities.”

Senator David G. Argall represents the 29th District, which now includes 102 municipalities in northeastern Pennsylvania including all of Schuylkill and Carbon Counties, and parts of Luzerne County including the city of Hazleton.

As a member of the Senate’s majority leadership team and the proud grandson of Cornish, Welsh, and German farmers, coal miners, and factory workers, Senator Argall’s top legislative priority is revitalizing our downtowns and older industrial neighborhoods.

Senator Argall has led successful battles to pass several new anti-blight laws.  Because of his grassroots teamwork, “left behind” communities across Pennsylvania, from his hometown of Tamaqua to parts of our largest cities, have witnessed a positive transformation.

In the Senate, he now chairs the Education Committee, one of the most active legislative committees at the Capitol. He formerly chaired a bipartisan commission which unanimously recommended more than $400 million in taxpayer savings.  Senator Argall is also a leader in conservation, farmland preservation, and abandoned mine reclamation initiatives, locally as a volunteer Scout leader and as the author of legislation which has recycled more than 97 percent of Pennsylvania’s waste tires.

Senator Argall earned a bachelor’s degree from Lycoming College and a Ph.D. in public administration from Penn State.  His studies included an Eisenhower Fellowship to review the economic and political transformations in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall.  His doctoral dissertation reviewed the benefits and drawbacks of Pennsylvania’s tax-free “Keystone Opportunity Zones” for economic development.

Dr. Argall has served as a part-time public policy instructor for more than 30 years at Lycoming College, Penn State, and at Lehigh Carbon Community College, where he helped to lead the transformation of the vacant junior high school where his parents once taught into LCCC’s Morgan Center.

Senator Argall and his wife Beth are the parents of AJ and Elise, who are pursuing careers in patent law and communications. The Argalls share their Rush Township home with their very active terrier, Wolfgang.

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