C-NET hosted candidates in the 2020 general election for interviews conducted by StateCollege.com editor Geoff Rushton. We’ll be sharing the interviews with candidates for the 12th and 15th congressional districts and the 76th, 77th, 81st and 171st state house districts.
Pennsylvania State House of Representatives 77th District, which includes State College, Ferguson Township (partial), Patton Township (partial), Huston Township, Philipsburg and Rush Township.
THE INCUMBENT
Democrat Scott Conklin, of Rush Township, is seeking his eighth term representing the 77th district, having first won election to the office in 2006. He is Democratic chairman of the gaming oversight committee. Prior to his election to the state house, he was a Centre County commissioner from 1998 to 2006. Conklin ran a carpentry business from 1989 to 2007. He and his wife, Terri, own Conklin’s Corner Antique Mall in Philipsburg.
Campaign website: facebook.com/ConklinForPA
THE CHALLENGER
Republican Steve Yetsko is running for the state House for the first time. A Penn State graduate with a degree in economics, Yetsko is an HVAC technician and community volunteer who with his wife, Lori, raised two sons in Julian. He said he first decided to run for the state House because Conklin has been unopposed in multiple elections and he believes voters should have a choice and now wants to move the state forward from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Campaign website: letsgowithyetsko.com
THE ISSUES
In their C-NET interviews, Conklin and Yetsko discuss why they’re running, experiences and qualifications, Pennsylvania’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, rural broadband internet access, aiding family farmers, property tax reform, mail-in voting, health care, climate change and environmental protection, the cost of higher education and racial justice.
Scott Conklin:
Steve Yetsko:
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