A Mifflin County Democrat has entered the race for the state House seat long held by a Centre County Republican
John Zangari on Tuesday announced his campaign for the 171st District, which represents parts of Centre and Mifflin counties. State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, R-Bellefonte, has represented the district for 15 terms dating back to 1997.
“I’m running for state representative because too many working families and seniors in our district are one emergency away from financial disaster,” Zangari said in a statement. “People are doing everything right, but wages haven’t kept up with rising costs for housing, health care, utilities and groceries. Harrisburg should be on their side, not on autopilot for special interests.”
Zangari said his core campaign values are “affordability, responsibility with public money and transparent, responsive government.”
His platform includes providing targeted tax relief for working and middle-class families, working to lower the costs of essentials such as housing, prescription medication and utilities, “pushing back on cost increases driven by unchecked data center growth” and reducing the gas tax while preserving funding to fix roads and bridges.
He also wants to cut “wasteful spending in Harrisburg, including phasing out subsidies like the Race Horse Development Fund and redirecting those dollars to schools, rural infrastructure and property tax relief.”
The state should be required, he said, to have “plain-language, transparent” budgets with public justifications for tax breaks and subsidies, and he wants state services to be modernized and streamlined with user-friendly online tools and application status trackers
Zangari also vowed to have regular ““Help Days” across the district to assist residents with state programs such as tax rebates and health coverage.
“Every dollar the state spends should be justified and clearly connected to public benefit, not political favor,” he said. “When Harrisburg wastes money, families are told to tighten their belts while special interests cash in. That has to change.”
An academic and facilities support specialist in Penn State’s Department of Sociology and Criminology, Zangari said he has worked in a wide range of roles since high school, including as a marketing specialist for a small religious goods company and as a corrections officer.
“My career has always been rooted in wanting to help people, whether that was in the criminal justice system, supporting students or working with small businesses,” he said. “Now I’m ready to take that experience to Harrisburg and fight for a government that answers the phone, spends taxpayer money responsibly and makes it possible for families in District 171 to build a stable life here.”
Zangari’s campaign plans to hold listening sessions, town halls and community events around the 171st District in the coming months.
The 171st District includes Bellefonte, Centre Hall and Millheim boroughs and Gregg, Haines, Miles, Penn, Potter, Spring and Walker townships in Centre County. In Mifflin County, it encmpasses Juniata Terrace, Kistler, Lewistown, Mcveytown and Newton Hamilton boroughs and Armagh, Bratton, Brown, Granville, Menno, Oliver Union and Wayne townships.
Primary Election Day in Pennsylvania is May 19. Tuesday marked the first day for candidates to circulate and file nomination petitions on Feb. 17. The last day to register to vote before the primary is May 4.
The General Election is Nov. 3.
