Dan Pastore
Dan Pastore (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.
Pastore completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Dan Pastore was born in Erie, Pennsylvania.[1]
Elections
2022
See also: Pennsylvania's 16th Congressional District election, 2022
General election
General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 16
Incumbent Mike Kelly defeated Dan Pastore in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 16 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Mike Kelly (R) | 59.4 | 190,546 |
 | Dan Pastore (D)  | 40.6 | 130,443 | |
| Total votes: 320,989 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 16
Dan Pastore defeated Rick Telesz in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 16 on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Dan Pastore | 69.1 | 44,262 |
 | Rick Telesz | 30.9 | 19,788 | |
| Total votes: 64,050 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Rob Sandera (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 16
Incumbent Mike Kelly advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 16 on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Mike Kelly | 100.0 | 87,028 |
| Total votes: 87,028 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Campaign themes
2022
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Dan Pastore completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Pastore's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Hard work is nothing new to Dan. Growing up and through law school, he worked at his family's construction company, and he became a skilled carpenter by the time he completed college.
After graduating from high school, Dan earned a degree in economics from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1980, and a law degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 1985. As a partner at an Erie law firm, Dan's practice focused on real estate and commercial and complex litigation in federal and state trial and appellate courts. Dan handled cases throughout Western Pennsylvania and represented a wide range of clients.
In 1994, while still working as an attorney, Dan co-founded Erie.Net, the first public internet service provider in Northwest Pennsylvania. Erie.Net created some of the first internet-related jobs and provided the first internet connection to thousands of homes and businesses in the region. While working at Erie.Net, Dan launched FishErie.com, the first website providing fishing information for Northwest Pennsylvania.
In 2000 Dan went on to co-found FishUSA, one of the first online tackle stores. Today FishUSA is a leading e-commerce retailer serving anglers across the nation and beyond. FishUSA provides a wide range of good-paying jobs at their offices, warehouse and Pro Shop in Erie County.- Dan knows that health care is too expensive and that too many seniors struggle to afford their medicine. In Congress, he will work to reign in health care costs while maintaining people's ability to choose their own doctor. Dan will oppose any effort to privatize or cut Medicare and supports legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs to reduce the costs for seniors.
- Dan supports reforming our trade laws to level the playing for American manufacturers. He will support trade agreements if they are fair but will oppose any trade deal that results in American jobs being shipped overseas. He will work to grow manufacturing jobs focused on clean energy, high tech, and other emerging sectors. To accomplish this, Dan will work for increased funding in workforce development and job training to ensure that workers here have the skills needed to attract new manufacturers to the region.
- Dan will fight to increase funding to our public schools and increase access to the technology that students and schools need while reducing the reliance on property taxes in school funding, which disproportionately affects poorer and more rural school districts. Making college and trade schools more affordable is a top priority of Dan's. Too many young adults enter the workforce burdened by student loans, which is why Dan supports efforts to make higher education more affordable by holding institutions accountable, reducing interest rates for federally guaranteed students, and increasing funding to reduce the debt burden on students.
People are losing faith in Congress because there is too much money in politics. Dan supports reforming our campaign finance laws that create strict limits on campaign contributions and remove unlimited dark money from corporations and other powerful interests.
Dan also supports tightening congressional ethics laws and will vote to prohibit the owning and trading of individual stocks by Members of Congress and their staff to ensure they are not enriching themselves by making investment decisions based on non-public information.In addition, Dan supports stricter reporting requirements for elected officials' financial disclosure reports so citizens can easily access the information.
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign website
Pastore's campaign website stated the following:
| “ |
Health Care/Prescription Drugs Dan knows that health care is too expensive and that too many seniors struggle to afford their medicine. In Congress, he will work to reign in health care costs while maintaining people's ability to choose their own doctor. Dan will oppose any effort to privatize or cut Medicare and supports legislation to allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs to reduce the costs for seniors.
Dan believes in equality for women. They are capable of making decisions and should always have the freedom to make choices about their health and their body. Dan will support their rights.
With our nation emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, our region needs a business leader like Dan who knows how to balance safety and the need to get products to market. That is why he supports providing adequate funding for research and development to ensure that our economy grows without endangering workers. Dan supports reforming our trade laws to level the playing for American manufacturers. He will support trade agreements if they are fair but will oppose any trade deal that results in American jobs being shipped overseas. He will work to grow manufacturing jobs focused on clean energy, high tech, and other emerging sectors. To accomplish this, Dan will work for increased funding in workforce development and job training to ensure that workers here have the skills needed to attract new manufacturers to the region.
One thing the pandemic showed us is that too many American families do not have access to affordable childcare. Dan will work to expand pre-K access so every child can develop educationally regardless of where they live or their family's financial situation. Dan will fight to increase funding to our public schools and increase access to the technology that students and schools need while reducing the reliance on property taxes in school funding, which disproportionately affects poorer and more rural school districts. Making college and trade schools more affordable is a top priority of Dan's. Too many young adults enter the workforce burdened by student loans, which is why Dan supports efforts to make higher education more affordable by holding institutions accountable, reducing interest rates for federally guaranteed students, and increasing funding to reduce the debt burden on students.
Dan strongly supports the right of individuals to form and join a union in the workplace without interference from the employer. If elected, Dan will support the PRO Act, which prohibits unfair coercion by employers to intimidate or fire workers who wish to form a union. He opposes efforts to undermine unions and will vote against falsely labeled legislation such as so-called "Right-to-Work" and "Paycheck Protection," which are designed to undermine and weaken unions.
People are losing faith in Congress because there is too much money in politics. Dan supports reforming our campaign finance laws that create strict limits on campaign contributions and remove unlimited dark money from corporations and other powerful interests. Dan also supports tightening congressional ethics laws and will vote to prohibit the owning and trading of individual stocks by Members of Congress and their staff to ensure they are not enriching themselves by making investment decisions based on non-public information. In addition, Dan supports stricter reporting requirements for elected officials' financial disclosure reports so citizens can easily access the information.
As an avid outdoorsman, Dan is committed to protecting the environment. Dan knows that we must address climate change while maintaining a strong economy. That is why he supports transitioning to clean energy in a manner that is swift, but not so fast that it disrupts our energy supply or slows economic growth. Like all sportsmen who spend time outdoors, Dan wants to ensure that our air and water are protected. He supports protecting and strengthening the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act. Dan will make funding the cleanup of abandoned industrial sites a top priority, so these sites can be repurposed for new development and recreation.
Americans pay into Social Security (up to 147,000. in wages in 2022), and their employers match that. Since it was enacted in 1935, it has substantially reduced senior poverty. Although highly popular among Americans, there are those who work continuously to privatize this program and put it into the hands of Wall Street. Dan will protect the retirement of our seniors and our citizens by fighting to keep dangerous hands off this program.
Dan supports the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. He will work to assure that this includes marriage, adoption, and jobs.[2] |
” |
| —Dan Pastore's campaign website (2022)[3] | ||
See also
2022 Elections
External links
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Candidate U.S. House Pennsylvania District 16 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on April 20, 2022
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Dan Pastore for Congress, “Issues,” accessed November 2, 2022
