Heather Hanna (Pennsylvania state representative candidate)
Heather Hanna (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to represent District 5. She lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Hanna completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Heather Hanna was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. She attended Reading Area Community College and earned a bachelor's degree from Temple University in 2002. Her career experience includes being a homemaker. She has also worked as a guest teacher and substitute in K-12 classrooms.[1]
Elections
2024
See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 5
Eric Weaknecht defeated Heather Hanna in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 5 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Eric Weaknecht (R) | 66.7 | 23,664 |
 | Heather Hanna (D)  | 33.2 | 11,801 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 36 | ||
| Total votes: 35,501 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 5
Heather Hanna advanced from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 5 on April 23, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Heather Hanna | 99.7 | 3,437 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.3 | 9 | ||
| Total votes: 3,446 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 5
Eric Weaknecht advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 5 on April 23, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Eric Weaknecht | 99.4 | 5,530 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.6 | 33 | ||
| Total votes: 5,563 | |||
| = 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. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Hanna in this election.
Pledges
Hanna signed the following pledges.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Heather Hanna completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Hanna's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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I was born and raised in Berks County. I come from a family of Combat
Veterans, Farmers, House Cleaners, Small Business Owners, and more. Graduated from Fleetwood HS in 1990, attended RACC in the late 1990's, and transferred to Temple University where I graduated with a B.A. in Sociology in 2002. My husband and I married in 2002, moved to the City of Reading, & opened a small business. Throughout the years living in Reading I volunteered in many different capacities throughout our neighborhood, the city, and the county. I have served on boards for the South of Penn Neighborhood Assoc., Reading Area Firefighter Museum, and Reading Public Library. These experiences have helped me understand the inner workings of organizations and government in a way that gave me a real brass tacks training in by-laws, committees, and laws for organizations on state & local levels. I participated in a City of Reading Citizen Training Program that covered local governance. During that time I was also working on various projects, neighborhood cleanups, Junior Achievement in the classrooms at Reading High & with Alvernia after school programs, designed the How to Be A Good Neighbor program that I presented at after school programs, evening HS classes, and adult assistance programs with the Salvation Army. I also helped out at food pantries in my neighborhood. I look forward to the opportunity to continue
my years of service and be a true public servant to the citizens of District 5- I want voters to know that my main goal as State Representative for
District 5 is that I intend to represent everyone in the district. It doesn't matter to me if you are registered as a different political party or have different points of view; my job is to represent EVERYONE within my district. My focus will be on what is best for District 5, Berks County, and the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. - My platform focuses on Healthcare, Education & Training, Employment, Environment, and Public Safety. I have had the pleasure of meeting with citizens of different political parties of District 5 who have shared their expertise with me on these matters and I will continue to do so throughout the campaign and after being elected to office. If there are citizens of District 5 who are interested in sharing their expertise I am definitely willing to listen, no matter one's party affiliation.
- If you want a change from the same old representation, then I am your candidate. I will listen and consider what I learn. You, the citizens of District 5, are my priority.
Access to affordable healthcare is the biggest concern; it affects all of us.
When someone is trying to decide between paying their rent/mortgage or
going to the doctor it's not acceptable. We have tolerated unacceptable
fees and expenses that are unheard of around the world. Even if one is
financially well off benefits of basic healthcare can free up some of their
discretionary income to spend as they wish. This can open up opportunities
for those people to get things done on their homes, pay for services they
might otherwise let go for a year or two. When my Dad started his window
cleaning business it was difficult when the middle class had to cut back on
service are varied. Some examples are, Faiths of Our Fathers, Alf J. Mapp Jr.; Art Held Hostage, John Anderson; The Cow in the Parking Lot, Leonard Scheff & Susan Edmiston; Benjamin Franklin: An American Life, Walter Issacson. I have great interest and read many books on class structure and divides.
that will be funded.
help you with your issues no matter what it was. If they couldn't help you
themselves they would direct to the correct resources.
Currently Judy Schwank has been someone I am trying to model myself after, as we have some of the same interests and are both from Berks County. For instance, I don't want to see my staked yard signs all over the
highways. As someone who has organized many neighborhood cleanups I
am not a fan of more litter on our roads. My request would be that actual
citizens who support my campaign would put signs on their private property
my home. District 5 is really big enough for me. If I want to go to Washington
D.C. it would be for a vacation to go to the museums and botanical gardens.
I'm really a homebody who likes to read and do my hobbies with
houseplants and volunteering in my spare time. There would be less time
These stories have all tied back into my platform: access to affordable
healthcare, education & training, employment, environment, and public
safety. I will continue to listen and look forward to hearing more from the
citizens of District 5. It is my goal to be a public servant who will help to
beneficial to the needs of the residents of Pennsylvania. The state needs to
have contingencies to deal with immediate emergencies may not have time
to wait for the legislature to meet. Longer term issues need to be carefully
citizenry of District 5. What that will be is yet to be discerned. I am still
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 finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 25, 2024
