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Jim Atkinson (Pennsylvania)

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Jim Atkinson
Image of Jim Atkinson

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments
Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of Hawaii, Manoa, 1992

Personal
Birthplace
San Francisco, Calif.
Religion
Catholic
Profession
Pilot
Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Instagram

Personal LinkedIn

Jim Atkinson (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District. He lost in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Atkinson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Jim Atkinson was born in San Francisco, California. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Hawaii, Manoa in 1992. His career experience includes working as a pilot. He has been affiliated with the Air Line Pilots Association.[1]

Elections

2024

See also: Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District election, 2024

Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District election, 2024 (April 23 Democratic primary)

Pennsylvania's 11th Congressional District election, 2024 (April 23 Republican primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 11

Incumbent Lloyd Smucker defeated Jim Atkinson in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 11 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Lloyd Smucker
Lloyd Smucker (R)
 
62.8
 
253,672
Image of Jim Atkinson
Jim Atkinson (D) Candidate Connection
 
37.0
 
149,641
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
673

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2

Total votes: 403,986
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 11

Jim Atkinson advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 11 on April 23, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Jim Atkinson
Jim Atkinson Candidate Connection
 
99.2
 
38,559
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.8
 
325

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2

Total votes: 38,884
Candidate Connection = 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 11

Incumbent Lloyd Smucker advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 11 on April 23, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Lloyd Smucker
Lloyd Smucker
 
98.6
 
68,039
 Other/Write-in votes
 
1.4
 
987

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2

Total votes: 69,026
Candidate Connection = 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Atkinson in this election.

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Jim Atkinson completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Atkinson's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

I'm a devoted husband and father, airline pilot, proud union member, and lifelong Democrat. I see 2024 as a pivotal year in the protection of our democracy, our constitution and our values as a nation.

I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with my wife and our three young sons. We are not native Pennsylvanians, but we've found it very enjoyable to settle into this wonderful community and make new friends. This is a great place for families, and I hope to play a part in keeping it that way and making it even better. I've lived most of my life West of the Rockies, in California, Alaska and Hawaii, but I also spent a number of years in Europe and China, following my career. Living abroad made my especially aware of what a precious thing we have here in the USA: the only nation on Earth built on an idea.

I've stepped forward as a candidate because I feel that this is a time for all of us who cherish our freedoms and our way of life to step forward as much as we can, working to defend and improve our quality of life.
  • Defend Democracy. We must stand up to those who would have this country slide backwards into authoritarian hands. We need to confront head-on those who would suspend our Bill of Rights, limit access to voting, steer us away from our system of Checks and Balances and peaceful transfer of power.
  • Our healthcare system works well for its owners, and almost no one else. We spend almost $4 trillion per year on healthcare, accounting for almost 20% of our GDP. Our healthcare system is almost equal in size to Germany's entire GDP, yet Canada's system works better!

    When Big Pharma tells you "we have to charge you 10 or 20 times more for your medication in the USA, compared to what we charge for the same medicine in other countries, because we need that money for research," should we believe them? Or should we see that they're trying to fool us? Of course that money goes into the profit column.

    We can do better than this, and I favor a single-payer system.
  • We need to focus more on the well-being of our children. ALL of our children. We need to make sure they're having a happy, healthy childhood and are getting as good an education as we can provide. The shrinking middle class means more and more families feel the squeeze even in good times, and are crushed in bad times. This is not good for our children -- and they will inherit this country one day. Shouldn't we leave them with a sustainable world? Shouldn't they be able to have kids of their own one day and pass along to them the same things? A family should not have to be rich to offer its children what you and I had when we were growing up.
Oversight of government, consumer protection, health and education, transportation, and military defense. On the latter, I support maintaining our position as a superpower by enforcing full accountability at the Pentagon. I also believe we should export our own values of freedom and democracy, opposing authoritarianism worldwide and holding dictators accountable.
For me, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. only grows in stature with each passing year. He gave his famous "I have a dream" speech three months before I was born, so I entered this world at a time of great change and great tragedy here at home. Six decades later, we all know we are a better country for the changes brought by Dr. King, and it is still our job to bring his dream to full fruition.
"So Damn Much Money," by Robert G. Kaiser. Subtitled "The Triumph of Lobbying and the Corrosion of American Government."
Kaiser was a Washington Post journalist for four decades, and takes us on a frightening tour of how lobbying and "legalized bribery" actually function in Washington D.C. these days.
Transparency, accountability, accessibility. An elected representative cannot simply hide from those he disagrees with, or those asking difficult questions.
Also, an elected official should not cynically see money as "the mother's milk of politics." IDEAS and PRINCIPLES should come first. We need leaders -- now more than ever -- with firm convictions and a passion for reforming our system of pay-to-play politics. "The best government money can buy" is not the government you deserve. We can and must do better.
I'm stubborn! I don't sway on my moral convictions, and I don't weathervane. I believe in hard work, step-by-step progress, learning and growing from each misstep, and staying the course. I am also not afraid to call out fabulists and con artists on their words and deeds.
Contact with constituents comes first. From that contact, a representative must fully participate in the legislative process to craft bills and vote on resolutions which will improve the lives of the people back home.
This is not to take away from the core responsibility of upholding and defending the constitution. We need leaders who understand that document and would lay down their own life to defend what it truly stands for.
If I could say at the end of my life that democracy is stronger in America partly as a result of my efforts, that would be the legacy I'd want. Let the PEOPLE decide how their government should work -- just like the founding fathers had in mind.
Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated when I was five. I remember clearly to this day my mother telling me what had happened, and how sad she was.
In high school I was washing airplanes and rental cars at the small airport near my house, to earn money for flying lessons. I did that from age 16 to 18, then became a flight instructor during college.
"Cold Mountain," by Robert Frasier. Such amazing craft, such artful writing. He takes you into another world -- an America that used to be -- and it could be both heaven and hell.
I thought the movie sucked, however. I would have put anybody but Jude Law in that role.
Han Solo from Star Wars. A get-it-done kind of guy who does it with style and humor, and can communicate with a Chewbacca.
"How 'bout you" by The McCoy Tyler Band. Good luck getting that song out of your head after you've heard it a few times! Great banjo solo in the middle, too.
I lived in Italy for the majority of the time between 2006 and 2019, and when I got there I barely spoke any Italian. My work was all in English so I could get by with very little Italian, but that wasn't good enough -- i wanted to become fluent. It's not easy to learn a language when you're in your forties! It took me five years to gain enough mastery of the language to blend in a bit, and another five to feel completely comfortable. Today, I live in Lancaster with my wife Elena, who is from the south of Italy, and as a family we generally speak Italian in the home. It was worth the effort, learning a new language!
When it puts the needs of the American People first, it can move mountains; when it puts corporate interests first, it is a butler to the rich.
No. But they do need to be very well-informed citizens and have a passion for representing their constituents.
Fake news, interference by nations hostile to our democracy, and our own failure to live up to some of our obligations to our children: to educate them, teach them media literacy so they can spot propaganda, and teach them our most deeply held values. If many Americans today don't understand what we were fighting against in WWII, and would elect today those who agree with our enemies of yesterday, we are doing something wrong and need to fix it. It won't be easy, but it must be done.
If we don't do this, all of the other challenges we face -- massive immigration from dysfunctional countries, climate change, environment, energy, geopolitical crises, technology and AI, to name a few -- will be left in the hands of a few to decide for the many.
Yes.
18 years for Senators, 12 for Congress and 10 years for Supreme Court Justices.
When I was growing up in California, our congressman was Leon Panetta. I look up to him and have always admired his courage, honesty and leadership. He has always called things as they actually are.
When I was canvassing for ballot signatures, many of the voters I met -- even some who were registered Republicans -- lamented that the incumbent congressman for this district "seems to live in a cave," never holds Town Hall Meetings, and many told of having written to his office and then received a robo-response which did not even address what they were writing about. These were great examples of how NOT to represent constituents.
An older couple are driving home from a New Year's Party. A policeman hits the lights and the man, driving, pulls over. The officer comes up to the window and asks "sir, do you know how fast you were going?" His wife answers for him, in a loud voice: "Officer he was going at least twenty miles an hour over the speed limit!" The man says "honey please... can I answer the officer's questions?"

"I don't know officer, I thought I was doing 45." Says the man.
"Well," says the officer, "you ran a stop sign."
"He ran the last FIVE stop signs!" exclaims the wife, and the man raises his voice: "honey PLEASE! CAN YOU JUST STAY OUT OF THIS?"
The officer asks "do you guys always fight like this?"

ONLY WHEN HE'S DRUNK!" Yells the wife.
Always.
I would be a bulwark member of Congress against spending which results in little benefit to society but only further enriches the "haves." Case in point: the government PPP loan program during the pandemic dished out nearly $900 billion in cash to job providers, many of whom didn't need the money, and 90% of it was then forgiven. That's nearly a trillion dollars heaped onto the national debt, and a great deal of it was fraudulent in nature.
The house should investigate every area of government where the interests of the people are being undermined by influential special interests. Currently the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is loaded heavily Republican, and has devoted an inordinate amount of time on Hunter Biden. This is the wrong way to use this committee's tremendous potential. We need to be investigating how the government can spend less to achieve the same aims, reducing our annual deficit while still delivering for THE PEOPLE.
House Oversght and Accountability, Commerce Science and Transportation, Ways and Means, Education and the Workforce, Budget, Foreign Relations, Smsll Business and Entrepreneurship... to name a few.
If I could wave a magic wand and make one huge change in Washington D.C., the ramifications of which would improve all of American life today, it would be to end the practice of back room lobbying and put it all out for public display. FULL TRANSPARENCY.

Speech is speech and money is money. They are different things, and we should force that difference to be recognized in our government.

The 2010 Citizens United decision by SCOTUS was a tragedy for transparency, and a tragedy for our democracy.

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

Atkinson’s campaign website stated the following:

“

Campaign Priorities
Holding On To Our Treasured Past, Building A Modern Future

Dedicated to openness and transparency.

Ever get the feeling your congressman has bigger priorities than YOU? You’re not alone! Sometimes, the only solution is to elect a new congressman. I will be an accessible, fully accountable representative and I WILL hold Town Hall Meetings.

Is Your Congressman Keeping Your Social Security Safe?

Did you know that in less than ten years, Social Security will face a solvency crisis? The Republican answer is to cut your benefits or privatize it (hand it over to our "friends" on Wall Street). I've got a different idea: why not adjust upward or even eliminate the income ceiling for Social Security contributions? Some people aren't aware of this, but you can look it up yourself: high income earners only pay Social Security contributions on the first $168,600 of their income. Read here about a proposal to increase that ceiling and make Social Security more secure.

Strengthening Workers' Rights

  • I stand firmly in support of unions and believe in the fundamental right of workers to organize and negotiate for fair wages, benefits, and working conditions.
  • I will advocate for policies that protect workers from exploitation, including raising the minimum wage to ensure a living wage for all Americans.
  • We need to invest in workforce training and education programs to empower workers with the skills needed for the jobs of the future.
  • I will work hard to energize the economy by supporting small businesses, fostering entrepreneurship, and attracting new industries to the state.
  • I will give high priority to infrastructure investments, modernization of our transportation systems, and new job opportunities in sectors which pay and treat workers well.
  • I will ensure equitable economic development that uplifts underserved communities — “the rising tide needs to float all boats,” not just the yachts.

Promoting Economic Prosperity

  • I will work hard to energize the economy by supporting small businesses, fostering entrepreneurship, and attracting new industries to the state.
  • Prioritizing infrastructure investments to modernize our transportation systems, expand broadband access, and create job opportunities in construction and related fields.
  • Ensuring equitable economic development that uplifts underserved communities and promotes sustainable growth across urban and rural areas alike.

Advancing Healthcare Access and Affordability

  • Healthcare is a fundamental human right, and I will fight to expand access to top-notch, affordable healthcare for all of us.
  • Supporting initiatives to bring price transparency to healthcare consumers, lower prescription drug prices, increase funding for community health centers, and expand Medicaid to cover more low-income individuals and families.
  • I stand firmly against the overturn of Roe v. Wade, and I believe that reproductive rights should be enshrined in the law. I also want every Pennsylvanian to have access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare services.

Addressing Climate Change and Environmental Justice

  • Climate change poses a grave threat to our planet and our communities. And the environmental disasters it produces are getting more expensive every year.
  • I will prioritize efforts to transition to clean energy sources and invest in sustainable infrastructure.
  • I will address the disproportionate impacts of pollution and climate change on marginalized communities, particularly communities of color and low-income neighborhoods.
  • I will support initiatives to conserve Pennsylvania's natural resources, protect our parks and wilderness areas, and promote responsible stewardship of our environment for future generations.

Advancing Social Justice and Equity

  • One very important thing you should know about me: thirty years ago, I was shot in the chest at point-blank range in San Francisco. It was a botched carjacking, and the attackers got away. They murdered someone a few weeks later, and were arrested for that crime.
  • You will never meet anyone more intolerant of violent crime than me, and I know that smaller crimes occur first -- and lead to violent crimes. We must address the root causes of such atrocities, yes absolutely; but Public Safety comes first and foremost.
  • I support criminal justice reform initiatives to address disparities in policing, sentencing, and incarceration, and I support doing so in a way which leaves us safer as citizens.
  • I also have no tolerance for hate crimes, and will do everything possible to protect LGBTQ+ rights, immigrant rights, disability rights, and the rights of other marginalized communities to ensure equal protection under the law and full participation in society.[2]
 ”
—Jim Atkinson’s campaign website (2024)[3]

See also

2024 Elections

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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 1, 2024
    2. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
    3. ↑ Jim Atkinson for Congress, “Priorities,” accessed March 7, 2024


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