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Kim Ward
2008 - Present
2028
16
Kim Ward (Republican Party) is a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate, representing District 39. She assumed office on December 1, 2008. Her current term ends on November 30, 2028.
Ward (Republican Party) ran for re-election to the Pennsylvania State Senate to represent District 39. She won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Senate Republicans appointed Ward state Senate majority leader in November 2020.[1] She served until becoming state Senate president pro tempore in January 2023.[2]
Biography
Ward attended the Community College of Allegheny County, the University of Pittsburgh and Middle Tennessee State University.
Ward began serving as a county commissioner for Westmoreland County in 2007. She was a member of the Hempfield Township Board of Supervisors from 2001 to 2007. Ward was also a former southwest Pennsylvania coordinator for former Governor Mark Schweiker in 2002 and served as the southwest Pennsylvania field director for Bush-Cheney 2004. Ward also worked as an independent political consultant from 2005 to 2006.
Committee assignments
Note: This membership information was last updated in September 2023. Ballotpedia completes biannual updates of committee membership. If you would like to send us an update, email us at: editor@ballotpedia.org.
2023-2024
Ward was assigned to the following committees:
- Aging & Youth Committee
- House Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee
- Senate Appropriations Committee
- Banking & Insurance Committee
- Communications & Technology Committee
- Community, Economic & Recreational Development Committee
- Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure Committee
- Senate Education Committee
- Senate Environmental Resources & Energy Committee
- Senate Finance Committee
- Senate Game & Fisheries Committee
- Health & Human Services Committee
- Intergovernmental Operations Committee
- Senate Judiciary Committee
- Senate Labor & Industry Committee
- Law & Justice Committee
- Senate Local Government Committee
- Rules & Executive Nominations Committee
- Senate State Government Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee
- Urban Affairs & Housing Committee
- Senate Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee
- Capitol Preservation Committee
2021-2022
Ward was assigned to the following committees:
- Rules & Executive Nominations Committee, Chair
- Senate Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness Committee
2019-2020
Ward was assigned to the following committees:
- Aging & Youth Committee
- Banking & Insurance Committee
- Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure Committee
- Community, Economic & Recreational Development Committee
- Rules & Executive Nominations Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee, Chair
2017 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:
| Pennsylvania committee assignments, 2017 |
|---|
| • Appropriations, Vice chair |
| • Banking & Insurance |
| • Community, Economic & Recreational Development |
| • Environmental Resources & Energy |
| • Finance |
| • Labor & Industry, Chair |
2015 legislative session
At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Ward served on the following committees:
| Pennsylvania committee assignments, 2015 |
|---|
| • Community, Economic & Recreational Development, Chair |
| • Appropriations, Vice-Chair |
| • Agriculture & Rural Affairs |
| • Banking & Insurance |
| • Environmental Resources & Energy |
| • Finance |
2013-2014
In the 2013-2014 legislative session, Ward served on the following committees:
| Pennsylvania committee assignments, 2013 |
|---|
| • Community, Economic & Recreational Development, Chair |
| • Aging & Youth |
| • Banking & Insurance |
| • Environmental Resources & Energy |
| • Public Health & Welfare |
| • Rules & Executive Nominations |
| • Legislative Budget and Finance |
2011-2012
In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Ward served on these committees:
| Pennsylvania committee assignments, 2011 |
|---|
| • Aging & Youth, Chair |
| • Banking & Insurance, Vice Chair |
| • Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure |
| • Public Health & Welfare |
| • Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness |
2009-2010
In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Ward served on these committees:
| Pennsylvania committee assignments, 2009 |
|---|
| • Banking & Insurance, Vice Chair |
| • Communications & Technology |
| • Consumer Protection & Professional Licensure |
| • Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness |
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: Pennsylvania State Senate elections, 2024
General election
General election for Pennsylvania State Senate District 39
Incumbent Kim Ward won election in the general election for Pennsylvania State Senate District 39 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kim Ward (R) | 96.8 | 122,605 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 3.2 | 4,117 | ||
| Total votes: 126,722 | |||
 = 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 State Senate District 39
Incumbent Kim Ward advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania State Senate District 39 on April 23, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kim Ward | 99.2 | 24,721 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.8 | 192 | ||
| Total votes: 24,913 | |||
| = 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 Ward in this election.
Pledges
Ward signed the following pledges.
2020
See also: Pennsylvania State Senate elections, 2020
General election
General election for Pennsylvania State Senate District 39
Incumbent Kim Ward defeated Tay Waltenbaugh in the general election for Pennsylvania State Senate District 39 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kim Ward (R) | 67.6 | 93,310 |
 | Tay Waltenbaugh (D) | 32.4 | 44,768 | |
| Total votes: 138,078 | |||
| = 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 State Senate District 39
Tay Waltenbaugh advanced from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania State Senate District 39 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Tay Waltenbaugh | 100.0 | 25,362 |
| Total votes: 25,362 | |||
| = 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 State Senate District 39
Incumbent Kim Ward advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania State Senate District 39 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kim Ward | 100.0 | 27,583 |
| Total votes: 27,583 | |||
| = 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
2018
Ward sought election to the 18th Congressional District of Pennsylvania in the 2018 special election. Ward was not selected as the party's nominee.[3][4]
2016
Elections for the Pennsylvania State Senate took place in 2016. The primary election was held on April 26, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was February 16, 2016.
Incumbent Kim Ward ran unopposed in the Pennsylvania State Senate District 39 general election.[5][6]
| Pennsylvania State Senate District 39, General Election, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican |  Kim Ward Incumbent (unopposed) | |
| Source: Pennsylvania Department of State | ||
Incumbent Kim Ward ran unopposed in the Pennsylvania State Senate District 39 Republican primary.[7][8]
| Pennsylvania State Senate District 39, Republican Primary, 2016 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | |
| Republican | Kim Ward Incumbent (unopposed) | |
2012
Ward ran in the 2012 election for Pennsylvania Senate District 39. Ward ran unchallenged in the April 24 primary and defeated Ronald Gazze in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012.[9][10]
| Party | Candidate | Vote % | Votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Kim Ward Incumbent |
87% | 92,984 | |
| Independent | Ronald Gazze | 13% | 13,946 | |
| Total Votes | 106,930 | |||
2008
On November 4, 2008, Ward was elected to District 39 of the Pennsylvania State Senate. Ward defeated Tony Bompiani (D) in the general election.[11]
Ward raised $1,413,904 for this campaign.[12]
| Pennsylvania State Senate District 39 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidates | Votes | |||
| WARD, KIM (R)
|
60,740 | |||
| BOMPIANI, TONY (D) | 51,571 | |||
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Kim Ward did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Kim Ward did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.
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.
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Pennsylvania scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the Pennsylvania State Legislature was in session from January 2 to November 14.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the Pennsylvania State Legislature was in session from January 3 to December 13.
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2022
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2022, click [show]. |
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In 2022, the Pennsylvania State Legislature was in session from January 4 to November 30.
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2021
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2021, click [show]. |
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In 2021, the Pennsylvania State Legislature was in session from January 5 to December 31.
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2020
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2020, click [show]. |
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In 2020, the Pennsylvania State Legislature was in session from January 7 to November 30.
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2018
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2018, click [show]. |
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In 2018, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was in session from January 2 through November 30.
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2017
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show]. |
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In 2017, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was in session from January 3 through December 31.
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2016
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show]. |
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In 2016, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was in session from January 5 through November 30.
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2015
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show]. |
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In 2015, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was in session from January 6 through December 31.
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2014
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show]. |
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In 2014, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was in session from January 7 through November 12.
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2013
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2013, click [show]. |
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In 2013, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was in session from January 2 to December 31.
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2012
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2012, click [show]. |
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In 2012, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was in session from January 3 to November 30.
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2011
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2011, click [show]. |
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In 2011, the Pennsylvania General Assembly was in session from January 4 through November 30.
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Personal
Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Ward are her husband, Tom, have three children. They live in Hempfield Township, Pennsylvania.
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Officeholder Pennsylvania State Senate District 39 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ TribLive, "Kim Ward becomes 1st woman to serve as majority leader in Pennsylvania Senate history," November 12, 2020
- ↑ Erie News Now, "PA Senate GOP Announce Leadership Team for 2023-24 Session," November 15, 2022
- ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedcong17 - ↑ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, "Republicans pick state Rep. Rick Saccone as nominee for March 13 special election," November 11, 2017
- ↑ Pennsylvania Voter Services, "Candidate listing," accessed August 31, 2016
- ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "November 8, 2016, official election results," accessed May 17, 2017
- ↑ Pennsylvania Secretary of State, "Election Information," accessed February 18, 2016
- ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "2016 Presidential Primary," accessed August 2, 2016
- ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "2012 General Primary," accessed March 11, 2014
- ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "2012 General Election," accessed March 11, 2014
- ↑ Pennsylvania Department of State, "2008 General Election," accessed March 11, 2014
- ↑ Follow the Money, "2008 campaign contributors," accessed May 15, 2014
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
Pennsylvania State Senate District 39 2008-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Hempfield Township Board of Supervisors 2002-2007 |
Succeeded by - |
