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Larry Farnese

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Lawrence M. Farnese Jr.
Image of Lawrence M. Farnese Jr.

Candidate, Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas

Prior offices
Pennsylvania State Senate District 1
Successor: Nikil Saval

Elections and appointments
Next election

November 4, 2025

Education

Bachelor's

Villanova University

Law

Temple University, 1994

Personal
Profession
Attorney
Contact

Lawrence M. Farnese Jr. (Democratic Party) is running for election for judge of the Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas in Pennsylvania. He is on the ballot in the general election on November 4, 2025. He advanced from the Democratic primary on May 20, 2025.

Farnese (Democratic Party) (also known as Larry) was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate, representing District 1. He assumed office in 2009. He left office on November 30, 2020.

Biography

Farnesse earned his bachelor's degree in political science from Villanova and his J.D. from Beasley School of Law, Temple University in 1994. His professional experience includes working as a practicing attorney for Buchanan, Ingersoll, and Rooney.[1]

Committee assignments

2019-2020

Farnese was assigned to the following committees:

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

Pennsylvania committee assignments, 2017
Community, Economic & Recreational Development, Minority chair

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Farnese served on the following committees:

2013-2014

In the 2013-2014 legislative session, Farnese served on the following committees:

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Farnese served on these committees:

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Farnese served on these committees:

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

2025

See also: City elections in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (2025)

General election

General election for Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas (9 seats)

The following candidates are running in the general election for Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on November 4, 2025.


Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas (9 seats)

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas on May 20, 2025.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Will Braveman
Will Braveman
 
11.2
 
103,441
Image of Sarah Jones
Sarah Jones
 
11.2
 
103,042
Image of Deborah Watson-Stokes
Deborah Watson-Stokes
 
11.0
 
100,952
Image of Kia Ghee
Kia Ghee
 
10.7
 
98,632
Irina Ehrlich
 
10.7
 
98,458
Image of Lawrence M. Farnese Jr.
Lawrence M. Farnese Jr.
 
10.7
 
98,327
Leon King II
 
10.0
 
92,483
Brian Kisielewski Candidate Connection
 
9.5
 
87,162
Anthony Stefanski
 
8.2
 
75,539
Image of Taniesha Henry
Taniesha Henry
 
6.6
 
61,041
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
1,484

Total votes: 920,561
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Endorsements

Farnese received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

2020

See also: Pennsylvania State Senate elections, 2020

General election

General election for Pennsylvania State Senate District 1

Nikil Saval won election in the general election for Pennsylvania State Senate District 1 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Nikil Saval
Nikil Saval (D)
 
100.0
 
124,514

Total votes: 124,514
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pennsylvania State Senate District 1

Nikil Saval defeated incumbent Lawrence M. Farnese Jr. in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania State Senate District 1 on June 2, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Nikil Saval
Nikil Saval
 
56.9
 
35,747
Image of Lawrence M. Farnese Jr.
Lawrence M. Farnese Jr.
 
43.1
 
27,025

Total votes: 62,772
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign finance

2016

See also: Pennsylvania State Senate elections, 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 Lawrence Farnese ran unopposed in the Pennsylvania State Senate District 1 general election.[2][3]

Pennsylvania State Senate District 1, General Election, 2016
Party Candidate
    Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Lawrence Farnese Incumbent (unopposed)
Source: Pennsylvania Department of State


Incumbent Lawrence Farnese defeated John Morley in the Pennsylvania State Senate District 1 Democratic primary.[4][5]

Pennsylvania State Senate District 1, Democratic Primary, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.png Lawrence Farnese Incumbent 74.26% 37,647
     Democratic John Morley 25.74% 13,049
Total Votes 50,696



2014

See also: Pennsylvania Lieutenant Gubernatorial election, 2014

Farnese considered a bid for Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania in 2014 but did not run.[6]

2012

See also: Pennsylvania State Senate elections, 2012

Farnese ran in the 2012 election for Pennsylvania Senate District 1. Farnese ran unchallenged in the Democratic primary on April 24 and defeated Alfonso Gambone (R) in the general election, which took place on November 6, 2012. [7][8]

Pennsylvania State Senate, District 1, General Election, 2012
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngLarry Farnese Incumbent 82.4% 95,612
     Republican Alfonso Gambone 17.6% 20,421
Total Votes 116,033

2008

See also: Pennsylvania State Senate elections, 2008

On November 4, 2008, Farnese was elected to Pennsylvania State Senate District 1.[9] Farnese raised $1,041,793 for this campaign.[10]

Pennsylvania State Senate District 1
Candidates Votes
Green check mark transparent.png FARNESE, LAWRENCE M. JR. (D) 95,727
MORLEY, JACK (R) 22,698

Campaign themes

2025

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

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You can ask Lawrence M. Farnese Jr. to fill out this survey by using the button below or emailing contact@farneseforjudge.com.

Email

2020

Lawrence M. Farnese Jr. 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.


Lawrence M. Farnese Jr. campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2020Pennsylvania State Senate District 1Lost primary$1,723,392 N/A**
2016Pennsylvania State Senate, District 1Won $838,000 N/A**
2012Pennsylvania State Senate, District 1Won $407,775 N/A**
2008Pennsylvania State Senate, District 1Won $1,041,793 N/A**
2006Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 182Lost $92,221 N/A**
Grand total$4,103,181 N/A**
Sources: OpenSecretsFederal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Pennsylvania

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.






2020

In 2020, the Pennsylvania State Legislature was in session from January 7 to November 30.

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to civil rights and civil liberties issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to economic issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to business issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on environmental issues.
Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.


2018


2017


2016


2015


2014


2013


2012


2011

Noteworthy events

Vote buying scheme

On February 1, 2017, Sen. Farnese was acquitted by a federal jury of charges of conspiracy, mail fraud, wire fraud, and violations of the Travel Act.[11] Prosecutors alleged that Farnese offered Ellen Chapman a bribe to gain her support in the 2011 election for Democratic ward leader of Philadelphia’s eighth ward. The scheme involved Farnese paying $6,000 towards a study-abroad program for Chapman’s daughter and in exchange, Chapman, who was a member of the eighth ward Democratic committee at the time, would use her position to support Farnese's candidacy for Democratic ward leader of the eighth ward. According to prosecutors, Chapman initially supported another candidate but switched her vote to Farnese.[12]

Personal

Note: Please contact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Farnese resides in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.[1]

See also


External links

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by
'
Pennsylvania State Senate District 1
2009–2020
Succeeded by
Nikil Saval (D)