Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Paul Friel
2022 - Present
2026
2
Paul Friel (Democratic Party) is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing District 26. He assumed office on December 1, 2022. His current term ends on November 30, 2026.
Friel (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to represent District 26. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.
Biography
Paul Friel was born in Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania. Friel graduated from St. Pius X High School in 1987. He earned a bachelor's degree from Temple University in 1993. Friel's career experience includes owning and managing PACE Environmental and working in executive management. He has served on the boards of the Philadelphia Boys' Choir and Camp Rainbow.[1][2]
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
Friel was assigned to the following committees:
- House Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committee
- House Education Committee
- House Environmental Resources & Energy Committee
- House Game & Fisheries Committee
Elections
2024
See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2024
General election
General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26
Incumbent Paul Friel defeated Shawn Blickley in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Paul Friel (D) | 57.2 | 22,421 |
 | Shawn Blickley (R)  | 42.6 | 16,675 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 68 | ||
| Total votes: 39,164 | |||
| = 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 26
Incumbent Paul Friel advanced from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 on April 23, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Friel | 99.3 | 5,605 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.7 | 38 | ||
| Total votes: 5,643 | |||
| = 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 26
Shawn Blickley advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 on April 23, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Shawn Blickley (Write-in) | 87.7 | 1,583 |
| Other/Write-in votes | 12.3 | 223 | ||
| Total votes: 1,806 | |||
| = 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 Friel in this election.
2022
See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2022
General election
General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26
Paul Friel defeated incumbent Timothy Hennessey in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Friel (D) | 57.0 | 17,853 |
 | Timothy Hennessey (R) | 43.0 | 13,463 | |
| Total votes: 31,316 | |||
| = 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 26
Paul Friel advanced from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Friel | 100.0 | 7,003 |
| Total votes: 7,003 | |||
| = 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
- Anthony Gillen (D)
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26
Incumbent Timothy Hennessey advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 on May 17, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Timothy Hennessey | 100.0 | 6,732 |
| Total votes: 6,732 | |||
| = 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
2020
See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2020
General election
General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26
Incumbent Timothy Hennessey defeated Paul Friel in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 on November 3, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Timothy Hennessey (R) | 53.5 | 19,769 |
| Paul Friel (D) | 46.5 | 17,180 | |
| Total votes: 36,949 | |||
| = 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 26
Paul Friel defeated Frank Gillen in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Paul Friel | 68.1 | 2,721 |
| Frank Gillen | 31.9 | 1,276 | ||
| Total votes: 3,997 | |||
| = 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 26
Incumbent Timothy Hennessey advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 on June 2, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Timothy Hennessey | 100.0 | 5,306 |
| Total votes: 5,306 | |||
| = 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
To view Friel's endorsements in the 2020 election, please click here.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Paul Friel did not complete Ballotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Paul Friel did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
2020
Paul Friel completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Friel's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
- Strengthening Education
- Environmental stewardship and protecting natural lands
- Economic recovery from COVID-19 that prioritizes local businesses
However, I believe there are too many long-time legislators in Harrisburg who are out of touch with their communities, and do too little with the office while collecting taxpayers' money. I'm not a career politician, and I pledge to take action to fix the issues affecting Pennsylvanians from the day I am sworn in.
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.
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]. |
|---|
|
In 2024, the Pennsylvania State Legislature was in session from January 2 to November 14.
|
2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
|---|
|
In 2023, the Pennsylvania State Legislature was in session from January 3 to December 13.
|
See also
2024 Elections
External links
|
Candidate Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 |
Officeholder Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 |
Personal |
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 14, 2020
- ↑ PA House of Representatives, "Paul Friel," accessed February 3, 2023
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Timothy Hennessey (R) |
Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 26 2022-Present |
Succeeded by - |
| Preceded by - |
Owen J Roberts School District, At-large |
Succeeded by - |
