Tara Zrinski - Ballotpedia

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Tara Zrinski (Democratic Party) ran for election to the Pennsylvania State Senate to represent District 14. She lost in the Democratic primary on May 17, 2022.

Zrinski also ran for election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to represent District 137. She did not appear on the ballot for the Democratic primary on May 17, 2022.

In 2020, Zrinski participated in a Candidate Conversation hosted by Ballotpedia and EnCiv. Click here to view the recording.

Biography

Tara Zrinski was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. She earned a bachelor's degree from Drew University in 1997 and a graduate degree from Moravian Theological Seminary in 2007. Her career experience includes working as an adjunct professor and solar energy consultant.^[1]

Elections

2022

State Senate

See also: Pennsylvania State Senate elections, 2022

General election

General election for Pennsylvania State Senate District 14

Nick Miller defeated Dean Browning in the general election for Pennsylvania State Senate District 14 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nick Miller (D)	53.5	46,444
		Dean Browning (R)	46.5	40,360

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 86,804
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pennsylvania State Senate District 14

Nick Miller defeated Tara Zrinski and Yamelisa Taveras in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania State Senate District 14 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Nick Miller	42.3	8,844
		Tara Zrinski	42.0	8,796
		Yamelisa Taveras	15.5	3,234
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	49

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 20,923
= 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.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania State Senate District 14

Dean Browning defeated Cindy Miller and Omy Maldonado in the Republican primary for Pennsylvania State Senate District 14 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Dean Browning	48.9	8,843
	Submit photo	Cindy Miller	29.9	5,395
		Omy Maldonado	20.8	3,767
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	68

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 18,073
= 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

State House

See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 137

Incumbent Joe Emrick defeated Anna Thomas in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 137 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joe Emrick (R)	51.2	15,619
		Anna Thomas (D)	48.8	14,916

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 30,535
= 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 137

Anna Thomas advanced from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 137 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Anna Thomas	100.0	6,578

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 6,578
= 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

Tara Zrinski (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 137

Incumbent Joe Emrick advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 137 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Joe Emrick	100.0	5,901

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 5,901
= 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.

2020

See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 138

Ann Flood defeated Tara Zrinski in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 138 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ann Flood (R)	56.1	23,555
		Tara Zrinski (D)	43.9	18,396

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,951
= 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 138

Tara Zrinski advanced from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 138 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tara Zrinski	100.0	7,342

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 7,342
= 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.

Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 138

Ann Flood defeated Tony Tarsi in the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 138 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ann Flood	55.1	4,417
	Submit photo	Tony Tarsi	44.9	3,603

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,020
= 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

Campaign themes

2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Tara Zrinski did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Candidate Conversations

Candidate Conversations is a virtual debate format that allows voters to easily get to know their candidates through a short video Q&A. Click below to watch the conversation for this race.

Tara Zrinski completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Zrinski's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Tara Zrinski is from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, graduating from Freedom High School. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Drew University and holds Master's degrees in Theology and Pastoral Counseling from Moravian Theological Seminary. She has been an advocate for clean energy, middle class values and sustainability within our local communities, while supplementing her adjunct teaching career as a Solar Energy Consultant. Tara has taught Philosophy at Northampton Community College, Lehigh County Community College and Lehigh University. Zrinski resides in Hanover Township, Northampton County, with her family and was elected to Northampton County Council in 2017.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

By creating stronger communities that support the social and economic development necessary for prosperity., Tara wants to make real changes at the state level that can benefit all working families.
As an environmental advocate, Tara realizes that environmental issues are a low priority when people struggle to maintain housing, healthcare and paying the bills, working sometimes more than 2 jobs just to put food on the table.
Pennsylvania's infrastructure is failing because of a lack of funds to adequately care for existing infrastructure or build innovative structures, but, establishing a Pennsylvania Infrastructure Bank assists in both economic development and job creation while easing the burden of maintaining 87% of the infrastructure placed on States and Counties, without raising taxes.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Tara is passionate about protecting the environment, reducing air pollution and preserving open spaces. She views barriers to doing so as systemic problems that need to be addressed with a multi-pronged approach. After talking to voters over numerous election cycles, Tara recognizes the issues that rise to the forefront are tax reform, affordable healthcare and sustainable wages, which means establishing fair share tax reform, affordable and accessible paths to healthcare and prescription drugs, affordable housing and an increase in wages. At the same time, Tara envisions a plan for the future by strengthening our public schools, preparing a workforce for new jobs and forming a rational energy policy that acknowledges the gravity of the existential crisis posed by global climate change. She is an advocate for establishing a State Infrastructure Bank to fund infrastructure projects and assist in the policies that would achieves these initiatives and strengthen the middle class.

What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?

The greatest qualities an elected official are a sense of compassion and social justice, both of which serve well for an office holder who wants to serve the public good and who will vote in the best interest of constituents. I believe I possess both of these qualities and because of that I feel deep ties to the community in which I serve. I genuinely want to serve other people and find solutions to social and economic problems within the community. This keeps me accountable, responsible and dedicated to the concerns of constituents as well as the larger community. An elected official should also posses the qualities of intelligence, curiosity and passion in concern to policy and legislation. These qualities, I believe, keep me questioning the existing policy and searching for better solutions that more effectively or efficiently meet community needs.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

The core responsibilities of an elected official revolve around the responsibility to their constituents to serve the highest interests of public good. To this end, an elected official must constantly be listening to constituents and understanding the reality of their needs in the context of advocating for legislation. I also believe it is the responsibility of an elected official to educate their constituents on public policy, available services and opportunities, as well as represent the people's interests in the procurement of grants and funding to benefit their district.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Like many young teenagers, I earned money babysitting, cutting grass and shoveling snow but, the first job where I got an actual paycheck, was working as kitchen staff at Camp Wood Haven. I had been to this camp as a Girl Scout many summers but, working at the camp gave me a better perspective on the discipline of working certain hours every day, the responsibility of providing meals and also serving large groups of Girl Scouts in waives. I enjoyed the varied pace of the work load, the rush before meals and the lull between where we made connections among the staff. It was my first experience, outside of sport teams, working with a group of people to coordinate a goal. Although I only held this job for one summer, it inspired me to get a job at a local restaurant as a prep cook and baker, entry into more than a decade of labor in the food service industry where I held positions as waitress, bartender and manager in various restaurants. Working in this industry helped me cultivate interpersonal, organizational and problem solving skills that translate well to serving the public.

What was the last song that got stuck in your head?

The last song that got stuck in my head was "One" by U2. I often think of the lyrics, which are a tragic contradiction in so far the title projects a feeling of unity but the words are actually discussing breakup but more than that, I think the lyrics beg the questions we ask ourselves when we are alone with ourselves and realize that the our capacity to be in relationship with others is limited by the degree to which we can be honest with ourselves about our own emotions and motivations. People are not there to serve each others needs as much as people bring out the best or worst in another person. "One" is an evaluation that the deepest love and connection cannot grow if you don't nurture it. Often, when people don't get what they want out of a relationship, they look at the other person and blame the other, but if people were honest, they would recognize their own contribution to the problems that led to that point. The point is, in any relationship, one must be present, nurturing and self-evaluating in order to foster that growth. This is true, I believe for all types of relationships.

Is it getting better
Or do you feel the same?
Will it make it easier on you now?
You got someone to blame
You say one love, one life (One life)
It's one need in the night
One love (one love), get to share it
Leaves you darling, if you don't care for it
Did I disappoint you?
Or leave a bad taste in your mouth?
You act like you never had love
And you want me to go without
Well it's too late, tonight
To drag the past out into the light
We're one, but we're not the same
We get to carry each other
Carry each other
One, one
One, one
One, one
One, one
Have you come here for forgiveness?
Have you come to raise the dead?
Have you come here to play Jesus?
To the lepers in your head
Well, did I ask too much, more than a lot?
You gave me nothing, now it's all I got

We're one,...

What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?

The greatest challenge for Pennsylvania is divesting from over a century of dependence on fossil fuel extraction and the economy that relies on this industry heavily for both energy and jobs. It is obvious that fossil fuels are limited, but, in light of the climate studies by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the Fourth National Climate Assessment. the current climate crisis requires the world to address carbon emissions within the next decade. Numerous studies from Cornell, Yale and other Universities as well as world organizations not only debunk that current narrative that justifies the reliance on fossil fuel for jobs and economic stability, but also show that the extraction, transportation and combustion of fossil fuels have cumulative negative impacts to human health and safety as well as the environment. The greatest challenge is overcoming this narrative and developing policy that will help transition the state from fossil fuel dependency while insuring a just transition for workers within the industry, creating economic stability through that transition and developing renewable energy sources that will meet the demand capacity that already exists.

Among other challenges is to address the failing infrastructure of Pennsylvania's roads and bridges and support transportation infrastructure that would allow for interstate transit by rail and develop above ground light rail systems. These programs will take massive amounts of funding. At the same time, legislators are continually cutting taxes and programs, failing to generate the revenue necessary to allocate to these large projects. Two solutions that need to be explored to a greater degree are the effectiveness of establishing public private partnerships or a State Infrastructure Bank, the latter of which is more favorable to keeping infrastructure under government control for the public good.

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.

See also

External links

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Personal

Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 28, 2020

Current members of the Pennsylvania State Senate

Leadership

Majority Leader:Joe Pittman

Minority Leader:Jay Costa

Senators

District 1

Nikil Saval (D)

District 2

Christine Tartaglione (D)

District 3

Sharif Street (D)

District 4

Art Haywood (D)

District 5

Joe Picozzi (R)

District 6

Frank Farry (R)

District 7

Vincent Hughes (D)

District 8

Anthony Williams (D)

District 9

John Kane (D)

District 10

Steve Santarsiero (D)

District 11

Judy Schwank (D)

District 12

Maria Collett (D)

District 13

Scott Martin (R)

District 14

Nick Miller (D)

District 15

Patty Kim (D)

District 16

Jarrett Coleman (R)

District 17

Amanda Cappelletti (D)

District 18

Lisa Boscola (D)

District 19

Carolyn Comitta (D)

District 20

Lisa Baker (R)

District 21

Scott Hutchinson (R)

District 22

Martin Flynn (D)

District 23

Gene Yaw (R)

District 24

Tracy Pennycuick (R)

District 25

Cris Dush (R)

District 26

Timothy Kearney (D)

District 27

Lynda Culver (R)

District 28

Kristin Phillips-Hill (R)

District 29

David Argall (R)

District 30

Judith Ward (R)

District 31

Dawn Keefer (R)

District 32

Patrick Stefano (R)

District 33

Doug Mastriano (R)

District 34

Greg Rothman (R)

District 35

Wayne Langerholc (R)

District 36

James Malone (D)

District 37

Devlin Robinson (R)

District 38

Lindsey Williams (D)

District 39

Kim Ward (R)

District 40

Rosemary Brown (R)

District 41

Joe Pittman (R)

District 42

Wayne Fontana (D)

District 43

Jay Costa (D)

District 44

Katie Muth (D)

District 45

Nick Pisciottano (D)

District 46

Camera Bartolotta (R)

District 47

Elder Vogel (R)

District 48

Chris Gebhard (R)

District 49

Daniel Laughlin (R)

District 50

Michele Brooks (R)

Republican Party (27)

Democratic Party (23)

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