Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate: Katie McGinty

Kathleen Alana (Katie) McGinty is an environmentalist and former government official. She served as Chief of Staff for Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf prior to announcing her candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

Ms. McGinty was born in Philadelphia, PA and is the ninth of ten children. She graduated from St. Hubert Catholic High School for Girls in Northeast Philadelphia. She got a Bachelor’s in Science degree in chemistry from St. Joseph’s University and has a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

An advisor to Vice President Al Gore, she became an environmental advisor to President Bill Clinton. Later, she served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in the Cabinet of Governor Ed Rendell.

Ms. McGinty served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Strategic Growth at Weston Solutions, Inc., an environmental redevelopment and specialty construction firm. She left that position to devote herself full-time to an unsuccessful run for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2014. She had joined the company in October 2010 and led Weston Solutions Inc.’s brownfield redevelopment, clean energy and water businesses. She also chaired the Board’s Investment Committee. It was charged with reviewing and approving proposed equity and debt commitments across its various sustainability opportunities.

Ms. McGinty was also an Operating Partner of Element Partners, a clean technology investment firm. She served on the board of directors at NRG Energy, Inc., a leading wholesale power company, and Iberdrola USA, a gas and electric utility. She was a member of two shale gas advisory boards, one established by U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu and one created by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Ms. McGinty also served as a Director on the Board of the World Resources Institute, a global non-profit organization focused on sustainability, and as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of her alma mater, Saint Joseph’s University.

On April 12, 2013, Ms. McGinty announced she would be a candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2014. She competed unsuccessfully in the Primary with U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, Rob McCord, and eventual general election winner Tom Wolf, who appointed her his Chief of Staff. She served in that capacity from January 2015 until July 2015. On August 4, 2015 she officially announced her candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2016. She has been endorsed by EMILY's List, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, and former Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell. If chosen in the primary and elected in November, Ms. McGinty would be the first woman to serve in the U.S. Senate from Pennsylvania.

Candidate McGinty is a wind and solar power advocate who accepts the natural gas industry when taxed and regulated. She states: “I view environmental challenges as economic opportunities.”

“I get my Irish up,” says Ms. McGinty, “when I get worked up about an issue, from the national minimum wage (too low) to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which, among other concerns, doesn’t protect U.S. patents overseas for the past five years.”

Ms. McGinty is married to Dr. Karl Hausker, a climate analyst. They have three daughters and live in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

Partial Summary of Positions on Selected Social and Economic Issues:

•Abortion is a woman’s unrestricted right.

•Supportive of same sex marriage.

•In favor of expanding Medicaid and embraces the Affordable Care Act.

•Opposes the privatization of Social Security and further reductions in public pension benefits.

•Opposes vouchers for school choice.

•Supports a moratorium on the death penalty.

•Scored 100% on Cease Fire PA survey.

•Supports higher taxes on the wealthy.

•Supports making it easier for people to participate in elections.

(Since Ms. McGinty has not served in an elected office, there are no voting records to share.)

Joyce Rothermel is a member of the Editorial Collective of the Thomas Merton Center.

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