(The following is a candidate letter from Democratic incumbent state Rep. Steve Malagari, who is running for re-election in the 53rd Legislative District. Malagari is opposed by Republican challenger Jennifer Sodha, whose candidate letter can be read here.)
I’ve spent my entire life here in this community. Growing up here, I would spend my childhood doing the things that many parents see their kids doing today: I swam for the Lansdale Swim Team, earned my Eagle Scout at the Boy Scouts Troop 399 in Montgomeryville, went to Knapp Elementary school, played soccer at Penndale Middle School, and served as a lifeguard at the Fourth Street Pool in Lansdale. I say all of that because I'm incredibly proud of the extent to which my life is steeped in this community. It is for this reason that I am called to keep serving my friends, family, and neighbors in the most diligent and hardworking manner possible.
My service here in our community began before I became our state representative back in 2019. It started when I was first elected to Lansdale’s Borough Council in 2011. During that time, I worked hard to advocate for vital infrastructure needs here in Lansdale Borough and to make sure funds were allocated appropriately. I also saw it as a way to give back to a community that has given so much to me.
That is exactly why I advocate for the issues we care most about out in Harrisburg — fair funding for our schools, access to high-quality healthcare, improving local infrastructure, making sure everyone’s vote counts, ensuring our neighborhoods are safe and secure, and preventing the state government from stripping us of our most basic rights.
As state representative, I have already been helping in several ways:
1) Over the years I have brought over $45.5 million back to the district to fund our schools, local businesses, public safety initiatives, and other community grants
2) I have successfully helped to reduce the cost of prescription drugs for more than 100,000 seniors in PA, while here in the district my team and I were able to provide free public transportation and property tax/rent rebates to more than 1,000 seniors — I feel strongly that those of us who have worked all their lives deserve to spend their twilight years with dignity and independence
3) I have helped enhance local infrastructure, securing more than $7 million for infrastructure improvements, as well as working with PennDOT to advance the 309 Connector project which greatly benefits our community and serves to reduce transportation costs
4) I have consistently delivered the funds to train, equip, and support our police, fire and emergency medical services which serve our communities
5) Additionally, my district office has worked tirelessly to host more than 2,000 constituents at town halls, senior fairs, vaccination clinics, and veterans events — we remain one of the most accessible and communicative legislative staffs that any district could ask for
The work that my team and myself have been able to accomplish for working families, our seniors, and our local businesses is something I am extremely proud of. But, as we move forward to this upcoming election and the years following, there are so many issues and concerns that we still must confront: making sure everyone's vote is counted, continuing to combat rising costs, and protecting reproductive healthcare choices including a woman’s right to a safe and legal abortion, as well as every family’s right to access other reproductive services like in vitro fertilization.
That last one is something that is extremely personal to myself and my family. My wife and I have been trying to conceive for a very long time. We knew it would be difficult due to a pre-existing condition I have, but through hormone therapy, we were told we could have a family through the process of in vitro fertilization. And for someone like myself, that is quite literally the only way my wife and I can start a family. Then, Roe v. Wade was struck down. This changed everything. Our effort in trying to have a family, a basic human right, is now at risk of being taken away.
As a legislator and American who has always lived in a pro-choice world, I must now face the unthinkable prospect of fighting off efforts to abolish the right for my wife and I to have a family. This is the experience that has shaped me the most. It is for this reason and for everything I have done for this community that voters should consider my candidacy and vote for me on Nov. 8.
