COMMONWEALTH: A Journal of Pennsylvania Politics and Policy frontmatter COMMONWEALTH A Journal of Pennsylvania Politics and Policy EDITOR-IN-CHIEF J. Wesley Leckrone, Widener University MANAGING EDITOR Michelle J. Atherton, Temple University ASSOCIATE EDITORS Christopher Borick, Muhlenberg College Paula A. Duda Holoviak, Kutztown University Joseph P. McLaughlin, Jr., Temple University EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD Bruce Caswell, Rowan University Beverly A. Cigler, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg Richardson Dilworth, Drexel University John J. Kennedy, West Chester University John Kincaid, Lafayette College Joseph Marbach, Georgian Court University David Y. Miller, University of Pittsburgh Megan Mullin, Duke University Richard A. Stafford, Carnegie Mellon University COPY EDITOR Meredith Phillips EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jack Heavner, Widener University FOUNDING EDITOR EMERITUS Donald G. Tannenbaum, Gettysburg College EDITORS EMERITUS Thomas J. Baldino, Wilkes University Gerard J. Fitzpatrick, Ursinus College Published by Temple University Press on behalf of The Pennsylvania Political Science Association The Pennsylvania Political Science Association Founded in 1939, the Pennsylvania Political Science Association (PPSA) is the nation’s oldest state political science association. Its mission has always been to promote scholarship, research, and the exchange of ideas within the Pennsylvania community of political scientists. PPSA draws its membership principally from the political science and public administra- tion faculties of Pennsylvania’s public and private colleges and universities but also includes government professionals and faculty members from sur- rounding states. PPSA’s annual conference includes dozens of panelists covering a wide vari- ety of subjects. While university faculty compose the vast majority of partici- pants, legislators, legislative staff, executive officials, and undergraduates also have participated. For more information on the activities of PPSA and member- ship rates, please visit the Association’s website at http://www.papolisci.org/. http://www.papolisci.org/ THE PENNSYLVANIA POLITICAL SCIENCE ASSOCIATION OFFICERS AND EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 2019–2020 PRESIDENT A. Lanethea Mathews- Schultz Muhlenberg College FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Michael Greenberg Shippensburg University SECOND VICE PRESIDENT Heather Frederick Slippery Rock University TREASURER Steven B. Lem Kutztown University SECRETARY Paula A. Duda Holoviak Kutztown University EXECUTIVE COUNCIL 2017–2020 2018–2021 2019–2022 Michelle J. Atherton Temple University John Kennedy West Chester University Justin DePlato Robert Morris University Sarah Niebler Dickinson College Jennie Sweet-Cushman Chatham College Joshua Weikert Immaculata University EX OFFICIO MEMBERS IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT Steven Peterson Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg PAST PRESIDENTS Christopher Borick Muhlenberg College Stanley Berard Lock Haven University Brooke Harlowe Lock Haven University EDITORIAL STAFF OF COMMONWEALTH: A Journal of Pennsylvania Politics and Policy EDITOR- IN- CHIEF J. Wesley Leckrone Widener University FOUNDING EDITOR EMERITUS Donald G. Tannenbaum Gettysburg College EDITORS EMERITUS Thomas J. Baldino Wilkes University Gerard J. Fitzpatrick Ursinus College Pennsylvania Policy Forum C OMMONWEALTH collaborates with the Pennsylvania Policy Forum to plan special issues and attract high- quality content to the journal. The Forum is a consortium of faculty members and academic and policy institute leaders from Pennsylvania colleges and universities who share an interest in generating ideas, analyses, and symposiums that might prove useful to citizens, elected officials, and civic leaders in addressing major issues confronting the Commonwealth and its local governments. As educators who have helped train students for careers in public policy, members also share an interest in helping to improve the skills, knowledge, and tools of leaders in the public and civic sectors. Members of the Forum have expertise in public policy analysis as well as a wide range of substantive issues, including but not limited to education, transportation and public infrastructure, economic development, agriculture, energy, elections, water policy and the environment, health care, social policy, urban development, emergency management, information technology, public finance, and constitutional law. Members also share an interest in improving both the policy process itself and the institutional structures through which issues and problems are addressed. Forum members have contributed to public policy debates in Pennsyl- vania, and a number have also served in state and local government and in nonprofit and civic organizations that engage in policy development and implementation. Some members of the Forum are associated with other academic and public policy–related organizations, but the Forum itself is independent of these relationships and has no formal connections to any gov- ernment entity. Members obviously benefit from the intellectual resources and environments of their universities, but unless otherwise indicated, they do not act on behalf of their institutions when they sponsor Forum projects. The premise of the Forum is that through the consortium, members can jointly develop and sponsor nonpartisan research, symposiums, and educa- tion and training programs of value to elected officials, civic leaders, and the public and thereby enhance their ability to contribute to more intelligent and informed policymaking. PENNSYLVANIA POLICY FORUM MEMBERSHIP (2020) Theodore R. Alter, Pennsylvania State University Michelle J. Atherton, Temple University Thomas J. Baldino, Wilkes University Vincent Cannizzaro, York College of Pennsylvania Beverly A. Cigler, Pennsylvania State University, Harrisburg Richardson Dilworth, Drexel University Michael R. Dimino, Sr., Widener University Commonwealth Law School (Chair) Paula A. Duda Holoviak, Kutztown University Mark Alan Hughes, University of Pennsylvania John J. Kennedy, West Chester University John Kincaid, Lafayette College Robin Lauermann, Messiah College J. Wesley Leckrone, Widener University (Vice Chair) Joseph P. McLaughlin, Jr., Temple University David Y. Miller, University of Pittsburgh Randall M. Miller, St. Joseph’s University Joseph Sabino Mistick, Duquesne University School of Law Richard A. Stafford, Carnegie Mellon University Craig Wheeland, Villanova University Contents Volume 21, Number 1 | 2021 | ISSN 2469-7 672 EDITOR’S NOTE ■ Introduction to the Special Issue on Women in Pennsylvania Politics | Jennie Sweet-Cushman, Special Issue Editor ARTICLES ■ What Do Pennsylvania Voters Think about Gender and Women’s Representation?: What We Learned from 2016 and 2018 Exit Polls | Sarah Niebler and A. Lanethea Mathews-Schultz ■ Gendered Pathways to Power: Identifying the Role of County Party Chairs in the Candidate Recruitment Process of Pennsylvania’s Local Elective Offices | Dana Brown ■ Wave or Trend: Female Candidates in Pennsylvania Elections in the Trump Era | Joshua J. Weikert ■ Solving Pennsylvania’s Budget Woes: Increased Female Representation | Benjamin Melusky