John Yudichak

John T. Yudichak (born May 1, 1970) is an American politician from Pennsylvania currently serving as an Independent member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for 14th District since 2011. The district includes parts of Carbon, Luzerne, and Monroe Counties.[1] He previously served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 119th district from 1999 to 2010.[2]

John Yudichak
Member of the Pennsylvania Senate
from the 14th district
Assumed office
January 4, 2011 (2011-01-04)
Preceded byRay Musto
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
from the 119th district
In office
January 5, 1999 (1999-01-05) – November 30, 2010 (2010-11-30)
Preceded byStanley Jarolin
Succeeded byGerald Mullery
Personal details
Born (1970-05-01) May 1, 1970
Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, United States
Political partyIndependent (since 2019)
Other political
affiliations		Democratic (until 2019)
ResidencePlymouth Township, Pennsylvania
Alma materPennsylvania State University

Early life and education

John Yudichak was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Joseph and Sarah Yudichak.[3] He graduated from Nanticoke Area High School in 1988, and attended Wyoming Seminary for one year before transferring to the Pennsylvania State University.[4] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1993 and a Master of Arts degree in American Studies from Pennsylvania State University in 2004.[5]

Career

Yudichak worked as an intern for U.S. Representative Paul E. Kanjorski before serving as director of development at the Osterhout Free Library in Wilkes-Barre.[6] In 1996, he unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Stanley Jarolin for the Democratic nomination for the 119th District in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, losing by 600 votes.[7] However, he ran for the nomination again in 1998, and defeated Jarolin by more than 800 votes.[8] In the general election, he defeated Republican Jean Sepling.

Yudichak was elected to the State Senate in 2010. He easily won the Democratic nomination for the 14th District seat (being vacated by Democratic incumbent Ray Musto) when he defeated Wilkes-Barre mayor Tom Leighton by a 2 to 1 margin in the May 18, 2010 primary. Yudichak won the general election on November 2, 2010, defeating Luzerne County Commissioner Stephen Urban.

On November 19, 2019, Yudichak changed his voter registration from Democrat to Independent, and ceased to caucus with the Democrats, caucusing instead with the Republican majority.[9][10]

References
  1. "District Map". State Senator John T. Yudichak. Archived from the original on 2011-07-16.
  2. "SESSION OF 1999 - 183D OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY - No. 1" (PDF). Legislative Journal. Pennsylvania House of Representatives. 1999-01-05.
  3. "Pennsylvania Manual" (PDF). Pennsylvania Department of General Services.
  4. "State Senator John Yudichak - About". www.senatoryudichak.com. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  5. "Pennsylvania State Senate - Senator John T. Yudichak". www.legis.state.pa.us. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
  6. Filaroski, P. Douglas (1998-05-17). "119TH REVEALS TALES OF 3 CANDIDATES". Times Leader.
  7. Morrison, Mitch (1996-02-27). "Kanjorski's Dam Project Deflating a Democratic State Senator and His GOP Counterpart Say They Won't Ask Gov. Ridge to Change His Mind on Funding for the Congressman's Proposed Project". Times Leader.
  8. Filaroski, P. Douglas (1998-05-20). "Yudichak Ends Jarolin's Reign". Times Leader.
  9. Learn-Andes, Jennifer. "Yudichak switching party registration from Democrat to Independent". Times Leader. Times Leader. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  10. Thompson, Charles (November 19, 2019). "Pa. Dems lose a state senator: John Yudichak of Luzerne County declares himself independent, will caucus with GOP". PennLive. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
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