Amwell Republican hopes to succeed Christiana
Joyce Hatfield-Wise, who ran for a Washington County judgeship earlier this year, is taking on a new political campaign, this time as a state representative hopeful.
Hatfield-Wise, 52, of Amwell Township, has announced her candidacy for the 15th Legislative District seat now held by Jim Christiana, R-Beaver, who is running for the U.S. Senate.
Major political parties will be nominating state legislature candidates in the 2018 primary. Hatfield-Wise is a registered Republican.
In the run for Washington County judge, all five candidates cross-filed and State Rep. Brandon Neuman, 35, of North Strabane, won both parties’ nominations for next month’s general election.
Hatfield-Wise, former attorney for Washington County Children and Youth Services, was one of the founders in 2008 of ChildFirst in Pennsylvania, a forensic interview and court preparation training program. Four years later, Pennsylvania was certified as a ChildFirst state. She has aruged before the state Supreme and Superior courts.
A graduate of Charters-Houston High School, she earned a bachelor of science degree in communication and psychology from the University of Pittsburgh and a master of science in education degree in psychological services from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. She graduated from Duquesne University School of Law at night while working as a law clerk and court crier in Washington County Court.
She and her husband, Don, are parents of two, Ean Donald, 20, a junior at Duquesne University, and Zoe Grace, 17, a junior dance major at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Beaver County.
She is a member of the Washington County Bar Association executive board. She has chaired or co-chaired the annual Washington County committee in charge of the annual Law Day observance for the past 15 years. Now a lawyer in private practice, she accepts Orphans Court and juvenile dependency matters.
The 15th Legislative District includes nine municipalities in Beaver County plus Amwell, Blaine, Buffalo, Cross Creek, Donegal, East Finley, Hanover, Hopewell, Independence, Jefferson, Morris, South Franklin and West Finley townships and Claysville, Green Hills, and West Middletown boroughs.