Dec 27, 2022 4 min read

Pam Snyder has been a former state representative for close to a month now, but she says she has been working as hard as ever.

After her term representing the 50th Legislative District ended on the last day of November, Snyder settled into duties on Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro’s transition leadership board. She has also taken on everyday chores like babysitting grandchildren.

“I’ve been extremely busy,” Snyder said.

If there hasn’t yet been time for a lot of stock-taking, the 67-year-old Snyder nevertheless has some thoughts on her tenure in Harrisburg, which lasted almost a decade. Elected in 2012, Snyder succeeded Bill DeWeese, who had represented the district for more than 30 years, but was undone by a corruption scandal when he used public resources to promote his campaigns. When Snyder, a Democrat, first won the seat, she took a commanding 61% of the vote in the general election. Two years later, she ran unopposed. However, reflecting the political realignment in the region from Democrats to Republicans, Snyder’s next three campaigns were tougher; when she won in 2020, she took 53% of the vote.

The prospect of going through yet another bruising campaign, as well as the redrawing of lines in the 50th District, which included all of Greene and parts of Washington and Fayette counties, spurred Snyder’s decision to retire, which she announced in February.

“Life is very short,” Snyder said. “I had been through three really tough election cycles in six years. And while I believe I would have prevailed, it would have been another miserable year for my family.”

When she first arrived as a representative in Harrisburg, Snyder was no stranger to politics – she had been a Greene County commissioner for nine years, and had been an aide to U.S. Rep. Frank Mascara. There was still something of a bipartisan spirit in the Legislature when she was a freshman lawmaker, Snyder explained. However, as time went on – and with the election of Donald Trump as president in 2016 adding fuel to the fire – she said “the politics continued to get uglier and uglier.”

“I didn’t run for office to worry about the politics,” Snyder said. “I ran for office to make a difference in our communities and people’s lives.”

What will it take to return more civility to our politics?

“It’s going to take people looking at the candidates again for who they are and what they stand for, rather than for what political party they belong to,” Snyder said. “It used to be voters looked at, and wouldn’t even consider someone, with some of the things people have run for office with now. They wouldn’t have even considered voting for somebody like that. But now it’s become all about the party, and I find that to be very unfortunate.”

She continued, “If you’re not electing people who are doing the job for the right reasons, then it’s just going to continue to deteriorate.”

Snyder’s proudest accomplishments as a state representative include her work expanding broadband around the commonwealth and giving corrections officers the ability to carry pepper spray. She believes Pennsylvania needs to be more business-friendly, remove some of the burden on property owners when it comes to financing public education, make people feel safe from crime and raise the minimum wage from its current $7.25.

Is there any advice she would offer to anyone thinking about running for elected office?

“Make sure you have the stomach to do it,” Snyder explained. “It’s a combat sport. And make sure your family is behind you 100%. Make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons, that you want to make your community better.”