Two Women Vie for 49th State Senate District

It is rare enough for a woman to run for state senate in Pennsylvania; it is even rarer to find two running for the same office. So, even though it is as far away from my regular geographic focus as possible and still be in the Commonwealth, let’s take a look at the 49th state senate district in Erie. Republican Jane Earll is the incumbent, seeking a fourth term; by occupation and training she is a lawyer. She chairs the Community, Economic and Recreational Development committee and is vice chair of the Finance Committee.

Her challenger is Democrat Cindy Purvis. An article from the Erie Times-News (“Purvis, Earll, to face off in the fall,” by George Miller 4/20/08).

She is the office manager of Hills Family Campground in McKean Township, and she owned and operated Soup Du Jour from 1995 to 2000. She was also general manager of the Lake Erie Ballet from 1982 to 1992.

Purvis is co-chairwoman of HealthCare4All Pa and a founding member of the Lake Erie Alliance for Democracy, a nonpartisan group seeking to protect Social Security benefits, reform health care and is opposed to the war in Iraq.

One item to caught my eye on her website is that campaign donors can receive a soup recipe from the menus she used at Soup Du Jour (I have my eye on Ham and Potato).