Mandy Steele

ON THE ISSUES

• Will create a sovereign wealth fund paid for by fees on fossil fuel extraction to invest in clean energy
• Advocating for federal funding to help subsidize the PA transportation system to connect communities

WHY THIS RACE MATTERS

• Defending this seat will help defend and expand the slim pro-environment majority in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives

CANDIDATE BACKGROUND

Mandy Steele was elected to the House in 2022 to represent the 33rd Legislative District in Allegheny County.

Her singular reason for seeking the state level role was/is to help shape climate and energy policy in Pennsylvania, which is a leading energy production state but has been set back by a dogmatic approach to policy over time. She ran on a ‘climate action is economic opportunity’ platform in an unlikely place, Southwestern PA. But the message of optimism resonated across party lines, and she won by a significant margin in a very purple district. A lesson for how to frame climate messaging in unlikely places.

Since then, she’s driven record funding into her district for water infrastructure and clean energy investment. Steele has passed a remarkable 6 bills through the House in her first term, including a ban on a toxic asphalt sealer that is a primary component of water pollution and a resolution to study how Pennsylvanians have been impacted by impact fee vs severance tax.

Her next move is a big one, a proposal for the creation of a sovereign wealth fund created through fees on fossil fuel extraction. Monies generated by the fund will be used to subsidize clean energy investment in the Commonwealth, changing the game for energy producers in PA.

A graduate of the University of Pittsburgh, mom of 4 young children, and small farm operator, Steele has founded and operated two nonprofit organizations focused on providing tuition for girls in West Africa through goat breeding programs and land conservation in southwestern Pennsylvania to mitigate storm water impacts from climate driven shifts in rain.

In 2017, Steele became the first woman and Democrat elected to the Fox Chapel Borough Council in 100 years.

Prior to being elected, Steele spent the last few years raising her four children and leading bipartisan actions focusing on environmental and safety issues across 20 southwestern communities in Pennsylvania. She also led grassroot efforts to build green infrastructure systems to control stormwater, making communities safer from flooding and landslides.