Andrew E. Dinniman (born 1944) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the

Pennsylvania State Senate The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered ev ...

for the 19th District from June 2006 until 2020.

Early life and education

Dinniman was born in

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

. He received his BA from the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from Hart ...

in 1966, and his MA from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in 1969. He also holds an

Ed.D The Doctor of Education (Ed.D. or D.Ed.; Latin ''Educationis Doctor'' or ''Doctor Educationis'') is (depending on region and university) a research or professional doctoral degree that focuses on the field of education. It prepares the holder for a ...

from

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...

Teaching career

Dinniman Taught at Prince George Community College and West Chester University.

Early political career

Dinniman's first elected position was as a member of Downingtown school district's board of school directors. He was first elected to this position in 1975, and held the post until 1979. In 1979, Dinniman was elected chairman of the

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee, United States * Cheshire or the County Palatine of Chester, a ceremonial county in the North Wes ...

Democratic Committee, a position he held until 1985.

County Commissioner

Dinniman later served as

commissioner for three terms, beginning in 1991. During his three terms as commissioner, Dinniman was the body's only

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Pennsylvania State Senate

2006 special election

After the death of Republican Senator Robert "Bob" Thompson in 2006, Dinniman sought and attained his party's nomination to run in the ensuing

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-larges ...

. The special election pit Dinniman against his fellow county commissioner, Republican

Carol Aichele Carol Aichele is an American politician and teacher. She previously served as Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from January 2011 to January 2015. A Republican Party (United States), Republican, Aichele previously served on the Chester ...

. In what was considered a political surprise, Dinniman won with 56% of the vote, becoming the first Democrat elected to represent Chester County in the state Senate since the 1920s.

2008 election

Dinniman faced re-election in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

. He handily defeated Republican Steve Kantrowitz, a retired

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage of ...

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

, with 57.8% of the vote.

2012 election

Dinniman faced re-election in 2012. He handily defeated Chris Amentas, an East Fallowfield Township supervisor, with 57.45% of the vote.

2016 election

Dinniman faced re-election again in 2016 against Republican Jack London. He handily won with 56.33% of the vote.

Committee assignments

At the time of his retirement, Dinniman sat on five committees: Education; Communications and Technology; Agriculture and Rural Affairs; Environmental Resources and Energy; and State Government. He was the ranking Democrat on the Senate's education committee.

Retirement

After initially preparing for a re-election campaign, Dinniman announced he would not seek another term and retire at the end of 2020. He was succeeded by

Carolyn Comitta Carolyn Comitta is an American politician, educator and financial officer. She is a member of the Democratic Party, currently serving in the Pennsylvania State Senate representing the 19th district. Previously, Comitta was the first woman to s ...

Potential congressional candidacy

In 2009, the non-partisan political newspaper '' The Hill'' reported that Dinniman was "reportedly eyeing a run" for the Democratic nomination in the congressional seat being vacated by Republican

Jim Gerlach James W. Gerlach (born February 25, 1955) is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 2003 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party. Gerlach retired from Congress after completing his sixth term. Early life, education and career ...

, who was, at the time, running for governor. Dinniman, however, ultimately did not enter the race. He endorsed

Manan Trivedi Manan Trivedi (born May 22, 1974) is an American physician, politician, Iraq War veteran and perennial candidate. He was the Democratic nominee for in the 2010, 2012 and 2014 elections, losing to his Republican opponents in each election. Ear ...

, a doctor from

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

, who went on to win the Democratic primary, but lost the fall general election to Gerlach.

References

External links

State Senator Andy Dinniman
official caucus website
Senator Andrew E. Dinniman (D)
official PA Senate website
Andy Dinniman for PA Senate
official campaign website *''Follow the Money'' - Andy Dinniman
20062008
campaign contributions , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Dinniman, Andrew E. 1944 births 20th-century American politicians 21st-century American politicians County commissioners in Pennsylvania Living people Democratic Party Pennsylvania state senators Penn State College of Education alumni People from Chester County, Pennsylvania Politicians from New Haven, Connecticut University of Connecticut alumni University of Maryland, College Park alumni West Chester University faculty