Frank Andrews Shimkus (born 1952) is a retired broadcaster and Democratic politician in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Shimkus grew up in the High Works neighborhood of

Scranton Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 U.S. census, Scranton is the largest city in Northeastern Pennsylvania, the Wyoming V ...

. He graduated from the

University of Scranton The University of Scranton is a private Jesuit university in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1888 by William O'Hara, the first Bishop of Scranton, as St. Thomas College. In 1938, the college was elevated to university status and took t ...

in 1973 with a degree in English. He then went into broadcasting, despite the misgivings of his father (who thought broadcasters were carnies). After working as an announcer at

WEJL WEJL (630 AM) is a radio station broadcasting in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The station, known on-air as "Northeast PA's ESPN Radio", carries sports radio programming from ESPN Radio. WEJL is owned by Times-Shamrock Communications, publishers of ...

in Scranton and

WCAU WCAU (channel 10) is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, airing programming from the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Mount Laurel, New Jer ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

, he went into television. He served as an anchor and reporter at

WNEP-TV WNEP-TV (channel 16) is a television station licensed to Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the ABC affiliate for Northeastern Pennsylvania. Owned by Tegna Inc., the station maintains studios on Montage Mountain Road in Moosi ...

in Scranton from 1980 to 1998, doubling for much of that time as news director. After a brief two-year hiatus, he moved to

WYOU WYOU (channel 22) is a television station licensed to Scranton, Pennsylvania, United States, serving as the CBS affiliate for Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is owned by Mission Broadcasting, which maintains a shared services agreement (SSA) with ...

as anchor and assistant news director. During his broadcasting career, he was known on-air as "Frank Andrews." While still at WNEP, Shimkus earned a master's degree in theology from Antietam Bible College in 1993 and a doctorate in biblical studies from the same institution two years later. He currently serves as the part-time pastor of Trinity Congregational

United Church of Christ The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximatel ...

in Scranton. Shimkus resigned from WYOU in March 2006 to run for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, winning a 5-way Democratic primary to succeed the retiring Gaynor Cawley in a district that included almost 60 percent of Scranton. He went on to easily win the general election. His bid for a second term was derailed by disputes over his residency. He'd lived in South Abington Township, a suburb of Scranton, for many years. Midway through his term, he moved in with his fiancee in Throop on the advice of his doctors, who suggested he shouldn't live alone after suffering several concussions. He listed a house in Scranton owned by his daughter and son-in-law as his primary residence when he filed for the Democratic primary. Shimkus' primary opponent, former Scranton city councilman Kevin Murphy, and two others filed a petition to have Shimkus thrown off the ballot citing the residency issue. The Scranton and Throop houses are in the district. Nevertheless, a Commonwealth Court judge granted the petition on March 14, 2008; finding that Shimkus intentionally misrepresented his address.First-term rep kicked off primary ballot
/ref> Since no Republican even filed in this heavily Democratic district, this appeared to hand the nomination—and the seat—to Murphy. In an unusual move, Shimkus then mounted a

write-in A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be po ...

bid for both the Democratic and Republican nominations. He lost the Democratic primary to Murphy by only 107 votes, but easily won the Republican primary. However, he stated that he intended to remain a Democrat. In the November election, Shimkus lost to Murphy by only 1,300 votes. In early 2017 Throop Borough Council elected Shimkus to mayor when then mayor Wayne Williams stepped down to take a seat on council. On May 16, 2017, Shimkus was re-elected mayor of Throop by town residents on the democratic ticket. He won 400 to 307 over challenger Joe Tropiak. Shimkus will be unopposed in November. Due to FCC regulations Shimkus resigned as Throop Mayor a year later in order to take a talk radio position at WILK. His 3pm-6pm drive time shift proved popular earning the highest ratings at the station in years. Shimkus interviewed then President Donald Trump on election night, a big coup for the radio station. Wanting to spend more time with his 6 young children, Shimkus retired from WILK radio in late 2022 after about 5 years on the job. He still lives in Throop with his wife of 15 years and their 6 children, often spending time with his 5 adult children and 19 grandchildren from a prior marriage. He is not ruling out more political endeavors in the future.

References

External links

Pennsylvania House of Representatives - Frank Andrews Shimkus
official PA House website * official Party website
Biographyvoting record
an
interest group ratings
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shimkus, Frank Andrews 1952 births Living people People from the Scranton–Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives American television personalities University of Scranton alumni