Jordan A. Harris is an American politician currently serving as the Majority Chair of the Appropriations Committee of the

Pennsylvania House of Representatives The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts. It ...

. A Democrat, member of the

, representing the 186th legislative district, comprising parts of South and West Philadelphia. He was first elected in 2012. Harris is a member of the Knight Foundation's Philadelphia Community Advisory Committee.

Early life and education

Harris attended John Bartram Motivation High School in Philadelphia. Harris holds a bachelor's degree in governmental and political affairs from Millersville University and a master's degree in education from Cabrini College. He is currently enrolled in a doctoral program at Neumann University. Harris is a former teacher in the

Philadelphia Public Schools The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) is the school district that includes all school district-operated public schools in Philadelphia. Established in 1818, it is the 8th largest school district in the nation, by enrollment, serving over 200 ...

. He has served in city government, rising to the position of director of the Philadelphia Youth Commission.

Political career

Since his election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2012, Harris has advocated for criminal justice reform, supporting clean slate bills to allow people convicted of felonies to, after a certain amount of time, have their conviction removed from their record. Harris worked on this legislation since he was sworn into office, and Governor Tom Wolf signed the Clean Slate Act in June 2018. As of June 2022, over 40 million Pennsylvanians have had their record sealed as a result of the law. Harris was selected by the Pennsylvania Democratic Party as one of 20 delegates to the United States Electoral College for Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris, in the

2020 United States presidential election The 2020 United States presidential election was the 59th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020. The Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and the junior U.S. senator from California Kamala Ha ...

. Harris previously served as the Chair of the Pennsylvania House Legislative Black Caucus and served as the Democratic

Whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

in the 2021-2022 legislative session. In May 2023, Harris, along with fellow Philadelphia-area Representative Jared Solomon, established the legislative Black-Jewish Caucus.

Committee assignments, 2023–2024

* Appropriations (Majority Chair) * Rules

References

External links

Biography at pahouse.com
1984 births 2020 United States presidential electors 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American politicians 21st-century American legislators African-American state legislators in Pennsylvania Cabrini University alumni Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Living people Millersville University of Pennsylvania alumni Neumann University alumni Politicians from Philadelphia Schoolteachers from Pennsylvania 21st-century Pennsylvania politicians {{Pennsylvania-PARepresentative-stub