Thomas D. Houghton is a Democratic politician and former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. He represented the

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

district from 2009 through 2010.

Professional career

Tom is a personal injury and criminal defense attorney. He has served as London Grove Township's representative on the executive committee to

PennDOT The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) oversees transportation issues in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The administrator of PennDOT is the Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation, currently Yassmin Gramian. Presently, P ...

's Route 41 , is a board member of the White Clay Creek Watershed Association.

Political career

Township Supervisor

In 2001, Houghton was elected to the London Grove Township Board of Supervisors. He served as chairman of that body for several years. He was re-elected in 2007.

State House Campaigns

Houghton first ran for the

district seat in 2006. He was

defeated Defeated may refer to: * "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song) * "Defeated" (Anastacia song) *"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love'' *Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community *''The Defeated ''The Defeated'', al ...

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

incumbent Art Hershey by 1,800 votes. On November 4, 2008, he was

elected Elected may refer to: * "Elected" (song), by Alice Cooper, 1973 * ''Elected'' (EP), by Ayreon, 2008 *The Elected, an American indie rock band See also *Election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population ...

to the State House, succeeding Hershey, who had declined to run for reelection. He defeated his main opponent, John Lawrence, by a margin of 47.5% to 46.4%. Houghton's original opponent, Curtis Mason, was forced to drop out of the race. In the end, he narrowly defeated his opponent in a count that stretched into the morning following election day. In the 2010 election, Houghton was defeated by over 2,000 (over 10%) votes by his opponent from two years prior, John Lawrence.

State House Career

Houghton served on the Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, as well as the Children and Youth, Environmental Resources and Energy and the Local Government Committees. He was also appointed to the Joint Legislative Air and Water Pollution Control and Conservation Committee by the Speaker of the House.

Political future

Houghton originally announced his intention to challenge Republican State Senate Majority Leader

Dominic Pileggi Dominic F. Pileggi (born December 15, 1957) is an American politician and judge from Pennsylvania who served as Republican mayor of Chester, Pennsylvania from 1999 to 2002 and as a member of the Pennsylvania 9th Senatorial district from 2002 unt ...

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

. However, due to redistricting, Houghton's home was drawn out of Pileggi's 9th District seat, and moved into the 19th District, currently represented by Democrat

Andy Dinniman Andrew E. Dinniman (born 1944) is an American politician who served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 19th District from June 2006 until 2020. Early life and education Dinniman was born in New Haven, Connecticut. ...

. Houghton subsequently announced his intention to challenge Dinniman in the Democratic primary. Houghton ran for Congress in

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

, challenging Republican incumbent Joe Pitts in

Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district Pennsylvania's 16th congressional district is located in Northwestern Pennsylvania. It contains all of Erie County, Crawford County, Mercer County, and Lawrence County, as well as part of Butler County. The district is represented by Republic ...

References

External links

*''Follow the Money'' - Tom Houghton
20062008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Houghton, Tom Democratic Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Living people La Salle University alumni Widener University alumni Year of birth missing (living people)