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Emily Kinkead

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Emily Kinkead
Democratic Party
Candidate, Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20
Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20
Tenure
2020 - Present
Term ends
2026
Years in position
5
Predecessor: Adam Ravenstahl (D)
Compensation
Base salary
$110,015.54/year
Per diem
$198/day
Elections and appointments
Last election
May 19, 2026
Education
High school
Red River High School
Bachelor's
Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, 2009
Law
University of Pittsburgh, 2016
Law
University of Pittsburgh School of Law, 2013
Personal
Birthplace
Pittsburgh, PA
Profession
Attorney
Contact
Official website
Official Facebook
Official X
Official Instagram
Campaign website
Campaign X
Campaign Instagram
Personal Facebook
Personal LinkedIn

Emily Kinkead (Democratic Party) is a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing District 20. She assumed office on December 1, 2020. Her current term ends on November 30, 2026.

Kinkead (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to represent District 20. She is on the ballot in the Democratic primary on May 19, 2026.[source]

Biography

Emily Kinkead was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Red River High School. Kinkead earned a bachelor’s degree from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania in 2009 and a J.D. from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law in 2013. Her career experience includes working as an attorney. She has been affiliated with ALCOSAN and Pennsylvania Prison Society.[1][2]

Committee assignments

2023-2024

Kinkead was assigned to the following committees:

2021-2022

Kinkead was assigned to the following committees:

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.


Elections

2026

See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2026

General election

The primary occurred on May 19, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.

The candidate list in this election may not be complete.

Democratic primary

Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20

Incumbent Emily Kinkead (D) ran in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20 on May 19, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Emily Kinkead
Emily Kinkead

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Campaign finance

Endorsements

Kinkead received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here.

  • PA voters! (Sway voting group by PAmoms4change - Brittney)

2024

See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20

Incumbent Emily Kinkead defeated Matt Kruth in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Emily Kinkead
Emily Kinkead (D) Candidate Connection
 
59.1
 
21,322
Image of Matt Kruth
Matt Kruth (R) Candidate Connection
 
40.7
 
14,678
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.2
 
66

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2

Total votes: 36,066
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20

Incumbent Emily Kinkead advanced from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20 on April 23, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Emily Kinkead
Emily Kinkead Candidate Connection
 
98.5
 
7,735
 Other/Write-in votes
 
1.5
 
118

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 7,853
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20

Matt Kruth advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20 on April 23, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Matt Kruth
Matt Kruth Candidate Connection
 
98.5
 
3,396
 Other/Write-in votes
 
1.5
 
50

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 3,446
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign finance

Endorsements

To view Kinkead's endorsements as published by their campaign, click here. Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kinkead in this election.

2022

See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20

Incumbent Emily Kinkead defeated Matt Kruth in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Emily Kinkead
Emily Kinkead (D)
 
61.1
 
17,783
Image of Matt Kruth
Matt Kruth (R) Candidate Connection
 
38.9
 
11,313

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 29,096
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20

Incumbent Emily Kinkead defeated Nick Mastros in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20 on May 17, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Emily Kinkead
Emily Kinkead
 
65.7
 
6,354
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Nick Mastros
 
34.3
 
3,318

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 9,672
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20

Matt Kruth advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20 on May 17, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Matt Kruth
Matt Kruth (Write-in) Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
898

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 898
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Campaign finance

2020

See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20

Emily Kinkead won election in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20 on November 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Emily Kinkead
Emily Kinkead (D) Candidate Connection
 
100.0
 
27,680

There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 27,680
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20

Emily Kinkead defeated incumbent Adam Ravenstahl in the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20 on June 2, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Emily Kinkead
Emily Kinkead Candidate Connection
 
55.3
 
7,570
Image of Adam Ravenstahl
Adam Ravenstahl
 
44.7
 
6,107

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 13,677
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.

Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Campaign finance

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Candidate Connection

Emily Kinkead has not yet completed Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Emily Kinkead asking her to fill out the survey. If you are Emily Kinkead, click here to fill out Ballotpedia's 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

Who fills out Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey?

Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia's Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate's Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for.  More than 28,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia's candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the survey here.

You can ask Emily Kinkead to fill out this survey by using the buttons below or emailing info@emily4pa20.com.

Twitter
Email


2024

Candidate Connection

Emily Kinkead completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kinkead's responses.

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Representative Emily Kinkead has served the 20th District since she was elected in 2020. As a freshman legislator, she was assigned to serve on the House Appropriations, Judiciary, Human Services, and Agriculture & Rural Affairs Committees. Kinkead now serves as Secretary of both Human Services and Agriculture Committees. Additionally, she serves as Chair of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime & Corrections and the Appropriations Subcommittee on Fiscal Policy. She is the House Chair of the Legislative Hunger Caucus and on the Leadership Team of the Progressive Caucus.

While in office, Kinkead has vocally championed the policies that help working families and raise up communities – criminal justice reform, affordable housing, livable wages, worker protections, healthcare, addressing systemic racism, LGBTQIA+ equality, reproductive justice, adequately funding education, and more. She’s also focused on local issues like addressing blight and landslides.

A native Northsider, Emily lives in Brighton Heights with her cats and dog.
  • Blight and landslides remain a problem for my district, which I am continuing to address so our residents can safely build generational wealth through property ownership.
  • Ensuring that workers can make living wages to support their families is also critical. Pennsylvania has the lowest minimum wage in the region and that hinders the growth of the middle class.
  • I am committed to be a continued and outspoken advocate for defending reproductive freedoms in Pennsylvania.
See the above issues that are a focus of my campaign.
I'd like to put us on a path toward the Star Trek future
I believe that the Governor should work as a partner with the state legislature. The Governor's administration should do its level best to cooperate with and support the goals of the legislature while also communicating with them on the important priorities of the administration. When a Governor looks at the legislature as a means to an end or as a branch of government to be wrestled into submission, then there are going to be real problems with governing.
Pennsylvania has faced decades of disinvestment from our state government under Republican leadership and we have kicked the can down the road on so many problems. Those problems are now coming to a head and we need to address everything from crumbling infrastructure to unconstitutionally underfunded schools. As a result of our underfunding, Pennsylvania has been losing population steadily and we need to work to turn that around, make Pennsylvania a place that businesses want to come to, workers want to move to and raise their families, and that invests in the future.
I think it depends on how the state legislature is structured. Pennsylvania is one of very few full time state legislatures and that allows us to dedicate ourselves full time to the work. for this reason, not having previous government experience is not a detriment because we have the time and the supports to learn the job. In fact, the diversity of experience makes us stronger advocates for the myriad issues that arise in our Commonwealth. In states with part time legislatures, I think prior government experience can be very important and beneficial because they have to be able to do the work in a short amount of time and switch from what they are working on as their full-time employment to governing. Prior experience can be crucial for that.
Yes. Quite simply, you cannot get anything done unless you have relationships with other legislators - on both sides of the aisle.
My legislative mentor has been Rep. Peter Schweyer (D-Lehigh). He guided me through my first round of Appropriations budget hearings as a freshman legislator and has been an important sounding board not just for policy but also for legislative strategy. He is a well-respected and effective legislator who does not mistake the performance of politics for governing and I always try to be that kind of legislator.
I ran for this office with the goal of serving in this office. As with everything else in my career, I won't shut any doors for what might come next but I love the work that I do and I am not mapping out a specific trajectory beyond this role.
I have knocked many doors in my time running for office and serving in office and I am always struck by the number of older women who are absolutely thrilled to see a young woman running for office and serving in office and yet it is bittersweet because they often say that if they were my age, they would run for office as well but they were told that they could not run for office. It is truly disappointing to think about how many great leaders we have missed out on merely because of prejudices against race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.
I think granting the use of emergency powers is essential. While the legislature is critical for overseeing the broad operations of the state, we move at a slow pace. Sometimes, we need a quick action and allowing the Governor to act in that space is part of the role of that office. The legislature should not interfere with that role or seek to have oversight/veto power over emergency powers.
As a currently elected state representative, I have introduced a number of pieces of legislation. While I expected that my biggest priority bills would be big, sweeping bills that made a splash, my biggest priority bill has become working to establish a landslide insurance program in the state. So many families in Western PA are being devastated by landslides and there is absolutely no insurance that covers that kind of damage. This is exactly where the state needs to act and I want to get this bill across the finish line.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2022

Emily Kinkead did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia
Released January 30, 2020

Candidate Connection

Emily Kinkead completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kinkead's responses.

Expand all | Collapse all

Emily Kinkead is a native Northsider, the daughter of city paramedics, with a deep love of the

Pittsburgh area. Emily's dad went on to become a doctor but from the beginning instilled in her a dedication to service, knowing that not everyone has access to the same opportunities and that we should always reach

back to help if we are able. She was first spurred to action in Democratic politics in support of LGBTQIA+ issues and has fought for equality at every level ever since. Emily is an attorney who has advocated for the rights of HIV+ individuals, low-income tenants, criminal defendants, and immigrants seeking asylum. She has over a decade of experience working on policy and advocacy for issues including disability rights, campaign finance reform, gerrymandering reform, and funding for healthcare research.
  • Responsible, Sustainable Development
  • Proactive Leadership
  • Experienced and Ready to Get to Work on Day 1
- Reproductive Justice

-LGBTQIA+ Equality
- Living Wage
- Responsible Development
-Infrastructure Investment
- Clean Air and Water/Green Economy

- Government Reform

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

Emily Kinkead campaign contribution history
YearOfficeStatusContributionsExpenditures
2024Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20Won general$111,766 $105,379
2022Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20Won general$214,428 $180,779
2020Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20Won general$181,365 N/A**
Grand total$507,559 $286,158
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Election Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards, State legislative scorecards in Pennsylvania

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2025.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2024.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2023.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2022.

Below you can find the scorecards found for the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2021.

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External links

Candidate

Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20
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    Footnotes

    1. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 12, 2020
    2. ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on March 25, 2024

    Political offices
    Preceded by
    Adam Ravenstahl (D)     		Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 20
    2020-Present    		 Succeeded by
    -


    Current members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
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    Speaker of the House:Joanna McClinton
    Majority Leader:Matthew Bradford
    Minority Leader:Jesse Topper
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