Election 2024: Democrat Tim Brennan For State Representative

Candidates running in the Nov. 5 general election are providing background about themselves and their positions on the issues to voters in these profiles, which will run in Patch individually for each candidate.

BUCKS COUNTY, PA —Democrat Tim Brennan is running for re-election in the 29th Legislative District. He faces a challenge in the 2024 general election from Republican Steve Mekanik and Libertarian Rob Ronky.

Biographical Information

Name: Tim Brennan

Age: 47
Town of Residence: Doylestown
Position Sought: PA State House, District 29
Education: Ursinus College (B.A.), Widener University School of Law (J.D.), Trinity College and Charles University (International)
Are you an incumbent? Yes

Party Affiliation: Democratic
Occupation: Legislator/Attorney

Questions

What is the top issue facing the Commonwealth and how would you address it?

My legislative priorities remain our residents’ core concerns: our roads, public safety, the needs of our first responders and our quality of life. That said, seldom in our history have we faced so much uncertainty or such grave threats to our core principles; no problem seems to me to be more pressing than the erosion of the “small-d” democratic norms that bind our society together. Despite these challenges, however, I continue to believe there is nothing wrong with this country that can’t be fixed with more of what is right with it. We must continue to focus on these fundamentals of government that move our communities forward — but how we do that job also matters. Our long-term success will also depend on our ability to come together and recommit to civic responsibility and civil discourse; they are responsibilities on which all of our freedoms and our economic prosperity depend.

For brick-and-mortar concerns, as a member of the Appropriations Committee, I prioritized investment in our roads and infrastructure, worked to advance bills to increase targeted funding for suburban roads and first responders and reinvested in our kids and communities. For our civic concerns, very purposefully, the first bill I co-sponsored encouraged civic engagement among young people. I also worked with former members of Congress to prioritize civics in public education and to make existing educational requirements more meaningful. Purposefully prioritizing civic engagement in our communities and interest in our young people will remain one of my core goals.

Why are you running for State Rep.?

We all have forces that move us; I have always been unusually concerned about the quality of Justice, sincerely loved people and wanted to use all of my time meaningfully. I spent my early years working tables and, with a lot of help from family, friends and my community, worked very hard to become a first-generation college graduate, a good attorney and a business owner. The first line of my law school application was a Thoreau quote that still sums it up for me: “be not merely good, be good for something.” I genuinely believe in people and their potential—and that principled political action can bring out the best in them and our communities. After working and serving successfully as an attorney, educator, volunteer, small business owner and councilperson, I found that this job is the place I could do the most good with my time. It is a worthwhile purpose to leave our communities better than we found them, which is what I am trying to do with my time spent doing this job.

What can you do to keep crime from seeping into the suburbs?

I’m proud to have consistently prioritized public safety by giving our first responders the resources they need and deserve. In Harrisburg, I’ve worked to create new grant programs that support our police, fire, and EMS across the Commonwealth. I have also introduced a bill to help bolster the recruitment and retention of volunteer firefighters, providing them with a longevity benefit. I’ve voted to increase the resources of the State Police and also proposed a bill to address the disinvestment in local law enforcement that has been occurring in the central part of the Commonwealth. As a member of the Appropriations Committee, I’ve also worked tirelessly to secure additional funding for our local departments.

Beyond my direct support for first responders, I’ve also sought to expand the pathways to opportunity that prevent crime in the first place. I have helped create jobs by investing in local industries and cutting taxes on small businesses; increased funding for our public schools, universities, community colleges, and vocational programs; and worked to address mental health issues and substance use disorders through compassionate, science-based healthcare. Keeping people safe is the most important function of government and requires not just a cause-and-effect response to what we see, but also the forethought to address the underlying structural causes of crime. We must simultaneously fully and unequivocally support law enforcement to maintain order in our communities while adopting pragmatic, effective approaches to preventing the conditions that ultimately lead to criminal activity, substance use and mental health issues.

What can you do to increase funding for our local school districts?

As a former educator, few issues matter more to me than the quality of our schools. Our state government can and should do more to support public education, especially after decades of systematic disinvestment and neglect by our General Assembly. As a member of the House Appropriations Committee under our new House leadership, I’m proud to have worked with Governor Shapiro to remediate this historic failure, helping secure a $700 million increase in state funding for public schools during my first year in office, and over $1.3 billion more in this year’s budget. We also passed new educator hiring incentives to address our teacher shortage, additional funding for school breakfasts to ensure no kid goes to school hungry and additional direct state support for CTE and vocational programs. Following outreach from our local school board officials, I’ve supported efforts to enact cyber charter reform, which will help prevent public money from being diverted for advertising by for-profit companies and which will bring much needed funds back into Central Bucks and New Hope/Solebury classrooms. Finally, throughout my term in office, no issue resulted in more calls to my legislative office than the need to fund higher education in Pennsylvania. During a budget impasse that risked funding for Penn State, Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh, I’m proud to have returned every single call personally and to have fought for, and won, continued funding for Penn State, Temple and Pitt, increases for our community colleges and continued investment in our higher education students.

What are your ideas for improving our state roads?

Improving our state roads has been one of the central concerns of my first two years in office. It requires two simultaneous modes of leadership: finding creative solutions to decades-old structural problems and consistently and effectively advocating for our communities’ needs with officials in Harrisburg. The current state of our roads is unacceptable. The PennDOT maintenance district that includes Bucks County has the highest density, the most residents, the most vehicle miles travelled, and the most economic activity in the Commonwealth, yet we also have the second most roads in poor condition and the second most bridges in poor condition. Our PennDOT workers here tirelessly perform exceptional work, but because of the high housing costs in Bucks County, and the uniform state contract for our state workers, our local maintenance facility remains only 68% staffed. I have constantly raised this issue with Secretary Carroll and other members of the administration, and I’ve fought for additional state resources and more creative solutions to this systematic problem. I also proposed my own creative solutions, introducing a bill that would provide more resources for suburban roads, and I work to ensure PennDOT prioritizes the resurfacing of 611 and 202—a massive project that has been delayed for more than forty years. Effectively remediating the deplorable state of our infrastructure will require consistent, experienced advocacy — and I see no part of my job as more important than championing my constituents’ needs to the decision-makers with the power to address them.

The 29th House District includes Doylestown Borough, Doylestown Township, New Britain Borough, Chalfont Borough, Buckingham, Solebury and New Hope Borough.