Judy Hines

It was two weeks before Pennsylvania’s primary election when Judy Hines, a retired teacher and Democrat from Springfield Township, deduced she wanted to be a candidate in the party’s empty race for the 8th District state House seat.

Hines, who lives in Mercer County with her husband, Larry, had been at a forum sponsored by the League of Women Voters, and listening to a Thiel College professor speak on gerrymandering when the thought of running for state office popped into her head.

Hines said she came away from the lecture thinking two things: first, that it was terrible how poorly drawn Pennsylvania’s legislative districts are, and second, that the state of affairs had resulted in people not feeling their voices are being heard in Harrisburg.

“Democracy to me is choices. We should have choices when we go to the polls,” Hines said. “In the 8th District, in my lifetime, there has never been a choice in the general election. There’s only been one candidate on the ballot.”

That’s how the race for the 8th House seat started this year, but a successful write-in campaign by Hines — she won the Democratic nomination with 425 votes, 335 of which came in Mercer County — changed things.

Hines, 67, will take on incumbent Republican Tedd Nesbit in the general election. Hines taught health and physical education for more than 35 years in Lakeview School District. Before getting her first teaching job she worked as a housekeeper at hotels and motels, a waitress, and other temporary positions.

But despite coming late to the decision and going up against an entrenched Republican in a conservative-leaning district, Hines said she’s not running on principal or to make a point. She’s in it to win it.

“It’s a campaign to win, so that I can get to Harrisburg and be the voice of those people who, for many, many years, never had one because there was no other choice,” Hines said.

Since her primary win, Hines said her platform has continued to evolve as she meets and talks with residents, often in places she describes as largely forgotten in Harrisburg: trailer parks, rural areas and out-of-the-way communities

“If I receive the honor of being elected ... I must keep in the forefront of my mind it isn’t my personal views I’m representing,” Hines said.

Still, Hines — who previously served as president of the Lakeview Area Schools teacher’s union — believes strongly that education is the most vital issue facing voters in the district today. She wants to fully roll back funding cuts enacted during the administration of former Gov. Tom Corbett, and wants to ease the burden created by unfunded mandates handed down by the state in recent years.

“We need to understand that if we don’t fund education, it’s going to be the downfall of our society,” Hines said.

She said she also thinks more needs to be done to confront the drug epidemic facing the region — a policy position Hines said grew out of feedback she received while on the campaign trail.

“I truly thought it was going to be jobs and the economy,” she said, “but the top response in this area was the drug problem.”

Hines said funeral home directors and coroners have told her the influx of drug overdose deaths has created “major concerns” for them, as autopsies overburden medical examiners and families struggle to deal emotionally and financially with the death toll. Hines said she wants to focus on family and community-based “task groups” that can educate people on drugs and addiction. She also wants to expand mental health funding and broaden community outreach efforts for addicts.

“There are families that are grieving; there are elderly people that are frightened that people might break into their homes to get money and drugs,” she said. “It’s going to take a lot of time and work — and reaching into areas that people don’t want to go. We have to sit down and talk with families. Because a lot of this is generational.”

While concerns over drugs may have overtaken economics as a concern in the district, Hines said the economy is still among her top priorities.

Hines said she has heard stories of young people working multiple jobs and struggling to make ends meet on a day-to-day basis. She says she would fight to raise the minimum wage to make Pennsylvania more competitive with neighboring states, Ohio and West Virginia, where the hourly rate is higher. She believes young people are leaving to seek jobs there because of the disparity.

Overall, Hines said, she wants to work to bring compromise back to Harrisburg after two contentious budget cycles that have left voters upset over the conduct of their elected officials.

“People are sick of the government. People are angry. They’re so upset with legislators acting like they’re in a schoolyard,” Hines said. “They really want to put issues first and party affiliation aside.”