Animal Wellness Action Announces Endorsements for Key Congressional Races in Pennsylvania

Reps. Susan Wild, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Madeleine Dean Are the Delegation’s Top Leaders on Animal Welfare

Washington, D.C. – Reps. Susan Wild (D-7^th) Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1^st), and Madeleine Dean (D-4^th) notched perfect scores on the Animal Wellness Action Legislative Scorecard for the 117^th Congress, as key indicators that they are the leading advocates for animal welfare among Pennsylvania’s Congressional delegation, according to Animal Wellness Action. AWA also singled out Reps. Glenn Thompson (R-15^th) and Brendan Boyle (D-2^nd) as leaders on animal welfare issues, with Thompson helping lead a bill to ban the trade in bear gall bladders and Boyle helping lead on multiple measures to reduce the use of animals in testing, including the enormously important FDA Modernization Act. 

“Pennsylvania has a very strong Congressional delegation on animal welfare issues, and it’s especially important for voters to return Reps. Susan Wild, Brian Fitzpatrick, and Madeleine Dean to the House again to represent their newly drawn districts,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of Animal Wellness Action. “Animal cruelty is a vice, and our nation must pull it up at the root.”

“Six Democrats and five Republicans from the U.S. House representing Pennsylvania earned endorsements from Animal Wellness Action in running for re-election to the U.S. House,” said Marty Irby, executive director at Animal Wellness Action. “These lawmakers understand that mistreating animals boomerangs against us in the form of social violence, zoonotic disease transmission, and other adverse outcomes that make all of us less safe.”

Here is the full roster of endorsements:

Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1). One of the very top Republican leaders in the Congress, he is co-author of the Kangaroo Protection Act, the Puppy Protection Act, and the Big Cat Public Safety Act and active on a wide range of other issues. See our complete endorsement of Fitzpatrick here.

Brendan Boyle (D-2). He is a leader on a wide range of animal testing issues.  He also initiated letters to executive agencies on animal issues and has cosponsored a wide range of bills, including measures to crack down on horse slaughter, horse soring, and shark fin sales.

Dwight Evans (D-3^rd). He is a cosponsor of the Saving America’s Forgotten Equines, the Big Cat Public Safety Act, the Greyhound Protection Act, and other animal welfare measures.

Madeleine Dean (D-4^th). One of the leaders on animal protection in the House, she has cosponsored every major animal welfare bill and she is an active leader on the issues.  She has a perfect score of 100 on the Animal Wellness Action Legislative Scorecard. She is a cosponsor of legislation to ban the dangerous and inhumane practice of mink farming.

Mary Gay Scanlon (D-5).  Scanlon is cosponsor of a raft of animal welfare legislation, including the legislation to ban horse slaughter, to stop horse soring, the Shark Fin Elimination Act, and the Greyhound Protection Act.

Chrissy Houlihan (D-6^th). She is cosponsor of the Big Cat Public Safety Act, the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, and the Saving America’s Forgotten Equines.

Susan Wild (D-7^th). With a perfect score from AWA, Wild is promoting a wide range of policies, including bans on horse soring, horse slaughter, and shark finning. She’s a cosponsor of the Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act and the FDA Modernization Act.

Dan Meuser (R-9-PA). Meuser has also amassed a very strong record on animal welfare, backing the Big Cat Public Safety Act, the FDA Modernization Act, and other pro-animal legislation.

Lloyd Smucker (R-11^th). Congressman Smucker is a long-time animal welfare advocate, backing the horse slaughter and horse soring bills, the Shark Fin Sales Elimination Act, and Big Cat Public Safety Act.

Guy Reschenthaler (R-14^th). Reschenthaler has amassed a tremendous record in fighting for animal protection. He has cosponsored, among other bills, the anti-slaughter and anti-soring bills for horses, the Animal Cruelty Enforcement Act, the Puppy Protection Act, and the FDA Modernization Act. He also led the Petfax Act to crackdown on puppy mills in the 116^th Congress. 

Glenn “GT” Thompson (R-15^th). Thompson was instrumental in helping pass three key provisions on the 2018 Farm bill from his perch on the Agriculture Committee – a national ban on animal fighting, a ban on the sale of dog and cat meat, and a measure to provide animal sheltering capacity at domestic violence shelters. He is one of the leaders of the Bear Protection Act to halt the trade in bear gall bladders and bile to China for Traditional Chinese Medicine. See our special endorsement here.

Animal Wellness Action send special thanks to two retiring lawmakers – Congressman Mike Doyle (D-13) and Senator Pat Toomey. Toomey was the lead author of the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act that was enacted in 2019. That bill creates, for the first time, a national anti-cruelty law. Rep. Doyle was active a wide range of animal issues, leading the effort to shut down “random source” dog dealers to laboratories. 

Animal Wellness Action has endorsed Lt. Governor John Fetterman in his bid to replace Senator Toomey. Fetterman has pledged support for the wide range of animal welfare issues, while Oz has been silent on animal welfare issues and hasn’t answered questions about where he stands on animal testing.  He has been widely criticized for running a laboratory in New York that killed nearly 330 beagles and more than 700 animals between 1989-2010. See our press release on this race here.

“Pennsylvanians are passionate about animals, and they expect their lawmakers to fight for these issues,” added Natalie Ahwesh, director of grassroots advocacy for Animal Wellness Action.  “We are expecting great things from these lawmakers in 2023 and beyond.” Ahwesh is based in Pittsburgh and also leads Humane Action Pittsburgh.