A licensed professional counselor from Cecil Township announced Monday he is seeking the Democratic nod to represent the 46th District in the state House.
Rueben Brock, who has a counseling practice in McMurray and also is a professor of psychology at California University of Pennsylvania, is the first candidate to announce a bid for the seat occupied by GOP Rep. Jason Ortitay of South Fayette.
A statement from Brock’s campaign pointed to the opioid epidemic as a focus of his campaign.
“I look forward to fighting for our community with ideas from experience,” he said. “There are solutions to some of these problems. The politicians just generally don’t ask the people on the front lines of the issues. It’s time for that to change.”
The campaign also listed equal access to education and livable wages for all Pennsylvanians as issues important to Brock.
The general primaries will be held May 15.
Brock was one of a slate of hopefuls who sought the Democratic Party nomination to run to represent the 18th U.S. Congressional District in March’s special election to replace disgraced former congressman Tim Murphy. Murphy resigned from the seat amid revelations about dysfunction within his office and an extramarital affair. Ortitay, a small business owner, also unsuccessfully sought his party’s nomination in that race.
Brock said the “first race taught me a lot,” and the state contest “was a perfect next step.”
“I saw pretty quickly that people were receptive to having new blood in leadership positions,” Brock said. “As it became clear that I wouldn’t win, people really started to push me toward considering a run for state House.”