Michael Schroeder
Michael Schroeder ( Democratic Party) ran in a special election to the Pennsylvania State Senate to represent District 48. He lost in the special general election on January 14, 2020.
Schroeder completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. Click here to read the survey answers.
Elections
2020
See also: Pennsylvania state legislative special elections, 2020
General election
Special general election for Pennsylvania State Senate District 48
David Arnold defeated Michael Schroeder in the special general election for Pennsylvania State Senate District 48 on January 14, 2020.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | David Arnold (R) | 64.7 | 18,234 |
 | Michael Schroeder (D)  | 35.3 | 9,950 | |
| Total votes: 28,184 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Campaign themes
2020
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Michael Schroeder completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2019. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Schroeder's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.
Michael Schroeder is Associate Professor of History at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA. Born and raised in Minnesota, he worked his way through college as a roofer and carpenter (1977-1987), graduating summa cum laude in History and Economics from the University of Minnesota in 1987. He lived for 21 years in Ann Arbor, Michigan (1987-2008), where he earned his Ph.D. in history; taught at the University of Michigan-Flint and Eastern Michigan University; and raised his children Sarah (b. 1989, now mother of three) and Tim (b. 1993). He moved to Annville in 2008 to take the tenure track job at LVC.
Since then he has become a tenured professor and a well-known local activist and environmentalist in Lebanon County - as Executive Director of the Quittapahilla Creek Garbage Museum (winner of the 2017 Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence); President of the Friends of Old Annville (www.fooa.org); President of the Quittapahilla Watershed Association (www.quittiecreek.org); and Vice President of Lebanon Pipeline Awareness. An award-winning scholar, over the years he has appeared frequently in local news stories and in several dozen letters to the editor and op-eds.
Married to Annville native Karen Feather, he lives in South Annville Township.
Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?
- Solid Commitment to the Public Good
- Climate Action for Working People
- Authenticity, Integrity, Service
What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?
Ensuring that all hardworking PA families have access to affordable health care and the prescription drugs they need. No hardworking taxpaying PA family should have to choose between buying needed medicine or insulin for a loved one and putting food on the table for their children.
Addressing the opioid crisis by making Big Pharma compensate victims and municipalities, first responders, and health care providers.
Protecting public education, not through charter schools but by fixing what's broken in our public school system.
A fairer tax system for working people in which the wealthy pay more.
Expanding the social safety net to ensure that no PA family goes hungry or lacks the basic necessities of life.
Steering PA's energy portfolio away from fossil fuels and transitioning to a clean energy future & in the process creating 100,000s of good-paying, family-supporting jobs in solar, wind, geothermal, increasing energy efficiency, and reducing waste.
Putting teeth into Article 1, Section 27 of the PA Constitution, i.e., the Green Amendment -- "The people have a right to clean air, pure water, and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment . . . " -- in ways that support working people & their families.
A more fulsome description of my legislative priorities and positions on the many issues facing PA citizens & lawmakers today can be found on my website, at https://schroeder4senate.com
Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?
I'm a historian, so I have lots of historical heroes, but among my top heroes are Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Ella Baker, Nelson Mandela, the Dalai Lama, and most recently, Greta Thunberg. Why? Because they were (and in Greta's case, are) fearless & relentless in insisting on expanding the sphere of human dignity and freedom, in advocating peace and justice, and in working tirelessly and selflessly for a better world.
What qualities do you possess that you believe would make you a successful officeholder?
Honesty. Integrity. Authenticity. Fearlessness. Intelligence.
What legacy would you like to leave?
A better world for seven generations hence.
What is the first historical event that happened in your lifetime that you remember? How old were you at the time?
I remember JFK's assassination in November 1963 and the funeral afterwards, I was a mite over five years old. Remember sitting on my grandma's lap, bless her soul, watching the funeral on TV and trying to make sense of it all.
What was your very first job? How long did you have it?
My first job was when I was 11 years old, as a paperboy delivering the Minneapolis Tribune every morning at 5:30 a.m. regardless of the mountains of snow outside. Also, shoveling snow -- I remember making "MIKE SCHROEDER SNOW SHOVELING" cards in Mr. Brinkley's Print Shop Class at Highland Park Jr. High in the 8th grade. Delivered papers & shoveled snow till I was 15, when I started doing informal carpentry contracting.
Every state besides Nebraska has two legislative chambers. What do you consider the most important differences between the legislative chambers in your state?
I frankly don't discern a whole lot of difference between the PA Senate and House, though once I'm actually in the Senate I suspect the differences will become clearer.
Do you believe that it’s beneficial for state legislators to have previous experience in government or politics?
"In" government and politics? Not necessarily. "With" government & politics? Absolutely. As a historian & professor of history, I've spent a good part of the past four decades reading & writing & teaching & thinking about politics and the role of the state. As a local community activist, I've spent many years dealing with local politicians and institutions from the bottom up. In short, for the past decades I've come at politics from the "top down" and from the "bottom up". That kind of experience is essential for prospective state legislators, it seems to me, whether or not they have actual experience in government. I believe that it's essential for state legislators to have substantive experience in genuine public service, i.e., in volunteer service to the community -- which for me is something that takes up a fair chunk of every single day.
What do you perceive to be your state’s greatest challenges over the next decade?
Transitioning to a clean energy future while protecting the livelihoods and well-being of working people and their families. It can be done.
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See also
2020 Elections
Government
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External links
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Footnotes
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