Malcolm Kenyatta Announces Pennsylvania Senate Run

Malcolm Kenyatta, state representative for Pennsylvania’s 181st district, is running for the U.S. Senate in 2022. If elected, Kenyatta would be the first openly gay man in the U.S. Senate. He would also be the first out, gay, Black man in the senate and the first Black Pennsylvania senator.  Elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2018, Kenyatta has worked to address economic issues in the state, such as generational poverty and raising the minimum wage. He also backed legislation to end gun violence, protect workers, and improve mental healthcare.  Last week, Kenyatta released his campaign video on Twitter, in which he describes his experiences growing up in Pennsylvania in a low-income household and stresses the importance of fighting for working families in the government.  “We have to answer the question at the heart of every campaign. Who should government work for? We need policies that actually speak to working families and lift them up,” Kenyatta states in the video. “We have to choose, are we going to go down the path of darkness, or are we ready to bring a new day to Pennsylvania?” 

It’s official: I am a Democrat running to be a voice for working families in the US Senate. Help us build this movement from the ground up: https://t.co/S4UAhtPfkU pic.twitter.com/8amZkdaKac — Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (@malcolmkenyatta) February 19, 2021

Kenyatta is not the first Pennsylvania politician to declare a 2022 senate run. Senator Pat Toomey announced his retirement from the senate in October of 2020, leaving the PA senate seat open to newcomers. Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman began his campaign in early February, promising to fight for marijuana legalization, LGBTQ rights, and environmental and criminal justice. Fetterman ran for the senate in 2016 but did not make it past the democratic primary.  Also joining the race are democrats Brandaun Dean, the former mayor of Brighton, AL, and John McGuigan, former Norristown, PA councilman. Republican candidates include HSBC whistleblower Everett Stern and conservative Sean Gale. Kenyatta, if elected, would enter into a federal government that, while still incredibly white, straight, and male-dominated, is slowly becoming more diverse. President Biden picked two openly LGBTQ politicians for his cabinet—Pete Buttigieg, secretary of transportation, and Rachel Levine, assistant secretary of health. Democratic Senators Tammy Baldwin and Kyrsten Sinema are currently the only members of the U.S. Senate who are openly LGBTQ. 

Photo courtesy of Malcolm Kenyatta’s Facebook page.