Daylin Leach

Daylin Leach (born June 23, 1961) is a former American politician and lawyer, who was a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 17th senatorial district from 2009 until 2020.

Leach was born in Philadelphia and graduated from Parkland High School in 1979 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

He received a B.A. in political science from Temple University in 1983 and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center in 1986.

He practiced law for 16 years, focusing on family and education law.

He taught constitutional law, legal ethics and First Amendment law as an adjunct professor at Cedar Crest College and Muhlenberg College.

Leach served as president of the Pennsylvania Young Democrats in the early 1990s and on the Allentown Zoning Board from 1990 to 1994.

During his career, he co-hosted Lehigh Valley Firing Line, a local weekly political debate TV program.

The mailer carried a headline of "Anti-Semitism, Neo-Nazism, Holocaust Denial. They are not 'a big joke.'" The charges stemmed from Leach's 1999 defense of an in absentia client from Texas who was sued in Allentown, Pennsylvania, for alleged comments in an Internet chat room.

Following the dismissal, the plaintiff posted on the Internet, denouncing Leach and the Texas man as anti-Semites.

The posts were unearthed by a Brooks researcher and used in the mailer.

"She had to know I was Jewish, because it had come up in a debate. But since I have a non-Jewish surname, she apparently thought she could get away with this," Leach said.

The campaign immediately convinced a local Jewish newspaper to denounce the mailer and reproduced the article on a flyer with a profile of Leach, emphasizing his Jewish roots and activism, on the reverse.

By election day, 70 volunteers had hand-delivered the literature to most district households.

Leach first ran for the 149th legislative district in a special election on February 12, 2002, following the resignation of Democrat Connie Williams.

Leach was the Democratic nominee and lost to Republican Wallis Brooks 48%-44%, a difference of 273 votes.

In the November 2002 rematch of their February special election, the Brooks campaign sent dozens of direct mail advertisements, including one accusing Leach of defending child molesters as an attorney.

On the Saturday before the election, one was sent to voters accusing Leach of being anti-Semitic.

On November 5, 2002, Leach defeated Brooks 53%-47%, a difference of 1,170 votes.

Leach won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican Brad Murphy 62%-38%.

Leach won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican Monica Treichel 67%-33%.

He was previously a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, representing the 149th district from 2003 to 2009.

In 2003, the political website PoliticsPA named him to "The Best of the Freshman Class" list, saying that he "has all the ingredients of a rising star" and that he "makes the job look fun."

In August 2005, Leach published an op-ed article in The Philadelphia Inquirer criticizing the paper's coverage of the 2005 Pennsylvania General Assembly pay raise controversy.

In what the Philadelphia City Paper called "the paper's first round against Leach," Inquirer columnist John Grogan responded by accusing Leach of "funny math."

In response, Leach "struck back" against the Inquirer with a satirical email to associates under the pseudonym "Dutch Larooo" criticizing Inquirer reporter Mario F. Cattabiani.

On September 1, 2005, Mario F. Cattabiani published a front-page article in The Philadelphia Inquirer that "exposed" Leach's long-standing and satirical blog "leachvent.com."

The Philadelphia City Paper criticized the Inquirer for allowing Cattabiani to "answer his attacker" through a news article, noting that "thousands of insiders have laughed at Leach's satire for years," but the Inquirer acted as though it had been "recently discovered."

The Philadelphia City Paper wrote that Cattabiani's article incorrectly characterized Leach's website as a "blog" rather than satire and had focused on Leach's pseudonym's "impure thoughts," while ignoring the "satirical attack" on his Cattabiani's reporting.

The next day, Leach removed his website.

John Grogan wrote that Leach had "dug his own political grave."

The Philadelphia City Paper criticized these negative articles about Leach by stating that "hidden behind the newspaper's florid obsession with Leach's naughty bits, is the state rep's pointed satire of their mediocre coverage – a criticism that the newspaper never addresses...The Inquirer savaged this young legislator because his satire was hitting its mark: Them."

Notable work in the House includes proposed bills that would allow hybrid cars into the state fleet, that give state funding for breast and ovarian cancer screening for low-income women, that would address redistricting reform, that would eliminate state's lethal use of paralytic drugs, and that would require hospitals to offer emergency contraception to sexual assault victims.

In 2016, Philadelphia law firm Sacks Weston Diamond LLC hired Leach to advise clients on medical marijuana licensing, permitting and regulatory rules.

He left the firm in July, 2017, when he announced his congressional candidacy.

When Connie Williams of Pennsylvania's 17th senate district decided to retire, Leach decided to enter the election.

He was the Democratic nominee and defeated Republican Lance Rogers, a Lower Merion Township Commissioner, 62%-38%.

Leach won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican nominee Charles Gehret 63%-37%.

Leach won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican nominee Brian Gondek 64%-36%.

Leach faced attorney and East Norriton Township, Pennsylvania Board of Supervisors Vice Chairwoman, Amanda Cappelletti, in the Democratic party.

Cappelletti defeated Leach, receiving 63% of the vote and winning every county in the district.