Mike Turzai

During the primary race Turzai also ran to retain his 28th District House seat, defending against Democrat Emily Skopov; had he won the primary, Turzai would have been required to vacate his legislative seat.

He remained speaker throughout the election season.

Michael Coyne Turzai (born August 2, 1959) is an American politician and former Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives who served as Speaker of the House.

He earned a B.A. in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1981 and his J.D. degree from Duke University School of Law in 1987.

Turzai is married to Lidia Turzai, a pediatrician.

They have three children and live in Marshall Township in Allegheny County.

Turzai was an assistant district attorney for Allegheny County from 1988 to 1992, when he joined Houston Harbaugh, a law firm in Pittsburgh.

In 1998 Turzai ran to represent the 4th District in the U.S. House against Democratic incumbent Ron Klink.

He won the Republican primary by a large margin, with 54.25% of the vote to David F. Miller's 24.45% and Paul Adametz's 21.26%, but was defeated by Klink in the general election, 64-36%.He was strongly criticized by local media for hiring a helicopter to circle over his opponent's home, and for hiring a camera crew to ambush his opponent.

He was also a former representative to the Republican State Committee in 2000.

He is also a former member of the Pine-Marshall-Bradford Woods Police Board.

He is from Allegheny County and represented the 28th legislative district between 2001 and 2020.

His district included the municipalities of Pine Township, Marshall Township, Bradford Woods, Franklin Park, and McCandless.

In 2001 he was elected to the Pennsylvania House, winning every precinct in the 28th district against attorney Thomas Dancison in a special election to fill the seat of Jane Orie, who had replaced Melissa Hart in the state Senate in 2000.

He practiced law with Houston Harbaugh through 2004, and remains Of counsel with them.

Prior to serving in the legislature, Turzai served as the vice president of the Bradford Woods Borough Council.

In November 2010 Turzai was elected majority leader after the elections which gave the House a 21-seat majority by Republicans.

He had also previously served as minority whip.

Turzai served as the House Majority Leader from 2011 until 2015, and was elected Speaker in January 2015.

He was majority leader from 2011 to 2014.

Turzai was House Majority Leader in June 2011 when it passed the amended "Fair Share Act", a tort reform bill that largely repealed Pennsylvania's common law doctrine of joint and several liability.

The NRA Political Victory Fund endorsed Turzai in 2014 with an "A" rating.

On November 15, 2016, Turzai was chosen by House Republicans to be speaker-designee of the House of Representatives.

In 2016 he was given a 0% rating by the Sierra Club but a 25% rating by the Sierra Club PA. That same year he received a 92% rating by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.

On January 6, 2017, he was unanimously elected as Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for a second term.

Because of his role as Speaker, Turzai sits on all committees in an ex-officio capacity.

He actively serves on the Committee on Committees and the Committee on Rules.

In 2017 Turzai was given a 91% rating by the National Federation of Independent Business (which endorsed him in October 2016) and an 80% rating by the American Conservative Union.

As of 2017 he holds a 93% NRA rating.

On November 14, 2017 Turzai officially announced he would run for governor in 2018, challenging Democratic incumbent Tom Wolf.

Others in the Republican primary field included Scott Wagner, R-York; Paul Mango, a former health care director with McKinsey & Company; and Jones Day attorney Laura Ellsworth.

During a campaign stop in December 2017, Turzai said as governor he would prioritize "Fiscal responsibility, a balanced budget, school accountability and increased investments in career and technical education."

He said that if he was unable to bring about those changes during a first term, he would not seek a second term.

State representative Kathy Rapp and state Senator Scott Hutchinson endorsed his candidacy with supporting remarks.

He was a candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2018 until he suspended his campaign in February 2018.

As of February 2018, Turzai had $1.2 million in his campaign account.

On February 10, 2018, Turzai announced to the state Republican Party Committee that he would no longer be running for governor, following the party endorsement of Scott Wagner.

He resigned from his House seat in 2020; after leaving office, he became general counsel for Peoples Gas, a subsidiary of Essential Utilities.

Turzai was born in Sewickley, Pennsylvania.

He grew up in Moon Township and attended Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School in Coraopolis.