Republican John Lawrence of the 13th District and Democrat Christina Sappey of the 158th District were both reelected as State Representatives in November. As they prepare for their upcoming terms – Lawrence will begin his eighth and Sappey her fourth – the Chester County Press spoke with them about the key issues that face their respective constituencies, the major initiatives they are working on and how they see Chester County moving forward in the years ahead

By Richard L. Gaw
Staff Writer

Christina Sappey: ‘I know that it is important for me to keep my head down and focus on the job right in front of me…’

Chester County Press: Take me back to the early morning of Nov. 6. What was your immediate reaction to the presidential election, and what are your key concerns about a Trump presidency that could have an impact on your constituents heading into the next presidential term?

Sappey: I was watching the news and had my laptop open watching my own race at the same time, and at about 11 p.m., I saw that my race was going to be okay but that the Harris-Walz race was not looking good. When I woke up the next morning, I knew what I was going to see on my phone, and while I was dreading it, I know that it is important for me to keep my head down and focus on the job right in front of me every single day, which are the people in my district. It becomes more manageable when I have that lens on.

Having said that, I have major concerns. The tariffs [proposed by Trump] could really drive the cost of goods even higher; and that the draconian immigration measures [proposed by Trump] will separate children from families is a humanitarian concern. I also have concern for the issue of women’s rights. The list is long, but those are at the top of what concerns me. 

Let’s discuss potentially the largest impact the Trump election will have on Chester County – his pledge to undergo a mass deportation strategy in the U.S. that will likely affect thousands of undocumented citizens in the county. If enacted, it will have a ripple effect on our local economy, particularly in the agricultural industry. What measures is your office undertaking to address this issue?

Immigration is handled at the federal level, but as a state representative, one of the things I need to make sure I am doing is to be on the ground, speaking to members in the community, particularly those in the Latino and Hispanic communities, law enforcement, elected officials, faith leaders and healthcare providers. What is everyone seeing? What is everyone doing? After a raid several years ago on a farm, many went underground. When I was campaigning for office in 2018 in our Hispanic communities, I was a white woman with a clipboard, and I saw doors locked, window shades pulled and everyone rushing back into their homes. There was fear back then and this will reignite those fears, and I think that our employers need to be concerned.

This will not just affect the agricultural industry, but the entire equine industry, the entire landscaping industry and the entire hospitality industry. That’s our workforce. I have made this clear in Harrisburg that this is not just a minor slice of the pie, but a major chunk of the pie. When you consider that southeastern Pennsylvania is the economic engine of the state, people should be very concerned about this.

The argument coming from the other side of the political aisle is that these are undocumented citizens, and because they are here illegally, they do not have the right to be here in the U.S.

I want people to be here legally, but they -- those on the other side of the aisle -- have the authority to make that process work. We have people who have been in the pipeline to become U.S. citizens who have been waiting for years to do so. If you are a senator or are in Congress, you have the authority to get this done. To make people sit for a decade and then complain about illegal immigration doesn’t make any sense to me. 

The Democratic party – your party – has been soundly criticized for its failure to reach the working-class sector of the population. In your estimation, how will the Democratic party need to redefine its message in order to reach those voters who feel that the party has left them behind?

First and foremost, Democrats have always prioritized the working class and those in need and that message has really gotten lost in the last election cycles, because fringe issues have been highlighted, and not necessarily by our party. I understand that this is not a priority for folks, but we need to do a better job in getting our message out, and better knowing who we are speaking with. People in positions of authority have been in politics for a long time. They spend all their time around people who are in politics. It is often the only conversation they have, and they have stopped talking with regular people.

When you [as an elected official] stop asking a person on the street, ‘How are you doing?’ you become tone deaf. 

One of the most pressing issues facing the 158th District has been the increasing lack of affordable housing, and while state and federal money has been tossed on the problem, the problem still exists and it’s destroying the fabric of the local working- and middle-class. What have you been doing – and what will you continue to do – to come up with solutions?

Our urban centers are where we should absolutely have affordable housing. You want your workforce to be living near where they work. You want walkable communities, and you want people to be able to live somewhere that doesn’t cost $700,000. It’s been a growing problem for the past decade in Chester County, and it has been among the loudest of conversation, but it’s not a simple problem to solve in the fastest growing and wealthiest county in the state. 

We are having these conversations constantly with realtors, developers, builders and the service sector, and everyone immediately identifies with the problem, but there are very different views on how to tackle it.

I look to other states who have been able to tackle this for ideas and solutions. Are they renovating existing infrastructure? Are they giving tax credits to incentivize affordable housing? I have to get this information to our local government committee and then get it through a Republican House and convince a lot of lawmakers in rural Pennsylvania that helping us do this is worthwhile. We are the economic engine of the state, but it is hard to convince them that when we don’t have affordable housing and we don’t have an economy because we don’t have a workforce, that it is going to hurt them in other parts of Pennsylvania. 

One of the biggest challenges we face is defining what “affordable” is. Calculating this is not something that everyone agrees on, so this may take a while. 

While no one in the 158th District can dispute the economic impact of the mushroom industry has had on the local economy, there is a growing concern that the industry has not done an effective job of regulating its emission levels of toxic fumes -- particularly Hydrogen Sulfide. What measures are being undertaken by the industry that – to your satisfaction – properly point the needle forward in terms of creating permanent solutions?

When you say “to my satisfaction,” [the mushroom industry] is not doing anything to my satisfaction of their own volition, but they are doing their own point source study. They are trying to establish some data in order to move forward with measures to control [levels of Hydrogen Sulfide] and then prove that “This is where it is coming from, and this is how we are handling it.”

I do think it is time for the Department of Agriculture -- with the support of legislators -- to look at how we regulate and monitor what is going on in these areas. People have been complaining about the Hydrogen Sulfide for several years. Something is not working. The problem is that a lot of the statutes that are in existence to govern the environmental aspects of agriculture also govern agriculture in other parts of the state that are very different than the mushroom industry. We take an oath of office ensuring the health, safety and welfare of our constituents, and that means all of them. I take that seriously, and when something is taking too long, it’s only logical that steps need to be taken. 

Let’s turn our attention to another ecological problem: the proliferation of phorid flies in Chester County. You recently met with area stakeholders about what possible solutions can be incorporated to help reduce the population of the phorid fly. Bring the readers of the Press up to date on what is happening and who is involved.

Kennett Square Borough has had an influx of phorid flies, and a lot of the surrounding areas have been impacted for a long time. We have been making progress with research initiatives from Penn State, which have created measures to reduce the populations at the source – mushroom farms. They have developed a product that they use for operational use that has been approved by the FDA but not for residential use, but hopefully in 2025 the product will be approved for residential use.

The eventual goal is to eliminate the phorid flies at the farms before they reach residential areas. 

In 2023, you introduced a bill to create an Office of Child Advocate (OCA) in Pennsylvania in order to help protect children from abuse and exploitation. Currently, 34 other states have such an agency. How close is the commonwealth to seeing the start of that independent agency? 

The issue for Pennsylvania is that we currently have an office but it’s not permanent and it’s by executive order only, so a future governor can eliminate this with the stroke of a pen. One of the things that this legislation is aiming for is to make this a permanent office to be housed in the Department of Human Services, who will work closely with areas like education, health and judiciary and create an umbrella approach to the issue of child protection and safety, so that we don’t see children and youth fall through the cracks. 

We have seen horrific cases here in Chester County that should never have happened. This office would very clearly streamline the responsibilities so that everyone is crystal clear about what happens when a call comes in, and what happens next. There is misunderstanding in this legislation in thinking that we are trying to create a giant bureaucracy, when it’s frankly taking departments that currently exist and making sure that they are working more collaboratively. 

Among the legislation that you will continue to support heading into your next term, what, among it, is expected to be at the top of your priorities? 

We were able to get several bills passed into law this past term and I am very proud of that. We got the telemedicine legislation passed. We got bipartisan legislation to better protect victims’ pets in domestic violence situations signed into law. Now that I can cross those off my list, I can focus on some other initiatives. 

The earned income tax credit for our workforce is one that came really close to passing last term, and it will be one that I will continue to push for in my next term. I am thinking about all of our young people who go off to college or tech school and come back and can’t afford to live here, or they are living here but are one car repair or healthcare payment away from falling behind. We want to keep them working and not in social safety net programs, but when they are faced with these crises, they are forced to make crucial decisions, and that’s not good for the economy and it’s not good for the family.

To learn more about Christina Sappey, visit www.pahouse.com/Sappey