A Schuylkill County woman who worked for a former local congressman and President Joe Biden’s budget office wants to go to Congress herself.
Rachel Wallace, 37, of East Brunswick Twp., announced Wednesday she will seek the Democratic nomination next year for the 9th Congressional District seat.
Wallace is the third Democrat to announce a bid. The others are Daniel Byron Jr., 29, of Williamsport, Lycoming County, and Jennifer Brothers, 37, of Auburn Twp., of Susquehanna County.
The winner of the primary election next May would likely face Republican Dan Meuser, of Dallas Twp., Luzerne County, who represents the district now and is expected to run for re-election.
What Wallace says she will do
In a news release, Wallace said her campaign “will focus on lowering the cost of living, protecting access to affordable health care, and bringing people in the community together.”
“People are so frustrated with Congress and the state of politics today, and I have seen that up close and in person,” Wallace said in the release. “This is my home, and I want to fight for my neighbors by putting the focus back on our local communities and the problems we face, from the high cost of groceries to our broken health care system. Dan Meuser has looked out for himself in Congress, and it’s past time we had someone looking out for us.”
Efforts to reach a spokesperson for Meuser were not immediately successful.
Her resume
Wallace, the daughter of a nurse and a pastor, grew up in Pottsville and graduated from Pottsville Area High School, according to the news release.
She worked for former U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, of Schuylkill County, a job that led to a career in public service in the U.S. Senate, at the State Department and the White House.
She was chief of staff in the White House Office of Management and Budget from October 2021 to May 2023 under President Biden, according to her LinkedIn page.
She spent three years (2014-2017) as a State Department speechwriter and communications advisor in the Office of Global Women’s Issues during President Barack Obama’s administration.
After that, she spent most of 2018 as senior communications advisor to former U.S. Mike Espy’s unsuccessful campaign for the U.S. Senate in Mississippi.
From there, she joined the staff of U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, for two years as an advisor and speechwriter and spent a year working as an advisor on President Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. She served for 10 months as special assistant to the president and chief of staff for presidential personnel in 2021 before taking the budget office job.
Since May 2023, she has served as an independent consultant. She returned home to care for her mother, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
She lives with her husband and dog.
The 9th district includes all of Bradford, Columbia, Lebanon, Montour, Northumberland, Schuylkill, Sullivan, Susquehanna and Wyoming counties, roughly the western half of Luzerne County and parts of Berks and Lycoming counties.
