Senator David G. Argall
29th District
As a member of the Senate’s majority leadership team and the proud grandson of Cornish, Welsh, and German farmers, coal miners, and factory workers, Senator Argall’s top legislative priority is revitalizing our downtowns and older industrial neighborhoods.
Senator Dave Argall represents the 29th District, which now includes 102 municipalities in northeastern Pennsylvania including all of Schuylkill and Carbon Counties, and parts of Luzerne County including the city of Hazleton.
Senator Argall has led successful battles to pass several new anti-blight laws. Because of his grassroots teamwork, “left behind” communities across Pennsylvania, from his hometown of Tamaqua to parts of our largest cities, have witnessed a positive transformation.
In the Senate, he now chairs the Majority Policy Committee, which has the power to hold public hearings and carefully review any legislative idea. Under Argall’s leadership, the Majority Policy Committee previously has crisscrossed the state, holding hearings on the impact of covid-19 lockdowns on employers and schools, waste and abuse in state welfare programs, and repeat DUI offenders.
He formerly chaired a bipartisan commission which unanimously recommended more than $400 million in taxpayer savings. Senator Argall is also a leader in conservation, farmland preservation, and abandoned mine reclamation initiatives, locally as a volunteer Scout leader and as the author of legislation which has recycled more than 97 percent of Pennsylvania’s waste tires.
Senator Argall earned a bachelor’s degree from Lycoming College and a Ph.D. in public administration from Penn State. His studies included an Eisenhower Fellowship to review the economic and political transformations in Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall. His doctoral dissertation reviewed the benefits and drawbacks of Pennsylvania’s tax-free “Keystone Opportunity Zones” for economic development.
Dr. Argall has served as a part-time public policy instructor for more than 30 years at Lycoming College, Penn State, and at Lehigh Carbon Community College, where he helped to lead the transformation of the vacant junior high school where his parents once taught into LCCC’s Morgan Center.
Senator Argall and his wife Beth are the parents of AJ and Elise, who are pursuing careers in patent law and communications. The Argalls share their Rush Township home with their terrier, Wolfgang.