Jacklyn Rusnock (official Pa. House photo)
State Rep.-elect Jacklyn Rusnock said a shared commitment to helping neighbors led her ex-husband, former Democratic Pennsylvania House Speaker Mark Rozzi, to endorse her to run for his state House seat earlier this year.
Rusnock won her election in November to the 126th Legislative District seat in Berks County, defeating Republican nominee James Oswald. Rozzi, who served briefly as speaker in 2023, ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for auditor general this year.
“If we can be in a position to help the people in our community, we’re going to do that. And Mark and I had done that from very early on in our relationship together, so he just thought that I would be a good replacement for him,” Rusnock told the Capital-Star.
Rusnock holds a degree in dental hygiene from West Virginia University and worked as a dental hygienist before becoming a dental occupations teacher at Reading Muhlenberg Career and Technology Center, the vocational and technical training school for Muhlenberg and Reading school districts.
She also coaches softball at Muhlenberg High School and served as a member of the Muhlenberg school board. Rozzi and Rusnock were married for 25 years and have one daughter.
As youth program mentors and in their careers, Rusnock said she and Rozzi shared a belief that “it’s important to listen to the people that you are serving so that you can better serve them.”
The 126th District includes part of the city of Reading; Laureldale, Mount Penn and St. Lawrence boroughs; Lower Alsace and Muhlenberg townships; and part of Exeter Township.
The following questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Capital-Star: What do you think is unique about your district?
Rusnock: This district is a little bit of everything. We have some rural aspects of it and some urban aspects of it. I have quite a few school districts that I will be keeping an eye out for.
Part of my district encompasses the Reading School District. I have Exeter School Districts, I have Antietam School District, and then I also have our local career and technology center. So part of the district is making sure that our school-age kids are getting what they need.
People in the district are facing the challenges in the city of reading as well as areas up over the mountain and out here in Muhlenberg that are definitely more rural. And I’ll be helping those people with the challenges that they face that are much different than what the people in the city are facing.
But there are also a lot of things that we have in common too. We have issues with housing here. We have issues with transportation. So there’s a lot of unique things, but there’s a lot of things that you know cross over as well in the district.
Capital-Star: What would you say is the single most pressing issue in your district?
Rusnock: It’s an age-old problem. When you’re knocking on somebody’s door, it’s “What are you going to do about property taxes?” That’s a big thing for people because the paycheck isn’t going as far as it used to. We’re trying to meet basic needs. Food and shelter are a big part of that. And the taxes just keep going up for people putting them in very precarious positions.
I’m looking forward to joining Harrisburg and my fellow Democrats in continuing to cut costs for working families and let my residents know that we work on property tax and rent relief.
One of the things that I talked about on the campaign trail was, I feel like I have the ability to reach across the aisle and work with my Republican counterparts. I mean, we all have families and we’re all, you know, paying the same taxes … so, you know, why not work together to try to make life easier for all of us?
I’m the freshman coming in and and you know, I might be a little Pollyanna on that, and I’ll learn more as I get up there, but that’s my mindset, and that’s what I’d really like to do.
Capital-Star: Is there a piece of legislation that you are going to prioritize from day one?
Rusnock: I don’t have anything specific at this moment. I’ve just been kind of looking at some things and I will utilize my experience and my practice as a health care worker, as an educator, to identify what pieces of legislation that I can look at in those realms that will be able to help the people back here in my district.
I’m coming out of the career and technology education (CTE) system, and I’ve already sent some grant opportunities out to our local career and technology center that will hopefully help us partner with the business and industry here and help us better prepare our students … so that we have knowledgeable and skillful workers to come out and fill positions that will have wage-sustaining jobs for them.
I think that we had put such emphasis on teaching our kids like, “Hey, you gotta graduate from high school. You gotta go on, get a college education. That’s how you’re going to build a better life for yourself.” I believe in education, it’s something that can never be taken away from you, but the education that you get should not strap you with so much debt coming out of it that you never see an end in sight.