Lindsay Powell ’13 wins special election
Lindsay Powell ’13 wins Pennsylvania State House seat
Lindsay Powell ’13, who majored in sociology at Wheaton, was sworn in as the newest member of the Pennsylvania State House in October 2023, after winning a key race in a special election to replace three-term representative Sara Innamorato.
Several media outlets featured stories about her victory, including The Associated Press, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the Pennsylvania Capital-Star news website and the New Pittsburgh Courier.
The Courier’s Sept. 29 story “Lindsay Powell dominates special election, will serve as District 21 representative” noted that she made history.
“Lindsay Powell, 32, a New York City native who has made Pittsburgh her home for the past 10 years, made history as the first Black woman to represent House District 21, handily winning a special election on Sept. 19,” Rob Taylor Jr. wrote.
In the story, Powell shared her inspiration for seeking the seat.
“I’ve always been very passionate about doing good work for our community,” she told Taylor. “When the opportunity arose where I could pair my lived experience with my passion for doing good work and my background in policymaking, I was really excited about the opportunity to serve my community in this way.”
Powell has been a rising star for many years. In 2019, Pittsburgh magazine named her one of the city’s “40 under 40” for work promoting racial, gender, development and housing equity as the assistant chief of staff within the office of the mayor.
At Wheaton, the Posse Scholar was president of the Student Government Association her senior year and a Fulbright Scholar. She earned a master’s degree in public policy management from Carnegie Mellon University’s Heinz College in 2017.