The residents of pivotal Pennsylvania State Senate District 37 will cast their votes on Nov. 5, choosing one of two major party candidates to represent their interests in Harrisburg. Republican Devlin Robinson is the incumbent, a first-term state senator elected to the position in 2020. Democrat Nicole Ruscitto is challenging him in a hotly-contested battle at the ballot box.
District 37 swoops in a half-moon at Pittsburgh’s western edge, encompassing a swath of suburbs that include Sewickley and its surrounding communities, Franklin Park, Coraopolis, Bridgeville, Bethel Park and Jefferson Hills, among others. The district was redrawn following the 2020 census, and a new map went into effect on Dec. 1, 2022.
Both Robinson and Ruscitto ran unopposed in their parties’ primaries earlier this year.
Although the district’s current composition leans more Republican, members of both major parties have represented the 37th in the past decade. Robinson won out over Democratic incumbent Pam Iovino by a thin margin of about 3,000 votes in 2020.
The two candidates share a lengthy history in the district and have some similar priorities. TribLive spoke with them about the most pressing issues in the contentious campaign and how they would work to solve them in the Pennsylvania Senate.
Deep local roots
Both Ruscitto and Robinson have deep ties to communities within the district. Robinson was raised in Brookline and currently resides in Bridgeville. Ruscitto was born and raised in Pleasant Hills and has made Jefferson Hills her home.
“I’m a 28-year public school teacher, I’m a mom of two boys and a coach. And to be honest, my family looks like most of the families in the 37th district,” Ruscitto said. Her husband is also a public school teacher, and her two sons were educated in local public schools.
Ruscitto touts the fact that she is a third-generation union member. “I am a proud labor leader with PSEA where I work. I’ve negotiated seven contracts with them for my members.”
She also served on Jefferson Hills borough council from 2019 to 2023.
“I had great joy helping my constituents here and listening to them and helping them to fulfill their needs locally. I opened myself up once a month to meet with my constituents off the record,” she said. “I just know what it means to work hard and I know what it means to fight for more, and I’m running because I feel like right now we need to fight for more.”
Robinson also has a history of service. A Central Catholic alumnus, he chose the U.S. military after graduation.
“The proudest moment of my life was when I joined the Marine Corps,” he said.
He enlisted in July 2001 and was meant to ship out on Oct. 15, but everything changed when 9/11 happened.
“On that day, I changed my contract to go into the infantry, and I saw combat in Iraq and Afghanistan,” he said.
After four years of military service, he returned home and founded his company, Veterans Medical Technology. He also became involved with causes and groups focused on veterans in Western Pennsylvania.
“I have a lot of life experience working with people in many demographics and many different backgrounds and getting to a solution that works for everyone. … I’m successful there,” he said. He currently serves on seven committees in the state senate.
Reproductive rights
Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, abortion and reproductive rights have been at the forefront of electoral politics, especially at the state level. Ruscitto said that protecting reproductive rights is of vital importance to her.
“I knock on a lot of doors and I talk to a lot of families here. The women are frightened. It’s become more than just a women’s rights issue to me, it’s become a family issue. A lot of dads are concerned for their daughters, a lot of husbands are concerned for their wives, I’ve talked to a few couples who are in the process of in vitro (fertilization) and they’re concerned.”
She claimed that Robinson wants to ban abortion, citing his 2022 vote to add a line to the Pennsylvania Constitution that reads “This Constitution does not grant the right to taxpayer-funded abortion or any other right relating to abortion.”
The amendment did not pass.
Robinson’s campaign said that this was not a vote for a ban — the amendment would not have outlawed abortion, rather it only did not guarantee the right to abortion under the Constitution.
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“The law in Pennsylvania has been on the books since 1982. We’re not looking to change that,” Robinson said. “We want to make sure that the patient and the doctor can meet and exchange options fully and make sure that they come up with the best medical outcome.”
Ruscitto was adamant about her commitment to women’s healthcare. “I will always try to do my best to protect access to reproductive freedom, including access to IVF and birth control, which is vitally important to women and families here. Not just in the 37th, but in all of Pennsylvania. They can count on me to protect their freedoms, that’s for sure.”
The economy
The candidates agree that jobs and wages are top priorities for their constituents.
Robinson is the current chair of the Pennsylvania Senate Labor and Industry Committee, where proposals to raise the state’s minimum wage have stalled. Pennsylvania has not raised its minimum wage from $7.25 for 15 years.
“We’ve been trying to negotiate and try to find what the best pathway forward is,” he said. “We were negotiating the $15 minimum wage, was that going to be the ceiling? All of a sudden, it went up to $20 an hour. So where is the ceiling? That’s the entire issue when you start the negotiations and just move the goalposts. We want to get something that’s serious, we want to get a finalized product, we want to get it done.”
But he also said that he wants higher wages for everyone. “I don’t want them making the minimum wage, I want them making a living wage. We’re getting a lot of investments into Pennsylvania — especially the region here — so that people don’t have to rely on the minimum wage.”
Ruscitto said that she would readily pass a bill to raise the minimum wage. As a teacher, she has seen the effects of parents working multiple jobs on her students. “It’s unfair to the students, it’s unfair for the working class people that are out there trying to decide whether they can put food on the table, keep the lights on and afford EpiPens for their kids at school. That shouldn’t have to be a choice for people,” she said. “My husband and I have both lived paycheck to paycheck. We’ve had to also afford childcare when our children were little and we were both working. Many people here are feeling the effects of rising prices along with stagnant wages.”
She also tied the issue of wages to her proposals to expand childcare tax credits and fully fund public education in the district by eliminating funding to non-accountable charter schools. “At the end of the day, I know it’s hard to be a working family right now and I’m going to do my best to put those families first.”
The candidates agree that bringing high-quality jobs to the region is imperative, but they differ on how to accomplish that goal.
Robinson said that by lowering corporate net income tax rates, Pennsylvania would be more attractive to employers and competitive with surrounding states. “I’m tired of losing to West Virginia and Ohio, that’s what the governor actually said as well. So what do West Virginia and Ohio have? They’re a business-friendly environment where people want to come in and invest.”
“We are trying to lower the personal income tax to make sure that people get more money in their pockets,” he added.
He believes that manufacturing should be a priority in Western Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, he led the way on a bill signed into law by Gov. Shapiro that he said will enhance partnerships between public universities and private companies to nurture innovation in the region.
Ruscitto believes that the future of industry in Pennsylvania lies in innovation as well, but in a different direction. “A lot of these labor leaders and labor unions would like to see a transition to some greener jobs that have been voted down,” she said.
She stated that transitioning to a more environmentally friendly industry would provide support, training and new jobs for Pennsylvania workers. “I think that’s one step towards a better future for all of us. You shouldn’t have to decide between industry jobs and clean air and clean water,” she said.
District 37 is bursting with possibility, in her view. “We have our new airport coming in, there are robust opportunities coming in for employment with that. There’s a lot of potential.”
A bipartisan spirit
The candidates were asked if they would reach across the aisle and work with members of the opposing party to accomplish their goals. Ruscitto and Robinson both responded with a resounding “yes.”
Representing a swing district like PA-37, finding common ground in Harrisburg matters.
“I’ve been reaching across the aisle with practically everything that I do. I’ve had four bills signed into law by Tom Wolf, the (former) Democratic governor, I’ve already had four bills signed into law by Josh Shapiro, the Democratic governor,” Robinson said. “Even in my committee, I’ve had 19 out of 21 bills that have had both Democrat and Republican ‘yes’ votes. I passed six bills with Democrat prime sponsors.”
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Ruscitto sees listening to everyone as a crucial step in making the best decisions. “You might not agree with everybody, but I think it’s important for lifelong learning to listen. Sometimes when people talk too much, they don’t take it all in. I like to listen and take it all in.”
This is a philosophy that she’s brought to her career as a teacher. She said that she has three basic classroom rules. “The first one is to show up prepared — obviously I want to do that when I’m in Harrisburg. The second one is to always listen to everybody because every voice is important. But then also I have at the end of that, you need to use your voice when you feel it’s important. And always do your best.”
Looking to the future
When it comes to the next senate term, these candidates have differing priorities. In addition to a clear focus on public education, Ruscitto said that she cares deeply about public safety.
“As someone who works with kids every day, with a family of my own, if we’re not safe in our community, our other rights and priorities certainly mean very little. I support all common-sense solutions to prevent gun violence, such as universal background checks and red flag laws,” she said.
She said that her husband is a gun owner and she comes from a family of hunters, but she also knows that we can be “smarter and safer.”
“I voted 20 times (on borough council) to increase public safety funding, but I can’t fathom why someone thinks it’s okay to let weapons of war into our classrooms, our streets, our synagogues, our movie theaters, our churches.”
When asked about the other issues he believes will face his constituents in the upcoming term, Robinson turned to the role of government. “Everything, at the end of the day, comes down to what is government going to do to help your everyday life? Whenever you go to the grocery store and inflation has just been being a burden on you and your family, we want to try to help that.”
He added, “We want to make sure that there are more resources available in government, and how you do that is by taking away all these crushing regulations and crushing debt and taxation that are holding everybody down.”