Meet Mary Jo.

STRONG LOCAL ROOTS
Mary Jo Daley has been fighting for progressive values for more than two decades in Montgomery County and Harrisburg and now she wants to take that fight to Washington.

Mary Jo grew up in Narberth, the oldest of seven kids. Her father was an electrician and member of IBEW Local 98 and her mother was both community-minded and socially conscious.  One of her earliest memories is joining her mom on a hot summer morning walking a picket line in support of the United Farmworkers.

With that upbringing Mary Jo’s passion for activism was instilled at a very young age.  Growing up at a time when civil rights, the Vietnam War, women’s liberation, and assassinations of President John Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy, Mary Jo knows what it is like to live in unsettled times.

Mary Jo and her husband, Bob Winkelman, live in Narberth where they enjoy gardening, reading and traveling.  She has a grown daughter, a stepdaughter and a stepson as well as three beautiful grandchildren.

EDUCATION
Mary Jo took a non-traditional path to gaining an education.  She has an AS degree from Gwynedd Mercy College.  After graduating Mary Jo worked until the birth of her daughter, but always knew that she would return to school at the right time.  While working full-time to support her daughter, Mary Jo earned a BBA from the Wharton School and a MPA from the Fels Institute of Government at the University of Pennsylvania.

EXPERIENCE

In 1992, Mary Jo was elected to serve on Narberth Borough Council.  For twenty years she served the people of Narberth as a member of the council, 8 years as the “lone” Democrat and 10  years as the Council President.

In 2012, Mary Jo ran for State Representative and won with 59% percent of the vote. 

As a State Representative she has been a strong progressive voice fighting right-wing Republicans as they continue to attack teachers and other union workers, pillage the environment, and pull dirty tricks to keep people from voting. She has fought time and again for sustainable funding for public education, environmental safeguards, better health care, and continues to vigorously defend women’s rights.  

Mary Jo has been working with lawmakers, community organizations, and schools to find ways to keep our children safe while they attend school. She is committed to finding the right balance between keeping weapons out of the hands of people who shouldn’t have them and protecting the rights of law abiding gun owners. 

ELECTING MORE WOMEN
Pennsylvania is second to last, behind only Mississippi, in electing women. Because of this fact, Mary Jo and her colleague Rep. Tina Davis banded together to change that.  In 2015, they co-founded Emerge Pennsylvania  which is a state chapter of a national organization charged with identifying, training and encouraging  women to run for office. Since its founding, Emerge Pennsylvania has trained dozens of women who have gone on to run for office. Women all across the country put their name on the ballot and ran in 2018, making it the year of the woman. In 2020, women in PA capitalized on this momentum, and as a result there are currently 29 Emerge alumnae in elected office. Mary Jo will not only continue supporting efforts to put more women on the ballot, but will also continue to support the campaigns of men who embody the same progressive values that she fights for every day.