'I never wanted to be a career politician': Gina Cerilli Thrasher reflects on 2 terms as Westmoreland commissioner

Gina Cerilli Thrasher is looking forward to a break from politics.

That means trading the public spotlight and sometimes odd hours as Westmoreland County commissioner for dinners at home with her family and more downtime. Her February announcement that she would not be hitting the campaign trail for a third time came as a surprise, but Thrasher, 37, said it was preceded by a lot of thought.

“It was a very hard decision, but as most people know, being county commissioner is not a 9-to-5 job,” she said. “It’s a lot of evenings, a lot of weekends, and I just realized I would love to have a normal 9-to-5 job right now with a baby at home.”

Thrasher of Latrobe became the first Westmoreland County commissioner to give birth while in office in November when she and husband, Ernie Thrasher, welcomed their first child, a boy.

Thrasher, a Hempfield native and Democrat, first took office in 2016 at age 29 as the youngest female commissioner in Pennsylvania. She was a law student and former spokeswoman at the Municpal Authority of West­moreland County. She passed the bar exam in 2017 and has been working part time with a Pittsburgh firm.

Running for political office was an opportunity that presented itself while she was finishing law school.

“I never wanted to be a career politician, I never thought I would be there longer than maybe two, three terms,” she said.

Now Thrasher is eyeing a potential job opportunity in the legal field.

“I’m hoping that comes to fruition over the summer,” she said. “I didn’t want to run and then … my name be on the ballot and not give somebody else an opportunity to run. I’m taking the risk of hopefully that comes to fruition and someone else had the opportunity to get their name on the ballot and run.”

Former county commissioner Ted Kopas and newcomer Sydney Hovis will be the two Democratic nominees during the November election. Republican voters will pick two nominees on Tuesday from candidates Doug Chew and Sean Kertes, both incumbents, and challengers Patricia Fritz, Paul Kosko and John Ventre.

While they are doing all the door-knocking and attending campaign events, Thrasher is getting a taste of what life will be like when her term is over at the end of the year. She, Chew and Kertes led the county through the coronavirus pandemic while working on ways to increase the population and connect young people with jobs.

The political landscape in Westmoreland County has shifted during her time as commissioner — Democrats held a majority on the three-member board of commissioners for nearly 60 years before Republicans took control about 10 years ago. Thrasher was the top vote-getter when she was first elected, and Democrats reclaimed the board majority during her initial term. That shifted again during her second term when she was joined on the board by Chew and Kertes.

“I really enjoyed my time as county commissioner, all the people that I met, all the people I was able to help,” Thrasher said.

She has been a good steward and ally of the Democratic Party, said Michelle McFall, the county’s Democratic committee chairwoman. Now, party leaders will shift their focus to a new set of candidates vying for seats in county government.

“As the county chair and as a human being, I wish her a lot of luck,” McFall said. “She’s going to be missed.”

Thrasher is most proud of improvements at Westmoreland Manor, the county-owned nursing home, during her tenure.

In 2014, the home was about $1.5 million underfunded after dwindling revenues and increased expenses. Thrasher ran on the platform of keeping the Hempfield facility open and said those financial woes have been turned around. Westmoreland Manor has a strong leadership team and staff as well as accountability as a publicly owned entity, she said.

“Right now, we have a waiting list to get in,” she said.

Thrasher also is proud of how the stigma surrounding substance abuse has been lessened over the last several years. The county has a drug overdose task force that helps with education and prevention in the community.

“Eight, 10 years ago when you talked about the drug epidemic and overdoses, nobody wanted to admit that their family member was an addict,” she said. “And now everyone isn’t afraid to ask for help and that’s a big part of it.”

“Now, I think the big thing is removing the stigma from mental health,” she said.

Even though Thrasher will step out of the public eye in about seven months, she won’t turn her ears off to politics. She might back statewide candidates in the future and will keep tabs on what’s happening at the courthouse from afar.

She plans to keep her official county commissioner Facebook page active and will be able to point anyone seeking help in the right direction, given her eight years of experience in county government.

As far as the future goes, Thrasher isn’t ruling out a return to the political sphere.

“I’ll never say never. I’ve always said I would love to be a judge; that isn’t a secret,” she said. “I would love to be a judge for children. But at this time I want to take a break from politics and practice law.”