Ligonier Valley police officer Shawn Knepper is seeking the Republican nomination to fill Pennsylvania’s 59th District House seat, which was left vacant by the unexpected death of Mike Reese.

A special election is set for May 18 to select a successor to Reese, 42, a Republican from Mt. Pleasant. Reese died Jan. 2 of an apparent brain aneurysm days before he was to be sworn in for his seventh term.

Knepper, 30, of Ligonier Township, serves as a school resource officer for the Ligonier Valley School District. He said he has served as a police officer in the community for five years — with the Ligonier Valley force since its creation in 2019 and previously with the separate Ligonier Borough and Ligonier Township departments that merged to form it.

He is a graduate of Greensburg Central Catholic High School and of Saint Vincent College, where he studied theology.

“I am proud to live in the community I serve and be a part of such a unique legislative district,” Knepper said. It includes rural municipalities in Westmoreland and Somerset counties.

“Although my (police) service to the Ligonier Valley is a phenomenally rewarding duty, I have been feeling drawn to give in service to others at a greater level,” he said.

Knepper said Reese “truly had the best interest of the people he served in mind. I believe that we need to have someone just as equally dedicated to the people as he was to serve in such a position.”

According to his campaign website, Knepper supports term limits for elected state officials, a return to instruction in classrooms for students during the ongoing pandemic and the lifting of pandemic-related restrictions on businesses.

He said he also wants to promote purchase of local agricultural products, to support farmers, and “the responsible and sustainable extraction and use of our natural resources.”

Knepper has a wife, Alexis.

The 59th District consists of 42 voting precincts in eastern Westmoreland County, including parts of Hempfield and Unity townships as well as Cook, Donegal, Fairfield, Ligonier and Mt. Pleasant townships; and Bolivar, Donegal, Ligonier, Laurel Mountain, New Florence and Seward boroughs. It also includes 10 rural precincts in western Somerset County.

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