Westmoreland commissioner about to get new job title: Mom

Gina Cerilli Thrasher is getting a new job: mother.

She will become the first Westmoreland County commissioner to give birth while in office later this month when she and husband, Ernie Thrasher, welcome their first child, a boy.

She knows the demands of motherhood will be a challenge, on top of her duties as a county commissioner and part-time litigation work at a Pittsburgh firm. But juggling work with home life is something women have been doing for decades, just less so in the public eye.

“I know that there’s other commissioners across the state that have done it before, and even if you take it outside politics, there’s plenty of women that have careers. It’s just a balancing act,” she said.

Baby Thrasher will get an early look at politics when he hits the campaign trail with mom. Thrasher, 36, said she intends to run for reelection next year to her third term, though she may be a bit more choosy about events she attends while seeking voter support.

“It’s going to look a lot different campaigning,” she said. “In 2015, I knocked on 20,000 doors, I used to go to seven or eight different gun bashes, purse bashes, every fish fry there was. I’m still going to do a lot of those things, but there’ll be a stroller with me this time.”

The Thrashers, who married in 2021 and live in Latrobe, are planning for the newborn’s arrival. Thrasher is set to be induced Nov. 19 at Excela Health Westmoreland Hospital and the couple is looking at day care options and getting advice and support from family and friends.

“I’m very lucky, I have a great support system with my husband, my parents and my in-laws, so very lucky that all the family is close,” she said.

Jean Sinzdak, associate director of Rutgers University’s Center for American Women and Politics, said Thrasher is joining a small group of elected officials to give birth while in office.

“It’s still not commonplace and it’s notable when it happens,” she said.

‘A leader in the party’

A lot has changed, both personally and professionally, since Thrasher, a Hempfield native, first took office in 2016 at age 29, becoming the youngest commissioner ever elected in the county. At the time the youngest female commissioner in Pennsylvania, she was then a law student and spokeswoman at the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County. She passed the bar exam in 2017.

The shifting political landscape in Westmoreland County has meant more changes for her, too. 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 two Republicans — Sean Kertes and Doug Chew.

“We were the political stronghold in Westmoreland County, but Democrats in Westmoreland County and Western Pennsylvania as a whole, we’re much more conservative than other areas,” she said. “I don’t go hand in hand with the national Democratic party. They’re definitely way more liberal than myself and normal registered Democrats here in Westmoreland County.”

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Now she’s the only Democratic public official left at the courthouse after Republicans won several row office seats during the 2021 election that were held by longtime Democratic incumbents. Westmoreland County Democratic Committee chairwoman Michelle McFall said Thrasher is a role model.

“I see Gina as a leader in the party, not just in Westmoreland County but on a much broader scale,” McFall said. “She’s very much on her own which makes the woman in politics situation that much harder.”

Despite the political divide on the board, that rarely has an effect on county government.

“The majority of our day is not political by any means,” Thrasher said. “When people come to me and they’re talking about abortion issues and gun issues and national issues that divide us, I just laugh and I say do you enjoy Twin Lakes Park? I have more control over county parks and recreation than I have anything to do with these national issues.”

There’s more focus in her position on connecting young people to jobs in the county, passing a balanced budget and making sure staffing levels are adequate at Westmoreland Manor, she said.

Partisan politics occasionally finds its way into some of the decisions the board makes, such as when Chew and Kertes recently rejected Thrasher’s proposal to have one drop box available at the rear entrance of the courthouse for voters using mail-in ballots, the majority of whom are Democrats.

Each commissioner has a reason why they vote the way they do, Kertes said, but if certain topics do get testy, they don’t carry the conversation on to the next subject.

“We still have to work together,” he said, adding that the board had done a lot of “outside the box” thinking in ways to find solutions.

There has been, at times, what Chew described as “respectful disagreement,” but that hasn’t stopped the commissioners from being focused on what county residents want, regardless of political affiliation, such as low crime, good-paying jobs, low taxes and recreational opportunities.

Like any workplace, the three commissioners don’t agree on everything. But Kertes and Chew have been keeping a close eye on Thrasher over the past several months.

“They’ve been extremely accommodating throughout my pregnancy always asking how I’m doing,” she said. “I come to meetings now with compression socks with my feet up on chairs. They actually will get chairs for me to put my feet up.”

Kertes said good-natured employees in the commissioners’ office are betting on dates when they believe Baby Thrasher will arrive.

“I’m very happy for (her),” Kertes said. “I know she’s wanted to have children.”

Chew echoed those sentiments.

“Like so many other professional mothers, my colleague has maintained her dedication for the last 37 weeks, and she’s preparing to continue her dedication after delivery while also navigating those important first weeks of her newborn’s life,” Chew said. “Regardless of political affiliation, we need to support parents in the workplace.”

‘What makes it good’

The days at work at the Westmoreland County Courthouse are starting to get back to normal, with meetings in the morning and time in the afternoon for commissioners to get out, Thrasher said. That all changed when covid forced remote work for a time. Thrasher said she likes getting into the communities to talk with leaders and residents.

“That’s when you actually hear from constituents and that’s whenever you actually hear what the issues are in the county and what needs fixed,” she said.

Those conversations can be important — when it comes to making decisions about government, the board has to consider how to best represent the majority of constituents in a county that has rural areas and urban settings. It takes being respectful of each others’ opinions.

“Like any job, you’re going to disagree and, as commissioners, whether I’m in the majority or minority, you’re not supposed to agree all the time and that’s what makes it good,” Thrasher said. “There’s a lot of times that we’ll disagree and then I hear their viewpoint and I said now that we talked this through, I’m on board.”

Her “steadfast presence” at the courthouse has been a reliable one for the party, McFall said.

“She’s the ultimate role model in politics right now because she’s got such a hard role to play in this county,” McFall said.

Thrasher looks at reducing the stigma surrounding drug addiction and improvements at Westmoreland Manor as accomplishments for which she is proud during her time in office. Despite her many firsts as a leader and that of other female candidates and elected officials, she said she believes there are still gender barriers in politics, pointing to the number of men who hold seats in higher political bodies.

But, being a woman in politics currently can be seen as an advantage.

“They have a leg up right now when it comes to campaigning,” Thrasher said.