Deb Ciamacca

Pennsylvania State House District 168

2020 Race Update: Deb lost 49.00% to 51.00%

Deb Ciamacca is a candidate running to represent the 168th District in the Pennsylvania State Legislature. A former Marine Corps Captain, Deb was stationed at Camp Pendleton, California and was assigned as the Adjutant/Legal Officer/Executive Officer for the Camp Pendleton Correctional Facility. She received the Navy Achievement Medal for leadership excellence during this assignment. After leaving active duty, Deb began working in Manufacturing management for Raytheon, Unisys, and Neutronics Inc. Her passionate belief in public education led her to become a High School Social Studies teacher at Conestoga High School in Berwyn, PA. While there she won the PECO Energy Teacher of the Year Award, and she also became President of the Tredyffrin/Easttown Education Association, leading 500 teachers.

Deb lives in Media, Pennsylvania with her husband, Rich, a former Navy nuclear submarine officer. She has one son, Christopher, a Senior IT auditor who lives in Phoenixville.

Deb believes that education is the mechanism that allowed her to succeed and she is a strong proponent of schools as a vehicle for upward mobility. As a graduate of Phoenixville High School, she won an NROTC Scholarship to Penn State. She subsequently attended New Hampshire College, where she obtained her MBA, and Villanova University, where she received an MA in Political Science.

Deb believes that we can figure out our problems by electing strong leaders who are committed to finding common sense solutions. To that end, Deb volunteered as a speaker at Fair Districts Pennsylvania, a bi-partisan non-profit organization dedicated to end partisan gerrymandering in elections. She also worked as a volunteer for Better Angels, an organization that brings together liberals and conservatives in an effort to facilitate dialogue.

Last year, Deb was asked to write an editorial for Time Magazine on guns in the classroom, and she was featured in another article. Deb also featured in a recent Philadelphia Inquirer article on her decision to leave teaching to run for office.