It’s Official: Businesswoman, Civic Leader Lisa Scheller enters congressional race
ALLENTOWN – Republican businesswoman and civic leader Lisa Scheller Monday announced she’ll seek her party’s nomination to represent the 7th Congressional District, a place she says has been overlooked amid divisive partisan battles in Washington.
“People in the 7th District have not been well served by Congress. They’ve lost faith in government because government has constantly acted in bad faith,” Scheller told a press conference at the Renaissance Allentown Hotel.
“Nobody’s speaking or acting on the issues that matter to people right here: Jobs, education health care, and secure borders. These issues commonsense solutions,” she said.
Scheller identified the problem as a permanent “political class” that thrives on conflict, making legislative progress impossible. As a member of Congress, she has pledged to serve a maximum of four terms in the House and has promised to make certain her rhetoric matches her voting record.
Scheller said she was running “in a spirit of optimism,” convinced that an outsider can bring real change to a gridlocked congress.
“Our communities are diverse. We have farmers, we have businesses, we have manufacturers. We have people of every background,” Scheller said. “But there are values we all share – values that should unite us, not divide us. Those are the values I’ll carry with me to Congress.”
Chairman and President of Silberline Manufacturing, Scheller took the reins at the family-owned company after the death of her brother in 1998. She transformed it into a leading international manufacturer of aluminum-based pigments for the automobile and other industries. Last month she opened a new manufacturing plant in Tamaqua, employing a new, state-of-the-art production method that is environmentally friendly.
A resident of Allentown, Scheller is the mother of two grown children.
In 2011, alarmed by a Lehigh County tax increase, Lisa ran on a reform message and was elected to the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners, where she successfully led efforts to lower the tax burden every year. She served as board chair for two years of her term.
Lisa gained a reputation as a fiscally conservative fighter who advocated for spending restraint, lower taxes, job creation and an end to special interest giveaways.
Raised in Tamaqua, Scheller’s life story carries with it overtones of redemption and renewal. She overcame drug addiction in her youth and went on to receive degrees in mathematics and engineering from the University of Colorado and Lehigh University.
Last year, she opened Hope & Coffee, a coffee shop and community center in her hometown. The shop, hailed by the Allentown Call as “a place for coffee and brighter futures,” employs persons recovering from addiction and helps them reenter both the community and the workforce.
“My own journey taught me that every life has meaning and purpose and that every citizen has a role to play in helping to restore those in need,” she noted at the time.
The 7th Congressional District comprises Lehigh and Northampton and part of Monroe counties. It includes the cities of Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.