Carolyn Comitta

Carolyn T. Comitta is an American politician, educator and financial officer. A Democrat, she is a member of the Pennsylvania State Senate representing the 19th district. Previously, Comitta was the first woman to serve as Mayor of West Chester, the seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, and served two terms in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives representing the 156th district.

Early life and education Comitta was born in Buffalo, New York, and her family moved to West Goshen when she was 2 years old, where she has lived ever since. Comitta received her BS in Education from West Chester University (then West Chester State College) in 1974, and her M.Ed. from Widener University in 1989.

She is the Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of her husband's firm, Thomas Comitta Associates, Town Planners and Landscape Architects. Comitta became West Chester's first ever female Mayor, and its first Democratic Mayor since 1992.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives On January 7, 2016, Comitta announced her intent to run for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 156th District, challenging incumbent Dan Truitt. After a lengthy recount, she was declared the winner over Truitt by 25 votes on December 16, 2016.

On November 6, 2018, Comitta won re-election against Republican challenger Nicholas Deminski by a margin of 13 points or 4,108 votes.

In 2020, Comitta sought re-election to her House seat and was unopposed in the Democratic primary. She ended her House campaign in June 2020 to focus on her Senate campaign and was replaced on the ballot by West Chester mayor Dianne Herrin.

Pennsylvania State Senate In February 2020, State Senator Andy Dinniman announced his retirement at the end of his term. Dinniman's retirement as considered surprising as he had been preparing for a re-election campaign for a fourth term and petitioning had already begun. The day after Dinniman's announcement, Comitta announced her campaign for the Pennsylvania State Senate in the 19th District. In a three-way Democratic primary against Dinniman's longtime aide Don Vymazal and local school board member Kyle Boyer, Dinniman endorsed Vymazal, while Comitta was endorsed by Governor Tom Wolf and several labor unions. After Pennsylvania delayed their primary to June 2 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Comitta won the primary with nearly 51% of the vote.

In the general election, Comitta defeated Republican Kevin Runey with 57.43% of the vote.

For the 2025-2026 Session Comitta serves on the following committees in the State Senate:

Environmental Resources & Energy (Minority Chair) Aging & Youth Agriculture & Rural Affairs Education Local Government

Electoral history

Pennsylvania's 156th Legislative District

2016 election

2018 election

2020 Democratic Primary

Pennsylvania's 19th Senatorial District

2020 Democratic Primary

2020 general election

Personal life Comitta and her husband, Tom, have two grown children.