John Eichelberger

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American politician

title: "John Eichelberger" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1958-births", "living-people", "republican-party-pennsylvania-state-senators", "politicians-from-altoona,-pennsylvania", "blair-county-commissioners-(pennsylvania)", "candidates-in-the-2018-united-states-house-of-representatives-elections", "21st-century-members-of-the-pennsylvania-general-assembly"] description: "American politician" topic_path: "politics" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Eichelberger" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American politician ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox officeholder"]

Field	Value
image	John Eichelberger.jpg
name	John Eichelberger
birth_date
birth_place	Altoona, Pennsylvania, U.S.
residence	Duncansville, Pennsylvania
state_senate	Pennsylvania
district	30th
term_start	January 2, 2007
term_end	November 30, 2018
predecessor	Robert Jubelirer
successor	Judy Ward
office2	Member of the [Blair County
Board of Commissioners](blair-county-pennsylvania-government)
term_start2	1995
term_end2	2007
party	Republican
spouse	Charlotte Eichelberger
::

John Eichelberger (born September 1, 1958) of Blair Township, Pennsylvania is an American politician and former Pennsylvania State Senator. He is a member of the Republican Party. He represented the 30th district of the Pennsylvania State Senate.

Eichelberger gained notoriety following his defeat of Senate President Pro-Tempore Robert Jubelirer in the May 2006 primary election. In 2018, he ran to represent Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district in the U.S. House, though lost his party's nomination in the primary.

Biography

Prior to his career in government, Eichelberger was the President of an insurance brokerage in Altoona, Pennsylvania. In 1995, he was elected to the Blair County Commission. He was re-elected in 1999 and 2003. During his tenure as county commissioner, he was a major critic of local Congressman Bud Shuster, focusing on Shuster's "ethical clouds" in the later years of his tenure.{{cite news |author=John Gizzi |author-link=John Gizzi |title=Cracks in the house of shuster |work=Human Events |date=2001-01-19 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_/ai_n8932936 |accessdate=2008-10-30 |last=Gizzi |first=John |title=Shuster's son also rises |work=Human Events |date=2001-03-19 |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3827/is_200103/ai_n8938292/pg_1 |accessdate=2008-10-30

2006 Election

His Senate campaign was sparked by the 2005 Pennsylvania pay raise. Senate President Pro Tem Robert Jubelirer was a rival in Blair County politics who had supported the pay increase. His campaign was aided by conservative Bob Guzzardi. Eichelberger attacked Jubelirer for his support of the raise as well as his stance on abortion. During the campaign, Eichelberger received support from conservatives such as former congressman Pat Toomey and former Lieutenant Governor Bill Scranton. Jubelirer counter-attacked, noting that Eichelberger had benefited from pay raises as a commissioner. In addition, Jubelirer alleged that Eichelberger had a poor voting record on the commission.

On primary election day, Eichelberger took 44% to Jubelirer's 36% and C. Arnold McClure's 20%. Jubelirer and David Brightbill were the first top-ranked General Assembly leaders to be defeated in a primary since 1964. Eichelberger went on to defeat businessman and Democratic candidate Greg Morris in the general election with 62.7% of the vote.

He was unopposed for re-election in 2010 and in 2014.

2018 Republican primary

Following the announcement of longtime U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster's retirement in January 2018, State Sen. John Eichelberger threw his hat into the ring for the Republican nomination to succeed Rep. Shuster. While originally running in the ninth, the State Supreme Court struck down Republican-drawn maps from the 2010 U.S. Census and redrew the Congressional maps ahead of the 2018 midterm election. This changed the 9th Congressional district to the 13th, shifting the district eastward.

In addition to Eichelberger, the ballot for the Republican primary included 2014 candidate Travis Schooley, 2014 and 2016 candidate Art Halvorson, Altoona dermatologist John Joyce, Army veteran Douglas Mastriano, businessman Bernie Washabaugh, MAGA activist Benjamin Hornberger, and State Rep. Steve Bloom. Given this being the first election to not host a Shuster within the district since 1970, the primary proved highly competitive and extensively costly. In the end, John Eichelberger finished second with 19.8% of the vote, or 13,311 votes, in comparison to John Joyce's first place of 22.0%, or 14,828.

Post-Senate Career

Following his defeat in 2018, Eichelberger returned to the PA Senate for the remainder of his term before retiring from the Senate in December 2018, being succeeded by State Rep. Judy Ward. Eichelberger returned to private life as President of his insurance company, Complete Insurance Services. Inc. Despite his exit from elected office, Eichelberger remains actively involved with different policy initiatives and local causes, such as serving as Pennsylvania Co-Chair of U.S. Term Limits and endorsing Scott Barger, who challenged and bested PA State Rep. Jim Gregory in the 2024 Republican primary.

Electoral history

|percentage=15.3%}}

References

Barnes, Tom. (April 30, 2006). "Anger over pay raise dogs Jubelirer campaign". [[Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]].
[http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06132/689531-179.stm Tom Barnes, ''Pay raise support imperils Jubelirer's re-election bid'', Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 5/12/06]
Neri, Al. (February 2006). "State Senate Outlook". [[The Insider (newsletter).
"Fourth conservative announces for Rep. Shuster's seat".
(19 February 2018). "The New Pennsylvania Congressional Map, District by District". The New York Times.
(19 February 2018). "The New Pennsylvania Congressional Map, District by District". The New York Times.
"John Joyce (Pennsylvania)".
https://completeinsurancepa.com/
(18 November 2021). "Former State Senators Andrew Dinniman and John Eichelberger Tapped as Pennsylvania State Co-Chairs for U.S. Term Limits".
(24 January 2024). "80th District candidate launches GOP challenge".
link. (2008-06-26)
link. (2008-05-29)
link. (2010-11-06)
"Archived copy".

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