Cris Dush
Member of thePennsylvania Senate from the25th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 5, 2021 (2021-01-05)
Preceded by	Joe Scarnati
Member of thePennsylvania House of Representatives from the66th district
In office December 1, 2014 (2014-12-01)[1] – November 30, 2020 (2020-11-30)
Preceded by	Sam Smith
Succeeded by	Brian Smith
Personal details
Born	March 1961 (age 64) DuBois, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Traci[2]
Military service
Branch/service	United States Air Force Pennsylvania Air National Guard
Years of service	1982–1990 (USAF) 2000–2016 (PA ANG)
Campaigns[3]	Operation Iraqi Freedom Operation Noble Eagle

Cris E. Dush^[4] (born March 1961) is an American politician. ARepublican, he has been a member of thePennsylvania State Senate since 2020, elected from the25th District. From 2014 to 2020, Dush was a member of thePennsylvania House of Representatives, elected from the66th District, which then encompassedJefferson County andIndiana County.^[5][2]

Dush was born in March of 1961 inDuBois, Pennsylvania.^[3] He graduated fromBrookville Area High School in 1979. He was a member of theU.S. Air Force from 1982 to 1990 and a member of thePennsylvania Air National Guard from 2000 to 2016.^[6] From 1995 until his retirement in January 2012, Dush was employed by thePennsylvania Department of Corrections as a prison corrections officer.^[6]

Dush was elected to thePennsylvania House of Representatives in 2014, representing the66th district. In March 2018, Dush introduced resolutions, co-sponsored by 12 other Republicans state legislators, toimpeach fourPennsylvania Supreme Court justices in response to the court's decision inLeague of Women Voters v. Commonwealth that struck down aRepublican-drawn Pennsylvania congressional district map as apartisan gerrymander that violated the state constitution's requirement of "free and equal" elections.^[7][8] Dush made this proposal after theU.S. Supreme Court rejected a request from Republican legislative leaders in Pennsylvania to block the redrawn congressional map.^[9] Dush asserted that the justices' decision constituted "misbehavior in office" and was a judicial infringement on legislative power.^[8] The attempt to impeach the justices was denounced by Chief JusticeThomas Saylor, and failed after House Republican LeaderDavid L. Reed decided not to support it.^[10]

In November 2019, Dush announced he would not seek a fourth term in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, noting a promise he made to only serve three terms when he was first elected in 2014.^[11] In January 2020, Dush said he would seek the Republican nomination forPennsylvania Auditor General, joining a race against two other Republicans seeking the nomination.^[12] The next month, however, Dush left that race and announced that he would run for the state Senate instead,^[13] for the25th district seat left open by the retirement ofJoe Scarnati.^[14] Dush won the race for the seat against Democrat Margie Brown.^[15]

In September 2021, Dush chaired a Republican-led committee that approved subpoenas for a wide range of data and personal information on voters.^[16]

In 2022, he sponsored legislation to prohibit ballot drop boxes in Pennsylvania elections.^[17]

Dush was appointed to chair of the Senate State Government Committee in 2023 byPresident pro temporeKim Ward. In that role Dush approved of measures to requirevoter ID, allow for post-election audits, and require more security for ballot drop boxes.^[18] Dush has also supported stripping mentally incompetent individuals of their right to vote.^[19] He also opposed the implementation of automatic voter registration.^[20]

For the 2025-2026 Session Dush serves on the following committees in the State Senate:^[21]

• State Government (Chair)
• Intergovernmental Operations (Vice Chair)
• Appropriations
• Game & Fisheries
• Judiciary
• Local Government
• Veterans Affairs & Emergency Preparedness

Dush opposed proposals by DemocraticLieutenant GovernorJohn Fetterman to legalize the adult use ofmarijuana in Pennsylvania.^[22][23]

In 2020, Dush compared GovernorTom Wolf's handling of theCOVID-19 pandemic in Pennsylvania toNazi Germany. A group of Jewish organizations, including the Philadelphia branch of theAnti-Defamation League and theJewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, condemned Dush'sNazi analogy as "offensive and wrong".^[24][25]

After the 2020 U.S. presidential election, Dush was one of 26 Pennsylvania House Republicans who called for withdrawing certification of presidential electors, despiteJoe Biden winning Pennsylvania by over 80,000 votes with no evidence of fraud. This was also after federal appeals brought by theTrump campaign were dismissed due to lack of evidence.^[26] Afterward, Dush traveled to Arizona along with fellow senatorDoug Mastriano, and state house memberRob Kauffman,^[27] to observe its2021 Maricopa County presidential ballot audit, which theMaricopa County Board of Supervisors called a "spectacle".^[28] The audit was ordered by Arizona's Republican senate majority, the rationale for which was generated by widely discredited conspiracy theories.^[29][30] One firm involved had previously audited the 2020 election in Pennsylvania.^[31] TheUnited States Department of Justice warned the audit participants that they may have broken the law in compromising the integrity of thoseMaricopa County, Arizona ballots.^[32][33] Dush supported the gubernatorial candidacy of Mastriano in 2022, when he also claimed an undefined "they" would steal that election again. He has rejected labeling theJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack as an insurrection.^[34]

• Official campaign website
• Official Pennsylvania State Senate profile
• Profile atVote Smart

• Living people
• Republican Party members of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
• 1961 births
• Republican Party Pennsylvania state senators
• Politicians from Jefferson County, Pennsylvania
• 21st-century members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Place of birth missing (living people)