Jesse Topper

Republican Party

Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78

Tenure

2014 - Present

Term ends

2026

Years in position

12

Compensation

Base salary

$110,015.54/year

Per diem

$198/day

Elections and appointments

Last election

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

Frostburg State University

Personal

Profession

Executive Minister

Contact

Official website

Official Facebook

Official Instagram

Campaign website

Jesse Topper (Republican Party) is a member of thePennsylvania House of Representatives, representingDistrict 78. He assumed office on February 10, 2014. His current term ends on November 30, 2026.

Topper (Republican Party) ran for re-election to thePennsylvania House of Representatives to representDistrict 78. He won in the general election onNovember 5, 2024.

On November 12, 2024, Topper was elected minority leader of thePennsylvania House of Representatives, replacingBryan Cutler.^[1]

Biography

Topper earned his B.A. in Music Performance from Frostburg State University. His professional experience includes working as a minister.^[2]

Committee assignments

2023-2024

Topper was assigned to the following committees:

• House Education Committee,Chair
• Rules Committee

2021-2022

Topper was assigned to the following committees:

• Liquor Control Committee
• Rules Committee
• House Appropriations Committee,Vice-Chair
• Committee On Committees
• House Education Committee,Subcommittee Chair on Higher Education

2019-2020

Topper was assigned to the following committees:

• House Appropriations Committee
• Committee On Committees
• House Judiciary Committee
• House Education Committee,Subcommittee Chair on Basic Education
• Liquor Control Committee
• Rules Committee

2017 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2017 legislative session, this legislator served on the following committees:

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Topper served on the following committees:

2013-2014

At the beginning of the 2014 legislative session, Topper served on the following committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2024

See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2024

General election

General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78

IncumbentJesse Topper won election in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jesse Topper (R)	96.3	31,152
		Other/Write-in votes	3.7	1,184

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source 1 Source 2	Total votes: 32,336
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78

IncumbentJesse Topper advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 on April 23, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jesse Topper	99.7	8,135
		Other/Write-in votes	0.3	24

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 8,159
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Campaign finance

Endorsements

2022

See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2022

General election

General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78

IncumbentJesse Topper won election in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jesse Topper (R)	100.0	25,672

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 25,672
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78

IncumbentJesse Topper advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 on May 17, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jesse Topper	99.6	12,094
		Other/Write-in votes	0.4	51

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 12,145
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Campaign finance

2020

See also: Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2020

General election

General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78

IncumbentJesse Topper won election in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jesse Topper (R)	100.0	31,550

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 31,550
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78

IncumbentJesse Topper advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 on June 2, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jesse Topper	100.0	10,351

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 10,351
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Campaign finance

2018

See also:Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2018

General election

General election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78

IncumbentJesse Topper defeatedDeborah Baughman in the general election for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jesse Topper (R)	79.2	18,937
	Submit photo	Deborah Baughman (D)	20.8	4,971

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 23,908
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78

Deborah Baughman advanced from the Democratic primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 on May 15, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Submit photo	Deborah Baughman	100.0	1,573

---

	There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 1,573
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

Republican primary election

Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78

IncumbentJesse Topper advanced from the Republican primary for Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 on May 15, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jesse Topper	100.0	6,728

---

	Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 6,728
= candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team.

2016

See also:Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2016

Elections for thePennsylvania House of Representatives took place in 2016. The primary election was held on April 26, 2016, and the general election was held on November 8, 2016. The candidate filing deadline was February 16, 2016.

IncumbentJesse Topper ran unopposed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 general election.^[3][4]

Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78, General Election, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Republican	Jesse TopperIncumbent (unopposed)
Source:Pennsylvania Department of State

IncumbentJesse Topper ran unopposed in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 Republican primary.^[5][6]

Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 78 Republican Primary, 2016
Party		Candidate
	Republican	Jesse TopperIncumbent (unopposed)

2014

General election

See also:Pennsylvania House of Representatives elections, 2014

Elections for thePennsylvania House of Representatives took place in 2014. A primary election took place on May 20, 2014. The general election was held onNovember 4, 2014. Thesignature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was March 11, 2014. IncumbentJesse Topper defeatedJosh Lang in the Republican primary. Topper was unchallenged in the general election.^[7][8][9]

Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 78 Republican Primary, 2014

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Jesse TopperIncumbent	73.3%	5,060
Josh Lang	26.7%	1,846
Total Votes		6,906

Special election

See also:Pennsylvania state legislative special elections, 2014

Jesse Topper (R) defeatedBarbara L. Barron (D) in the special election, which took place on January 28, 2014.^[10][11][12]

The seat was vacant followingDick Hess's (R) death on September 6, 2013.

Aspecial election for the position ofPennsylvania House of Representatives District 78 was called for January 28. Candidates were nominated by their party rather than chosen through a primary. The nominating deadline for parties was December 9, 2013.^[13]

Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 78, Special Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Jesse Topper	83.3%	4,629
	Democratic	Barbara L. Barron	16.7%	925
Total Votes				5,554

\

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Jesse Topper did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

2022

Jesse Topper did not completeBallotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

2020

Jesse Topper did not completeBallotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

2014

Topper's campaign website highlighted the following issues:^[14]

Campaign finance summary

Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.

Scorecards

See also:State legislative scorecards andState legislative scorecards in Pennsylvania

Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states.  To contribute to the list of Pennsylvania scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

Personal

Note: Pleasecontact us if the personal information below requires an update.
Topper and his wife, Christy, have two sons.^[2]

See also

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External links

Footnotes

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