Marla Brown

Brown was born in 1970, the eldest of four siblings,^[2] in Edinburg, Pennsylvania.^[3] She is of Italian ancestry.^[2] She graduated from Mohawk High School in 1988.^[2][4] She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gannon University in 1992 and a Master of Science from Geneva College in 2000.^[4]

Brown worked for UPS for 15 years,^[3] including working in London as the company's director of sales and marketing for the United Kingdom and Ireland.^[3][5] She later ran a medical spa in Georgia for nine years.^[3]

In 2022, Brown won a three-way Republican primary election to challenge incumbent Democratic Pennsylvania State Representative from the 9th District Chris Sainato.^[6] She defeated Sainato in the general election.^[7]

Brown opposes the right to an abortion. From 2015 to 2018, she was CEO of Pregnancy Aid Clinic,^[6] an Atlanta-based Catholic anti-abortion organization.^[6][8]

Following a spate of local false school shooting reports in 2023,^[9] Brown introduced a bill to elevate making a false emergency call to elicit a police response, otherwise known as swatting, from a misdemeanor offense to a felony.^[10][11]

Brown supports decreasing the state parole board vote for clemency from unanimous approval to a simple majority.^[12]

In April 2023, Brown introduced a bill that would create open primary elections in Pennsylvania.^[13][14] She has argued against closed primary elections, saying that they are unfair to independent votes who cannot participate in elections funded by their tax dollars. In an op-ed with State Representative Jared Solomon, Brown also argued that primary election should be open because of the large number of veterans, young people, and minorities who are registered as independents.^[15]

Brown has called monetary campaign fundraising a "necessary evil of the [election] process," which is nonetheless beneficial because it demonstrates whether a candidate is capable of successfully spreading their message.^[16]

During her 2022 campaign, Brown signed a pledge to refuse state per diems, state pension, or taxpayer-funded car. Brown also pledge to only serve eight years in the state legislature.^[17]

Brown voted against a bill to incrementally raise Pennsylvania's minimum to fifteen dollars an hour by 2026.^[18]