Mike Zabel

In 2018, Zabel, a first-time candidate and former assistant district attorney in Philadelphia, defeated Republican incumbent Jamie Santora to represent the 163rd district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Zabel's victory marked the first time a Democrat represented the seat in 40 years.^[2] He would be re-elected twice.

In March 2023, a union lobbyist's accusations of Zabel sexually harassing her in 2019 were made public.^[3] After the first accusation, two more allegations emerged against Zabel. Previously in 2018, Zabel's campaign manager accused him of inappropriately touching her. At the time, she reported it to an unnamed Democratic Party leader, but had not gone public. The same day the campaign manager's allegations were made public, State Representative Abby Major also said she was followed to her car by an intoxicated Zabel after rejecting his advances in November 2022.^[4] Zabel initially resisted calls to resign because of the allegations and said he would seek treatment for his "illness."^[5] He later reversed his earlier statement and announced he would resign from office effective March 16, 2023.^[6]