Representative Aaron Kaufer Contact information

Aaron D. Kaufer, born on July 11, 1988, in Kingston, Pennsylvania, is an American politician currently serving as a Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 120th district. He is the son of Neil and Larinda Kaufer.

Kaufer’s early life was spent in Kingston, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Wyoming Valley West High School in 2007 and went on to earn dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in government and law and international affairs from Lafayette College in 2011. In 2020, Kaufer earned a Juris Doctor degree from Widener University Commonwealth Law School.

Kaufer first ran for state representative in 2012 against incumbent Democrat Phyllis Mundy, but lost the election. However, he did not give up. In December 2013, Mundy announced that she would be retiring. For the 2014 election, Eileen Cipriani was chosen as the Democratic nominee. Kaufer ran again against Cipriani and won, defeating her. He was reelected in 2016 with a significant majority of the vote against Democrat Robert McDonald. Kaufer was reelected for a third term in 2018 unopposed. He again won reelection to a fourth term in 2020, defeating Democrat Joanna Bryn Smith. Kaufer won against Democrat Fern Leard in the 2022 election by a similar margin. In 2024, Kaufer announced he would not seek reelection.

Kaufer was a co-founder of the PA HOPE (Heroin, Opioid, Prevention and Education) Caucus as part of his effort to improve Pennsylvania’s drug and alcohol services. In 2023, Kaufer was named the top Republican on the House Government Oversight Committee.

Kaufer believes in a smaller state government and has focused on pursuing job and economic development initiatives. He also supports efforts to address the opioid epidemic. Kaufer is known for his commitment to bipartisan cooperation; he often wears an orange tie as a symbol of his bipartisanship.

In the 2020 presidential election, Kaufer and 69 other Pennsylvania legislators signed an amicus brief in the case Texas v. Pennsylvania, which challenged the 2020 United States presidential election results in Pennsylvania and three other states won by President-elect Joe Biden. He defended the brief saying it was only to provide background information on changes made to Pennsylvania’s election operations. Following the election, Kaufer said his name was erroneously added to a letter signed by Pennsylvania legislators urging Congress to reject Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.