Susan Wild (née Ellis; born June 7, 1957) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the U.S representative for Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district from 2018 to 2025. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district encompasses the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylvania, and includes Allentown, Bethlehem, Easton, and Bangor. Wild was narrowly defeated by Republican Ryan Mackenzie in 2024.
Wild spent the last two months of 2018 as the member for Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district after Charlie Dent, former U.S. representative for the district, resigned in 2018. She co-chaired the New Democrat Coalition Climate Change Task Force and was vice chair of both the Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus and the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations. She was the first woman to represent the Lehigh Valley in Congress.
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Early life and education
Wild was born to a Jewish family on June 7, 1957, in West Germany, the daughter of Norman Leith, a member of the U.S. Air Force, and Susan Stimus Ellis, a journalist. Wild was born on Wiesbaden Air Force Base in Hesse, West Germany, where her father was then stationed. She also lived in France, California, New Mexico, and Washington, D.C.
Career
In 1976, Wild volunteered to work for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign. She attended American University, where she graduated in 1978. She earned her Juris Doctor from George Washington University Law School in 1982, where she studied under John Banzhaf.
In 1999, Wild became a partner at the law firm Gross McGinley.
In 2013, Wild ran unsuccessfully for county commissioner in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. In 2015, she was appointed solicitor of Allentown, Pennsylvania, the first woman to hold the position.
U.S. House of Representatives
On December 31, 2017, Wild resigned as City Solicitor to campaign to succeed retiring U.S. representative Charlie Dent, a Republican, in the U.S. House of Representatives in November 2018 in Pennsylvania's 15th congressional district, which had been represented by a Republican for seven terms. She won the six-candidate Democratic Party primary with 33% of the vote, narrowly defeating Northampton County district attorney John Morganelli. In the 2018 general election, she defeated Republican Lehigh County county commissioner Marty Nothstein, winning 54.5% of the vote to Nothstein's 43.5%.
On the same day, Wild also ran in a separate special election for the balance of the term of Dent, who resigned in May 2018 after announcing he would not run for reelection, winning the 15th congressional district's special election with 130,353 votes to Nothstein's 129,593.
There was a closer margin in the special election largely because the former 15th district, which was thrown out by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in February 2018, stretched from the Lehigh Valley into heavier Republican regions of the state between Lebanon and Harrisburg, by way of a tendril in Berks County. The new 7th district is a more compact district centered in the Lehigh Valley, and including a sliver of the Poconos.
Wild ran for reelection to a second term. She was unopposed in the Democratic primary and faced former Lehigh County commissioner Lisa Scheller in the general election. Wild defeated Scheller with 51.9% of the vote, less than was expected.
Following the 2020 census, Wild was redistricted into a more competitive congressional seat. She was criticized by some district residents when she said of her new district, "Carbon County has many attributes, but it is a county that—although it was once an Obama county—it since has become a Trump county. I'm not quite sure what was in their heads because the people of Carbon County are exactly the kind of people who should not be voting for a Donald Trump, but I guess I might have to school them on that a little bit. But most of all, it is a very rural county."
In a rematch of the 2020 election, Wild narrowly defeated Scheller by 51% to 49%.
Tenure
In March 2021, Wild co-sponsored a resolution to expel U.S. representative Marjorie Taylor Greene from Congress, saying that Greene "advocated violence against our peers, the Speaker and our government".
As of November 2022, Wild had voted in line with President Joe Biden's stated position 100% of the time. In the 117th Congress, Wild voted with House speaker Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time.
In March 2020, Wild co-sponsored a bill to reauthorize the Older Americans Act for five years with a 35% increase in funding, which then President Donald Trump signed into law in March.
In July 2022, Wild voted for H.R. 1808: Assault Weapons Ban of 2022, a bill that would have banned various guns, including AR-15s.
Wild was critical of Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro, whom she characterized as "far-right", "misogynistic", "homophobic" and "anti-immigrant". In March 2019, she and 29 other Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to U.S. secretary of state Mike Pompeo, which read in part, "Since the election of far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro as president, we have been particularly alarmed by the threat Bolsonaro's agenda poses to the LGBTQ+ community and other minority communities, women, labor activists, and political dissidents in Brazil. We are deeply concerned that, by targeting hard-won political and social rights, Bolsonaro is endangering Brazil's long-term democratic future."
In March 2019, Wild described herself as a 'very pro-Israel member of Congress,' stating that the U.S. must 'constantly fortify' and 'sustain' its relationship with Israel, which she characterized as a 'terrific partner' in security and economic matters.
In 2023, Wild voted against H.Con.Res. 21, which directed President Biden to remove U.S. troops from Syria within 180 days.
In February 2023, Wild signed a letter urging President Biden to give F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
Committee assignments
Committee on Ethics (Ranking member)
Committee on Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights and International Organizations (Vice Chair)
Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment
Committee on Education and Labor
Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions
Committee on Science, Space and Technology
Subcommittee on Research and Technology
Caucus memberships
Climate Solutions Caucus
New Democrat Coalition
Congressional LGBT+ Equality Caucus
Congressional Ukrainian Caucus
Black Maternal Health Caucus
New Democrat Coalition Climate Change Task Force (Co-Chair)
Congressional Labor and Working Families Caucus (Vice Chair)
House Pro-Choice Caucus
Rare Disease Caucus
Congressional Freethought Caucus
Personal life
Wild married Russell Wild in 1981. They divorced in 2003 after 22 years of marriage. They have two adult children. Following her divorce, Wild reunited with Kerry Acker, who remained her life partner until his death by suicide on May 25, 2019. She lives in South Whitehall Township, located west of Allentown.