Jacqueline Crahalla

Who is Jacqueline Crahalla?

Jacqueline R. Crahalla is a former Republican member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

She is a 1958 graduate of Collingswood High School in Collingswood, New Jersey. She worked in Merck Sharp & Dohme and other corporations before retiring to "stay home and raise a family". During that time, she worked part-time as a columnist for a local newspaper. After 10 years, she returned to Merck and earned her degree in English and communications as a non-traditional student at Gwynedd Mercy College in 1993. She transferred to a new company, Astra Merck, which was a joint venture of between Merck and Astra, where Crahalla worked to create the Corporate Contributions department. After several corporate mergers, she chose to retire rather than relocate to Wilmington, Delaware. She served as township supervisor in Lower Providence Township, Pennsylvania for five years.

In the 2002 election, Crahalla challenged Republican-turned-Democrat incumbent John A. Lawless in the newly re-drawn 150th legislative district. The new configuration was intentionally drawn to handicap Lawless as punishment from Lawless' former caucus.