| Jim Brewster | |
| State Senate: | Pennsylvania |
| District: | 45th |
| Term Start: | November 17, 2010[1] |
| Predecessor: | Sean Logan |
| Birth Place: | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Party: | Democratic |
| Residence: | McKeesport, Pennsylvania |
James R. Brewster is an American politician who has served as a member of the Pennsylvania Senate for the 45th District since 2010.
Brewster earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in education from the California University of Pennsylvania.[2]
Brewster is a former vice president for fraud management with Mellon Bank and mayor of McKeesport, Pennsylvania.
On November 2, 2010, Brewster won a special election to fill the remaining term of Senator Sean F. Logan, who had resigned his seat on August 24, 2010, to take a position at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. Brewster was sworn into the Pennsylvania Senate on November 17, 2010.
In July 2020, Brewster organized a meeting with bar and restaurant owners and signed a letter to Governor Tom Wolf urging him to lessen the restrictions on them imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.[3]
In January 2021, although Brewster narrowly defeated his opponent, Republican Nicole Ziccarelli, by 69 votes, the Republican-led State Senate refused to swear in Brewster for his fourth term, despite the fact that his win had already been certified by state officials.[4] [5] Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman attempted to swear Brewster in. In a bizarre move, Republican leaders voted to remove Fetterman from his presiding role and halt Brewster's seating. Senator Jake Corman, when reading out names of the new and re-elected senators, intentionally omitted Brewster's, with Republicans once again voting to confirm the disruptive action.[6]
After a federal court ruling re-affirmed his win over Ziccarelli, Brewster was sworn in on January 13, 2021.[7]