Rep. Daylin Leach, D-Montgomery, was born in Philadelphia and moved to Allentown with his mother at age 12, where he lived until returning to Philadelphia to attend Temple University. He graduated from the Temple honors program with a degree in political science and went on to the University of Houston Law Center.

After law school, Leach moved back to southeastern Pennsylvania where he practiced law for 16 years. His practice focused on family and education law, but also included business litigation, transactional work, criminal law, civil rights litigation and appellate work.

He has taught constitutional law, legal ethics and First Amendment law as an adjunct professor at Cedar Crest and Muhlenberg colleges.

Leach has been involved in politics since childhood, volunteering on campaigns since age 12. He served as president of the Pennsylvania Young Democrats in the early 1990s and on the Allentown Zoning Board from 1990-1994. He has also served on the boards of directors of Treatment Trends, a drug treatment facility, and Haven House, a mental health facility. In 1993 he co-hosted a weekly political TV debate show.

Since his election to the House in the fall of 2002, Leach has worked hard to actively represent the people of the 149th Legislative District. His legislative priorities include enacting laws to preserve Pennsylvania’s natural environment and resources, reforming government to better serve people, and making access to health care less expensive and more equitable. Leach has also sponsored resolutions recognizing the birth of Israel, remembering those lost in the Armenian genocide and increasing awareness of Mitochondrial Disease and Familial Dysautonomia.

Leach serves on both the Judiciary and Policy committees and is Democratic secretary of the Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and the Intergovernmental Affairs Committee. He was also appointed to the TAP 529 Board and joined the Autism and Firefighters caucuses.

Leach is a member of the Upper Merion Chamber of Commerce at Valley Forge, the Upper Merion Optimists, the Lower Merion Conservancy, the Friends of the Bryn Mawr Theater and the Philadelphia World Affairs Council. He and his wife, Jennifer Anne Mirak, live in Upper Merion with their daughter, Brennan Alice, and their son, Justin Robert.