About Peter Schweyer
Born in 1978 to John and Georgette Schweyer, Peter grew up as a working class kid in Center City Allentown. John was a proud Allentown City worker for 33 years and Georgette worked in a number of different roles including pre-K teacher and nurse’s aide while finding time to volunteer at Peter’s elementary school. He was elected as State Representative in 2014, representing Lehigh County, specifically his home town of Allentown. Since he was sworn in, he has been a leader in the fight for fair and equal funding for our region’s school districts, helped write Pennsylvania’s medical marijuana law and created new pathways for Allentown students to attend college.
In addition, Schweyer wrote legislation that has helped the region’s craft beer, wine and spirits industry grow exponentially, has fought to protect our community from gun violence and has been a leader on renewable energy, specifically community solar.
Prior to his election to the State House, he served for nearly six years as a member of Allentown City Council, including a stint as Council President. His accomplishments as a councilman include reforming the city’s finances and pension, creating a highly successful gun buyback program, crafting the City’s comprehensive anti-graffiti law and championing initiatives to address blight and reclaim our neighborhoods.
He attended Cathedral of St. Catherine of Sienna (Now St. John Vianney) and graduated from Allentown Central Catholic High School. He then graduated from Penn State University with an Honors Degree in Political Science.
After graduation, he joined the Teach Philadelphia program and for a short while taught 7th grade math and science at Shoemaker Elementary School in West Philadelphia. He returned home to the Lehigh Valley when his father became ill.
He and his wife Jennifer have been married since 2005 and live in the same South Allentown home that they purchases a few months after they were married. They are blessed to have two wonderful daughters, Sarah and Erin, both who attend public school within the Allentown School District. The family enjoys watching baseball and Penn State Football games, enjoying time on the Lehigh River and eating as much ice cream as possible.
He was named a 20 Under 40 by the East Penn Business Journal (now known as Lehigh Valley Business) in 2011 and was named Legislator of the Year by the PA Beer Alliance in 2019.
