Decision 2020

What you need to know about Lt. Gov. candidate Jeff Bartos

Jeff Bartos is dipping his toe into politics for the first time with his campaign for lieutenant governor, and has allied himself with Republican gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner.

The Reading native, 45, now lives in Montgomery County, but credits his upbringing and longstanding family ties to Berks County as a formative influence. (Coincidentally, he and his opponent, John Fetterman, were both born at Reading Hospital.)

RELATED STORY: WPXI-TV hosted first lieutenant governor debate

Bartos graduated from Emory University in Atlanta and earned his law degree from the University of Virginia. He worked at a Philadelphia law firm and clerked for a federal judge before joining luxury home construction company Toll Brothers and, later, energy firm Mark Group, now known as BillSaveUK.

He now owns a contracting company and has real estate interests in the Philadelphia area.

RELATED STORIES:

While exploring a possible U.S. Senate run in 2017, then-state Sen. Scott Wagner began recruiting him to run for lieutenant governor alongside Wagner's gubernatorial campaign. That unusual move – the two positions are elected separately in Pennsylvania, as opposed to the joint tickets many voters are used to – paid off, as both men won their primaries in May.

Bartos and his wife, Sheryl, have two daughters.