Dahlkemper, Kathy, 1957-

Kathleen Ann Dahlkemper (née Steenberge; born December 10, 1957) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she was elected the county executive of Erie County, Pennsylvania, in 2013. Dahlkemper previously served as U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania's 3rd congressional district from 2009 to 2011.

Born in Erie, Pennsylvania, she graduated from Edinboro State College (now Edinboro University of Pennsylvania) with a degree in dietetics in 1982. She briefly worked in Houston, Texas, as a dietitian before moving back to Erie in 1986 to open her own office. While in college, she became pregnant and got married. She and her husband divorced soon after. She later married Dan Dahlkemper. She worked at a landscaping company owned by her father-in-law, and in 1997 Dahlkemper and her husband took over the business. Dahlkemper served as the director of the Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier Park, Pennsylvania, from 2000 to 2008. Persuaded to run for Congress in 2007, she won the four-way contest for the Democratic nomination before facing seven-term incumbent Phil English. Dahlkemper campaigned on the economy and job creation, issues that northwest Pennsylvania, once an industrial hub, had struggled with for many years. She narrowly defeated English by a two-point margin.

Dahlkemper had promised voters she would find bipartisan solutions and take centrist positions in the House. Once in Congress, she joined the Democratic Blue Dog Coalition, opposed gun control, and referred to her anti-abortion, anti-death penalty views as her “whole life” stance. While she backed major spending legislation such as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act following the financial crisis, she voted against the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 because of the potentially adverse effects it would have on energy prices and manufacturing jobs in Pennsylvania. Dahlkemper supported small businesses and aimed to revitalize her district’s economy through infrastructure and agricultural projects.

During the 2010 midterm elections, which saw a wave of Republican victories, Dahlkemper lost re-election to Mike Kelly, a Republican auto dealer and city councilman from Butler, Pennsylvania, who took 58 percent of the vote; Dahlkemper captured 44 percent. She returned to Erie, Pennsylvania, where she successfully ran for the seat of Erie County executive in 2013, becoming the county’s second female executive in its history. In 2017 she was re-elected to a second term.