Emily Skopov (born 1966) is an American screenwriter and politician.
Personal life
Skopov was born in 1966 in New York,[1][2] and is of Jewish descent.[3] She was raised in
Rockland County.[4] Skopov earned an undergraduate degree in English literature from
Columbia University, and planned to become an English professor or lawyer.[2] She committed to writing only after attending the
UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.[2] In 2010, Skopov moved to
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from
El Segundo, California, then settled in
Marshall Township with her husband Todd Normane and two children.[2][3] Skopov is the founder of the non-profit organization No Crayon Left Behind.[5] The organization was established in 2011, soon after Skopov began collecting discarded crayons from restaurants and distributing them to places where they would be used, such as homeless shelters, daycares, and preschools.[6]
Skopov sought the
District 28 seat in the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a
Democratic Party candidate in 2018.[8][9] During her campaign, Skopov criticized incumbent legislator
Mike Turzai for mounting several unsuccessful bids for higher electoral office.[10] Turzai retained the seat, in the closest contest since he was first elected in 2001.[11]
2020 election
In August 2019, Skopov began her second campaign for the state legislature.[12][13] Turzai announced his retirement from politics, then resigned his seat before the 2020 general election, and Skopov faced Republican candidate
Rob Mercuri.[14][15] Skopov positioned herself as a
moderate Democrat.[16]
Skopov was defeated in the general election.[17] Following her defeat and the Democrats' failure to flip the state legislature, Skopov wrote on Twitter that she had been “a casualty/collateral damage of this offensively poor messaging,” referring to the Democratic Party's inability to defend moderate Democrats in
swing districts against
Republican attempts to inaccurately tag them with positions of supporting "
socialism" and "
defunding the police".[16]