Bucks County District Attorney Matt Weintraub will run for county judge this year and he’s grooming first assistant district attorney Jennifer Schorn as his heir apparent.
Pat Poprik, who chairs the Bucks County Republican Committee, confirmed Friday that Weintraub interviewed with Bucks GOP leaders on Thursday.
“As of (Thursday) night, when we had our initial screening meeting, no one else has come forward on our ticket to run for the Judge of Common Pleas Court position,” Poprik said Friday.
Weintraub, an Upper Southampton native who graduated from William Tennent High School, has worked in the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office since 2011. He was appointed to the top job in 2016, then won elections in 2017 and 2021 to keep it.
If he wins a seat on the bench, Weintraub would be the third district attorney to make the jump to judge in recent history. Senior judges Alan Rubenstein and Diane Gibbons both previously served as Bucks County District Attorney.
Weintraub has handled a number of high-profile cases. He prosecuted Philadelphia sportscaster Don Tollefson as well as the killers of teenager Grace Packer and musician Danny DeGennaro. He also led the effort to bring in Cosmo DiNardo for killing four young men in Solebury.
Weintraub’s run for judge in the middle of his term was purposeful.
“It’s my intention to make my First Assistant Jen Schorn succeed me as Bucks County DA,” Weintraub said in a statement to the Herald. “By running for judge in the middle of my term, she gets to be DA for two full years before she then would stand for election herself.”
If she wants the job after her “live audition,” Schorn would be on the ballot in 2025.
“I predict that with her leadership and dedication to our mission, Jen will far exceed me as Bucks County District Attorney, and it’s not fair for me to stand in her way any longer” Weintraub said. “She’s ready, and so am I.”
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