In 1998, Corman's father,
Doyle Corman, a Pennsylvania state senator for 21 years, announced his retirement from the Senate. Corman announced that he would run for his father's seat. During the three-way GOP primary, Corman was attacked by the other candidates for a 1995 drunk driving conviction, as well as his admission to experimenting with marijuana in the 1980s. In 2002, Corman was re-elected with over 92% of the vote, facing only minimal opposition from a
Libertarian Party candidate. In 2006, Corman defeated
Democrat Jon Eich, Robert J. Cash, and Libertarian Thomas Martin with 56% of the vote. After the leadership shakeup following the
2006 elections, Corman bid for the position of Senate Majority Leader, but was edged out by
Dominic Pileggi and was ultimately elected as the Majority Policy Chairman, succeeding
Joe Scarnati. After the 2008 election, Corman became Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The
Pennsylvania Report named him to the 2009 "The Pennsylvania Report 100" list of influential figures in Pennsylvania politics and called him one of the state's "rising stars." In 2010, Corman again defeated
Democrat Jon Eich for re-election garnering 69.4% of the vote. In 2014 and 2016, Corman was unopposed for re-election. In 2018, he again won re-election after defeating Democrat Ezra Nanes by more than 10,500 votes. After the 2014 election, Corman became Senate Majority Leader.
2020 elections Prior to the 2020 election, Corman and other Republicans in the state legislature refused to implement changes that would allow Pennsylvania officials to process mail-in ballots before election day. As a result, counting of ballots in Philadelphia took several days, leaving it unclear for days who had won the
2020 United States presidential election in Pennsylvania. On the night of the election, Corman called for the resignation of Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar for allowing county boards to give voters an opportunity to "cure" their ballots if they were rejected. In January 2021, Corman and other Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate refused to seat incumbent
Jim Brewster who won a close reelection against his opponent who refused to concede the race. Even though Brewster's election victory had been certified by state officials. The Republican majority then had
Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman removed from presiding over the Senate and installed Corman in Fetterman's place. Even though there were no indications of fraud in the 2020 election, Corman called for a "full forensic investigation" into the 2020 election. Corman supported Republican efforts to obtain a wide range of data and personal information on voters to pursue baseless claims of fraud.
Gubernatorial run In November 2021, Corman announced he would be running in the Republican primary race for Pennsylvania governor. He campaigned as the "conservative who stood up to"
Democratic governor
Tom Wolf, citing his legal efforts to overturn Wolf's
mask mandate in schools during the
COVID-19 pandemic, successful opposition to Wolf's proposed taxes, and his support for a
partisan investigation into 2020 presidential election. On April 12, 2022, Corman filed a petition in state court to remove his name from the primary ballot, he however reversed that decision later that day saying that former president
Donald Trump encouraged him to stay in the race. Still, Corman remained low in the polls.
Acting lieutenant governor On May 17, 2022, Governor Wolf announced that Corman would temporarily assume the duties of acting lieutenant governor while Lieutenant Governor
John Fetterman had a pacemaker implanted and recovered. Corman served in this capacity until May 23, 2022. == Political positions ==