Josh Portney, a 2022 graduate of Penn State, has returned to his alma mater just two years later as a Penn State Law School student, holding a seat on the State College Borough Council. 

Portney is the youngest person to hold his elected position since 1973, and the first ever law school student in State College to do so.

We chatted with Portney about his time on campus and what his role entails.

Onward State: Why did you choose to study at Penn State and come back to graduate school after graduation?

Josh Portney: My parents both went to college here. They 100% met because of Penn State. I’ve always been a Penn State fan growing up. Every year growing up, I would go to Arts Fest weekend, and my family and I would stay in the campus dorms when they allowed alumni to do so. They stopped this practice once COVID-19 came around. 

I also went to the Blue-White Games and was tailgating at football games since I first learned to walk. When I got [to campus] in fall 2019, I fell in love, like I knew I would. 

COVID-19 then happened and destroyed things, but I stayed in State College and took that year because academically we moved remotely. From there, I took the time to get involved in local government and politics. 

At home in Montgomery County, I grew up surrounded by politics. I was involved locally in community organizing and Democratic electoral politics. My neighbor was the president of our local school board, Governor Shapiro lived in the next township over, and I was constantly communicating with local elected officials. So I was very connected, and when I got to Penn State, I ran a state house campaign and then Ezra Nanes’ initial mayoral campaign. We won back that campaign in 2021, and Ezra is now the mayor of State College.

I would also go to every borough council meeting. From the time they resumed in-person meetings after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted, I was present at the public meetings. The council saw my interest and appointed me to the planning commission. 

After doing all of this work making land use and subdivision recommendations to the council through the planning commission, I decided I wanted to be that final legislative voice, and ran for council.

OS: How do you manage life as a law student and council member?

JP: I keep myself to a very strict time management schedule. Every day, I wake up a bit early and write out my schedule for the day.

I have to do this. It’s necessary for me to do all of the things that I need to do. I’m also a person that doesn’t love to just relax. I like to always be active. With my time, I’m always occupied with something. I never want to just sit down and play video games. I always want to be working.

OS: If you weren’t involved in politics, what could you see yourself doing instead?

JP: Easy question because I still, in my heart, love sports broadcasting. 

My brother, Bryan Portney, is living the dream that I wish I could have as a freshman here at Penn State. He is involved in CommRadio, he works behind the scenes with After the Whistle, has his own website with Penn State sports content coverage, and he even applied to intern for the State College Spikes. 

He’s living the dream I once had, and I’m so proud of him for it. A part of me still wants to be behind the scenes working in sports media, but it’s a bit more complicated when you’re on the other side as an elected official. I still have so much respect for the media.

OS: Can you explain your duties as a council member and how it’s different from the mayor and borough manager?

JP: Council is the policy branch in State College government. We are a legislative body. We set policy and pass ordinances respecting the laws of Pennsylvania and United States governance. 

For example, there is an open container ordinance effective here in State College. This means that within our jurisdiction, you are not allowed to transport or possess open containers of alcoholic beverages outside of a bar, no matter your age. 

As a council, we created and passed an ordinance to allow special events where we waive that ordinance to allow people — of age — to purchase and drink outside in specified and well-regulated areas. Right now, we are looking at passing an ordinance to expand that further. 

Our main focus is passing budgets. We pass a budget every year and we set tax rates. Every department in our borough, like the Department of Public Works and police department, for example, is funded through our borough budget. The amount of money to agencies like this is approved and passed by the council. 

Oftentimes, we use our budget as a way to show our priorities. For transportation, the council is responsible for approving budgets and giving the go-ahead for projects throughout the borough. Calder Way is currently being redone, this was based off of our budget, which we approved. 

The mayor has no formal role in policy, ordinances, and budget decisions. In State College, the role of the mayor is to receive feedback from the public and share that with the council. He is the people’s voice. 

The municipal manager is like “the CEO of the government.” He is the “chief of staff.” He manages the departments. He doesn’t set policy. He works based on our policy and reports back to us. He plays the day-to-day supervisor role of all our departments.

OS: How did borough leadership react after the “unlawful gathering” after the Super Bowl on Beaver Avenue?

JP: There’s a lot I can say, and a lot that I can’t say.

What I will say is, we have an incredible leadership team. Our emergency response leadership team took charge, which is made up of the municipal manager, the police chief, Penn State’s police chief, and some other crucial borough and university officials that play an important role. When they believe something like this is going to happen, they all talk and get on the same wavelength.

The State College PD was prepared, and knew that this was going to happen, and had the resources and appropriate personnel in place. That’s a testament to our proactive leadership. 

The mayor and council were made aware of the situation. The mayor has the power to declare a state of emergency within the borough. He did not do that. The State College police handled it, doing what they needed to do. 

Nobody was arrested and no kinetic devices needed to be used to regain order on the street. However, some property was stolen and a car got damaged. 

We, of course, want people to celebrate and have fun, but do it safely and don’t destroy property. That’s where I’m going to stop. 

OS: Are you considering a run for mayor this year?

JP: I’ll say this — everywhere I go people ask me this exact question. They want somebody who is less personally opinionated and more of a representative of the people. 

They want someone who takes more of a back seat on policy and more of a front seat on vision and direction when it comes to public inquiries. 

I’m not ruling this out, and I have not made an official decision yet. But again I will say that there are a lot of people who have asked me, and we will see what happens.

OS: Are you going to endorse Mayor Nanes, who is running for reelection?

JP: There’s a lot that has happened recently in the community. There’s been a lot of, I’ll say, disagreements. I managed his campaign in 2021. I was his biggest champion. I was instrumental, actually, in his initial decision to run for mayor, not council.

I think the course that we are on and our approaches to government have splintered a bit. I still support him as a colleague and ally and hope he does well, I just don’t see myself endorsing his campaign at this moment.

OS: As an elected official and former member of a social fraternity, how would you grade the university’s governance of Greek life?

JP: There’s always room for improvement, but they are doing their job. 

The university and the borough have a good partnership to try to tackle issues with underage drinking and problems with Greek life as a whole. 

I had experience with this when I was appointed to the planning commission. There’s a lot of legal trickery with what the university has control over on these private properties. 

I think that in terms of university recognition, there needs to be a better due process. What happens is when you have a fraternity that gets suspended, and then might lose their recognition from their national organization. They are an unrecognized student group, creating trouble for the borough and the community.

The university provides a compliance officer and has fraternities log their events and inform compliance ahead of time. Losing that Penn State recognition puts more burden on our police department and emergency services, especially when there is a problem at the unrecognized fraternity house. 

Compliance officers also force these organizations to create risk and management plans, something that no one can make sure is done with these unrecognized and unregistered events. 

As an official with the borough, I may schedule events with Penn State fraternities and sororities well in advance, and I won’t know if that chapter or organization is even going to be affiliated with the school come time for that scheduled event.

So in the end, I believe that affiliation with the school is important, but there needs to be a longer and more organized due process for those organizations that break the rules, which we don’t really have.

OS: Looking far into the future, who do you think the matchup for president will be between in 2028?

JP: I think Josh Shapiro would be fantastic for the country. He is charismatic, intelligent, and just has a range of qualities that would benefit all Americans. He is just an effective leader that, as he would say, gets sh*t done.

I think on the Republican side, Nikki Haley will run again. She came in second in the Republican primary race in 2020, getting a lot of votes in states even after she dropped out. 

I’m not a Republican, I am a registered Democrat and an elected official within the Democratic Party. But I think that if Trump doesn’t do well in the midterms, there is a good chance the Republican Party would like to move on and chart a new course. Nikki Haley is a battle-tested alternative with a base that can grow if Trump-endorsed candidates don’t perform in the 2026 midterm elections. 

OS: Per Onward State tradition, if you could be any dinosaur, which would you be and why?

JP: I’d be a triceratops, because I am resilient and strong yet respected and strategic. The triceratops has horns to show its strength but always sticks with its herd and doesn’t back down from a fight to protect those he cares about.