Michael A. O’Pake, District Attorney of Schuylkill County, has announced his candidacy for Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County.

O’Pake is a native of Mahanoy City and lives in Norwegian Township near Pottsville. He is a 1981 graduate of Marian High School, a 1985 graduate of Dickinson College and a 1988 graduate of Dickinson School of Law.

O’Pake is serving his second term as District Attorney of Schuylkill County, having first been elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021. O’Pake served as an assistant district attorney from 1992 until 2013. He served as an assistant public defender from 2014 until 2017.

Upon graduation from law school, O’Pake began working for the Curran Law Office in 1988 and handled corporate, commercial and zoning matters. He then opened his own law practice in 2000 with offices in Pottsville and Mahanoy City.

O’Pake is dedicated to public service with a record of being tough on crime. In October 2019, during O’Pake’s first term in office, he and his administration, along with his drug task force and state and local police, orchestrated the largest drug bust in the history of Schuylkill County that removed over one million dollars in drugs from the streets of Schuylkill County.

“As District Attorney, I recognize that my ultimate responsibility is the safety of the community and holding criminal defendants responsible for their actions. That responsibility extends to the victims of crime and their families.”

“I make decisions every day that affect the lives of victims and their families. I have the compassion, empathy, knowledge, ability and temperament to continue to make those decisions as a judge. My experience in criminal, civil, estate, personal injury, real estate, zoning, corporate, commercial, school and municipal law and family law and divorce matters makes me the most qualified candidate to serve as a judge on the Court of Common Pleas of Schuylkill County.”

He is married to Jen Padinske O’Pake. The couple have two children, Michael A. O’Pake Jr., who works and lives in the Philadelphia area, and Caleigh O’Pake, a junior at the University of Delaware.