James "Jim" Gerlach (born February 25, 1955) is a politician from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, currently representing the state's 6th congressional district (map) in the U.S. House of Representatives. Re-elected in November 2006 and 2008, Gerlach was one of the few Republican representatives targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee who retained his seat in Congress. After forming an exploratory committee in February of 2009, Gerlach announced his candidacy for Governor of Pennsylvania on July 14th. Gerlach had been mentioned as a potential candidate for the United States Senate seat held by Arlen Specter after John Cornyn, chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, contacted him following Specter's May 2009 party-switch. Gerlach, however, ultimately decided not to run for the Senate.