A member of the Pennsylvania State Senate who has represented the 38th Senatorial District since 2003, Ferlo was born to Italian immigrant parents in the small upstate town of Rome, and credits part of his legislative effectiveness as being one of ten siblings. A progressive community activist in the City of Pittsburgh before being elected to Pittsburgh City Council in 1987, he served on council for 15 years until his election to the State Senate in 2002. He has been an outspoken advocate for labor, racial equality, and human rights for all, and has been an opponent of military conflict since helping to organize against the Vietnam war in the 1960s.