WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio has come under fire for comments unearthed from a 2020 podcast in which he referred to some backers of former President Donald Trump trying to “suppress the vote” as “blood and soil fascists.”
Mr. Deluzio, then working on election issues at the University of Pittsburgh, also said during his appearance on what is now the “Save Us From The Op-Eds” podcast shortly before the 2020 election that he was worried that Trump would not accept the results of the vote and try to install his own slate of electors to give him a second term in the White House.
Those actions were cited in separate criminal indictments by U.S. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith and Fulton County, Georgia, District Attorney Fani Willis.
Mr. Deluzio’s comments were reminiscent of 2016 Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s characterization of the white supremacists backing Trump’s candidacy as a "basket of deplorables." Trump insisted she was insulting all of his supporters.
Ms. Clinton quickly apologized for describing "half" of Trump's supporters that way, but, as President Ronald Reagan once said, “If you're explaining, you're losing.”
“It has the effect of alienating people,” said Ross Baker, a political science professor at Rutgers University in New Jersey. “Nobody wants to be relegated to a category such as a deplorable. In some ways, it’s an expression of polarization and that could be very damaging to a candidate.”
Muhlenberg College political science professor and pollster Christopher Borick said elected officials need to watch their words.
“Certainly you have to be careful with language that can alienate parts of your constituency,” Mr. Borick said. “He can make criticisms of the effort to overturn the 2020 election but when you’re sitting in office, your language choices can be damaging to your goals.”
The race between Mr. Deluzio, D-Aspinwall, and state Rep. Rob Mercuri, R-Pine, is rated as the only competitive U.S. House race in Western Pennsylvania.
The Cook Political Report gives Mr. Deluzio a slight edge, and its House analyst, Erin Covey, said she didn’t think the controversy will affect the race.
“The main line of attack against Deluzio last cycle was that he was a radical socialist college professor – and that didn't seem particularly effective since he won by seven points,” Ms. Covey said. “So I'm skeptical this specific hit will have a major impact.”
Still, the comments allowed Mike Marinella, a spokesman for the House Republicans’ political arm, to say: “It seems like the new Pennsylvania Democrat playbook is to trash your own constituents.”
Trump himself is no stranger to trashing members of his own party, perhaps most notably former Sen. John McCain.
Mr. Mercuri immediately called on Mr. Deluzio to step down.
“Chris Deluzio’s comments reflect someone unwilling to represent everyone in his district; he should immediately resign,” Mr. Mercuri said. “Deluzio’s lowbrow name-calling and divisive rhetoric is the opposite of what this country needs right now.”
Mr. Deluzio didn’t back down.
“Patriots of every political stripe have a home on our team, but it is shocking that Rob Mercuri would open his arms to fascists,” Mr. Deluzio said. “My opponent's continued embrace of election deniers and insurrectionists who tried to help Donald Trump overthrow our democracy is dangerous.”
Mr. Deluzio was working on voting issues at the University of Pittsburgh’s Pitt Cyber when he was interviewed on the podcast now known as “Save Us From The Op-Eds” shortly before the 2020 election won by Joe Biden.
“Day-job work right now is very focused on election protection,” Deluzio said of his work at Pitt. “And that’s, broadly speaking, making sure this maniac in the White House and his, you know, horde of budding blood-and-soil fascists, don’t suppress the vote. And that is basically keeping me and everyone else who’s doing that work very busy, in Pennsylvania and everywhere else.”
Trump and other Republicans tried to stop the counting of absentee ballots after Election Day and continue to claim that the Pennsylvania vote was rigged and the election was stolen.
After the election, a majority of House Republicans unsuccessfully urged the U.S. Supreme Court to throw out Pennsylvania’s election returns. The list included all three from Western Pennsylvania: U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly of Butler, Guy Reschenthaler of Peters and Glenn Thompson of Centre.
And after the U.S. Capitol was cleared of pro-Trump supporters who stormed the building on Jan. 6. 2021, trying to disrupt the certification of Mr. Biden, a majority of House Republicans, including the three from Western Pennsylvania, voted to reject Pennsylvania’s state-certified electoral votes.
Jonathan D. Salant: jsalant@post-gazette.com, @JDSalant.
First Published: June 14, 2024, 9:50 p.m.
Updated: June 15, 2024, 6:44 p.m.
