Thursday, February 20, 2025, 4:53PM |  20°
MENU
Advertisement
Rep. Lou Barletta
3
MORE

Republicans in PA: Everything is fine

Post-Gazette

Republicans in PA: Everything is fine

Look at polling, talk to Democrats or watch cable news and it sounds like a Democratic wave will undoubtedly wash away Republican strongholds in the government this November.

But to Pennsylvania’s Republican party chairman — and to the two top GOP-endorsed candidates in the state — everything is A-OK. In their world of campaign messaging, the wave won’t be enough to flip chambers, their president is popular with voters and the only reason Democratic wunderkind Conor Lamb was able to pull off a Congressional upset in Trump territory last month was because he ran as a “Republican.”

In interviews with state GOP chair Val DiGiorgio, Senate candidate Lou Barletta and gubernatorial hopeful Scott Wagner this week, the trio of Republican stalwarts espoused similar rhetoric about their party’s bright future in the midterm elections, assuring that the popularity of their president and success of the economy will stave off Democratic gains.

Advertisement

“I'm not buying the polls. It was the same thing that I saw as I traveled through the state in 2016, when everybody said, including the Hilary Clinton campaign — which was not campaigning here — that the Democrats had the state,” Mr. DiGiorgio said. “I'm seeing it again. People are working. Their paychecks are going up. Their 401Ks are getting fatter.”

In this file photo, U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), speaks during a news conference Monday Dec. 18, 2017, at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC. The winner of the May 15 Republican U.S. Senate primary will take on incumbent Democrat Bob Casey in November.
Tracie Mauriello and Julian Routh
Senate candidates Barletta, Christiana barnstorming for GOP support

“I don't know why anybody would want to vote against a track record like that,” he added.

Democratic enthusiasm is high, though, and so is fundraising. Commentators have drawn comparisons to 2006, when Democrats took back control of both chambers and won a majority of governorships, and 2010, when Republicans picked up 63 seats in the House and hundreds of state legislature posts.

But state Republicans aren’t seeing those similarities. For one, the presidents weren’t popular ahead of those midterms, said Mr. DiGiorgio, and neither economy was in good shape. That’s different this year, said the three officials, citing positive feedback they’ve gotten about the Republican tax plan passed late last year. 

Advertisement

Mr. Barletta, who is running for his party’s nod to unseat Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, said Pennsylvanians are seeing more than “crumbs” from the GOP tax bill. Mr. Wagner, who has his sights set on winning the primary to challenge incumbent Gov. Tom Wolf, said the cuts are benefiting employees at the three companies he runs.

“They see the extra money in their paychecks, and they want to keep it,” Mr. Wagner said.

A recent Muhlenberg College/Morning Call poll, however, found that 46 percent of Pennsylvania voters surveyed disapprove of the tax reform law, compared to 36 percent who approve. A majority of the respondents said they disapprove of Mr. Trump, too.

“While the media has focused on the negative every day, of course the polls are going to show something,” Mr. Barletta said, “because when you want something so bad as the media wants Donald Trump not be president, you sometimes miss what working men and women are seeing as a president who is fighting for their jobs.”

Democrats have also pointed to Conor Lamb’s victory in the 18th Congressional District as a sign that the map is wide open, and that the party can be competitive in districts like the 18th that Mr. Trump carried by double-digits in 2016.

But, like the president last month, Republicans here have painted Mr. Lamb as a moderate Democrat who ran on Republican principles — which is why, they allege, he had so much success.

“I don't see how the Democrats could claim victory for someone who ran as a Republican, even though he was a Democrat, in a district that had 60,000 more [registered] Democrats than Republicans,” Mr. Barletta said. “How is that a victory?”

For Republicans hoping for victories this November, positive messaging could be one of the only weapons in what they say is a constant battle against biased news outlets, misleading polls and a Democratic party that’s overstating its expectations. But Mr. DiGiorgio said he thinks the track record of Mr. Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress will outweigh “the constant drumbeat of the media attacking the president,” for one.

“We have to believe that,” Mr. DiGiorgio said. “Otherwise, what are we doing in this business?”

Julian Routh: 412-263-1952 or jrouth@post-gazette.com, Twitter @julianrouth.

First Published: April 20, 2018, 9:08 p.m.
Updated: April 20, 2018, 9:08 p.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
Penguins hall of fame broadcaster Mike Lange works the play-by-play during the Alumni game at Heinz Field on Dec. 31, 2010.
1
sports
Mike Lange, longtime Penguins broadcaster, dies at 76
Mike Lange be­gan an­nounc­ing for the Penguns in 1974.
2
sports
How the hockey world is reacting to the death of Penguins broadcaster Mike Lange
Penguins broadcaster Mike Lange during a press conference at Consol Energy Center.
3
sports
Jason Mackey: What Mike Lange meant to me, and why we must carry on his incredible legacy
Dr. Sylvia Owusu-Ansah helped writers of "The Pitt" with her perspective working in emergency medicine.
4
a&e
'It's very real,' says the Pittsburgh ER doctor who consulted on 'The Pitt' TV show
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, GM Kevin Colbert and president Art Rooney II watch afternoon practice Friday, July 27, 2018, at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
5
sports
Brian Batko’s Steelers mailbag: Should there have been a better long-term plan at quarterback?
Rep. Lou Barletta  (Post-Gazette)
Republican candidate for governor Scott Wager speaks to the Pittsburgh Technology Council on Friday.  (Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette)
A self-proclaimed "detail" person, Republican candidate for governor Scott Wager displays a photo of an eyesore dumpster outside the building where he spoke to the Pittsburgh Technology Council on Friday.  (Bob Donaldson/Post-Gazette)
Post-Gazette
Advertisement
LATEST news
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story