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April 6, 2010

Northeast Pa. key to control of U.S. House

Many districts in play as the GOP seeks to take power in Congress.

DAN NEPHIN and MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press Writers

PITTSBURGH — The road to majority control of the U.S. House of Representatives has run straight though Pennsylvania in recent years, as congressional districts have changed hands in a state more purple than red or blue.

This year party strategists are narrowing their sights on swing districts that include the western pickups-and-Steelers country, the taverns and churches of the northeastern coal regions and the densely populated suburbs west of Philadelphia that contain a mother lode of socially liberal but fiscally conservative voters.

Republicans want to reshuffle the deck that has left them holding only seven of Pennsylvania’s 19 congressional districts. To reverse their fortunes, they are hoping to pick up a pair of vacancies and re-flip seats gained in recent election cycles by Democrats.

“There are various tiers of opportunity, but it’s fair to say that Pennsylvania has more competitive and potentially competitive races than any other state in the country,” said Dave Wasserman, who follows congressional races for The Cook Political Report, a Washington-based newsletter.

The district that was represented until recently by the late U.S. Rep. John Murtha features perhaps the highest-profile race, and Democrats are fighting to hold it in the face of unfavorable demographic trends that have transformed the political landscape since Murtha was first elected in 1974.

Murtha’s was the only district in the nation that voted, in presidential races, for Democrat John Kerry in 2004 and Republican John McCain in 2008.

Six people are on the May 18 ballot — both parties have contested primaries and there is a special election — to represent the curiously shaped district. Anchored in the state’s far southwestern corner, its tendrils reach out to Indiana, Johnstown, Latrobe, Monessen and Uniontown.

The Cook Political Report ranks as Pennsylvania “toss-ups” only Murtha’s seat and the district outside Philadelphia currently represented by U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who is Sen. Arlen Specter’s opponent in the Democratic senatorial primary.

In the race for Sestak’s seat, a three-person Democratic primary will determine the November opponent for former U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan, who is unopposed for the Republican nod.

In the Erie area, freshman Democrat Kathy Dahlkemper has found herself on the receiving end of attacks over her support for the health reform law, including from abortion opponents, although she points to successful amendments she sponsored to improve the bill. Primary opponent Mel Marin has criticized Dahlkemper for courting the support of gay rights groups.

Health care votes — two for, one against — could come back to haunt three Democratic incumbents from northeastern Pennsylvania districts. Two are veterans who are unaccustomed to primary races and a third is a relative newcomer to Congress who will probably be a prime Republican target as long as he holds the seat.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Nanticoke, faces Corey O’Brien, a Lackawanna County commissioner, while the Republican nominee will be Hazleton Mayor Lou Barletta, who gained national notoriety four years ago with his stand on illegal immigration and who lost to Kanjorski in 2008. Kanjorski called his vote for the health bill one of the most difficult of his career.

In a neighboring district, U.S. Rep. Tim Holden, D-St. Clair, is defending his “no” vote on health care in a primary race against Sheila Dow Ford, a member of the State Board of Education who operates a public policy consulting firm focusing on education and housing issues. On the Republican side, four candidates are seeking the nomination.

Another centrist Democrat from northeastern Pennsylvania, U.S. Rep. Chris Carney, D-Dimock Township, has no primary opponent while three Republicans — including former U.S. Attorney Tom Marino — are chasing after their party’s nomination in the Republican-leaning district.

“If one candidate comes out of that primary with a head of steam, then Chris Carney could be in for a very difficult race,” Wasserman said.

Carney’s recent vote in favor of the health-care legislation could give Republicans a rare opportunity to portray him as aligned with his party’s more liberal elements, said Muhlenberg College political science professor Christopher Borick.

“Once he cast this vote, it absolutely put a big target on him,” Borick said. “In a district like (his), that has a very strong numerical advantage in registered Republicans, it poses an uphill battle for him.”

Suburban Philadelphia Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, a drop-out from the 2010 governor’s race, is opposed in the primary by electrical contractor Pat Sellers, who has ties to the Tea Party movement. A hospital executive and a physician are slugging it out for the Democratic nomination.

A fall rematch could occur in another Philadelphia area district, where Democratic U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy is unopposed in the primary. Five people are running to be the GOP standard-bearer, including the man Murphy beat in 2006, then-incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick’s primary opposition consists of a financial planner, a former Capitol Hill aide, a one-time competitive judo champion and an Army veteran.

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