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HAZLETON — Former Hazleton mayor and congressman Lou Barletta on Monday blasted who he called “failed leaders,” and pledged to turn Pennsylvania around.

With that, Barletta, 65, announced that he is seeking the Republican nomination to run for governor of Pennsylvania.

Barletta blasted the “failed leadership of Gov. Tom Wolf and Harrisburg insiders” and said his desire to turn Pennsylvania around is what drove his decision to enter the race.

Barletta made the announcement through a video released on his newly launched campaign website at — www.LouBarletta.com.

He said he will vote in Hazleton on Tuesday, then embark on a 10-day cross-state swing, traveling to Dauphin, Cumberland and Centre counties, then out to Pittsburgh, Erie and western counties, before returning through Berks and Bucks counties, then Philadelphia before returning home.

Barletta was the Republican Party’s Donald Trump-endorsed nominee for U.S. Senate in 2018, losing to Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey of Scranton.

“My family has lived in Hazleton for over 100 years,” Barletta said. “I grew up here, went to school here, worked here, met my wife and raised my family here. Our way of life changed dramatically during the pandemic — look, everyone’s did. But here in Pennsylvania, it was made so much worse by politicians — politicians who weren’t just looking to stop a virus, but politicians hell bent on trying to change who we are and how we live.”

Barletta has been traveling the state over the past several months and recently launched a political action committee to elevate discussion of important issues facing Pennsylvania. He said he has heard from individuals, families and small business owners who were frustrated by the coronavirus response in the commonwealth and felt that their voices were not being heard by elected officials.

“These politicians — and I’m talking about Gov. Wolf and the Harrisburg insiders — they had a disastrous response to the pandemic,” Barletta said. “Wolf squeezed our small business owners and put hard-working Pennsylvanians on the unemployment line. These politicians kept our kids out of school for far too long, and who knows the long-term damage of that. And I’m just going to be blunt about this one, because it’s how we talk here in Pennsylvania: Tom Wolf has blood on his hands for sentencing our seniors to die in nursing homes. It didn’t have to be this way.”

Barletta also identified a number of other issues which will be central to his campaign. He said he will unleash the potential of Pennsylvania’s natural resources and create thousands of energy sector jobs in the process. He will continue his fight against illegal immigration and oppose sanctuary cities. He will support and fully fund law enforcement agencies. And he said he will restore voters’ trust in our democracy.

“The politicians in Harrisburg took too much power. And we all know what happens when you give politicians and bureaucrats more power — they’ll never give it back to us,” Barletta said. “The solutions aren’t complicated. More than anything, we need someone to fight for them and fight for you. So let’s do it. Let’s take back Pennsylvania, together.”

Born and raised in Hazleton, Barletta started his own pavement marking business with his wife, Mary Grace, for $29.95 at age 28, and five years later it was the largest of its kind in the commonwealth. His first role in public service was serving as a councilman and eventually mayor of his hometown.

As mayor of Hazleton from 2000 to 2010, Barletta gained national prominence for injecting immigration hawk politics into local government.

Barletta was mayor at a time when Hazleton’s Hispanic population was surging. He argued that many of the recent arrivals were in the country illegally, bringing drugs, crime and gangs to his city of 25,000 and overwhelming police, schools and hospitals.

Accusing the federal government of failing to enforce immigration laws, Barletta got City Council to approve a pair of measures that would have denied permits to businesses that hired people in the country illegally and fined landlords who rented to them.

His strategy was copied by dozens of other cities across the country, but the laws were never enforced before the U.S. Supreme Court struck them down in 2014 after the American Civil Liberties Union filed took Hazleton to court over the laws. Hazleton was eventually ordered to by the ACLU more than $1.4 million in legal fees.

Under his leadership, he said Hazleton was recognized as one of the best-managed cities in the commonwealth and Barletta was appointed to an international panel on local authorities by former President George W. Bush.

Barletta served four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives in the former 11th District of Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2019, solidifying his reputation as a firm opponent of illegal immigration. As a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure committee, he said he saved taxpayers $4.4 billion through better use of federal real estate and more efficient management of office leases.

Barletta was also credited with saving federal funding for after-school programs, which had been slated for elimination. He was one of the first members of the House to endorse Donald Trump for president in 2015.

He and his wife live in Hazleton and have four daughters and 10 grandchildren.

An Associated Press story said Barletta becomes the most prominent figure to enter a 2022 governor’s race that Republicans have won every time in the past half-century when there is an outgoing Democratic governor and there is a first-term Democratic president.

“So people know me,” Barletta said in an interview. “I’m starting out with that advantage as well as I had 2.1 million votes in 2018. And that’s a good start as well.”

Barletta’s only declared primary opponent is Joe Gale, a Montgomery County commissioner. After that, several others are seriously considering it. That includes U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser — who succeeded Barletta in Congress — and William McSwain, the top federal prosecutor in Philadelphia under Trump.

Barring something unforeseen, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro will seek the Democratic nomination. Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, is constitutionally term-limited.

Barletta and former U.S. Rep. Tom Marino of Williamsport were two of the first members of Congress to endorse Trump in 2016’s Republican presidential primary.

He went on to serve as Trump’s campaign co-chair in Pennsylvania that year and on Trump’s transition team before becoming one of the former president’s biggest allies on Capitol Hill.

On March 22, a poll conducted by Susquehanna Polling and Research, a national firm, showed Barletta as clear leader in the anticipated race for the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor in 2022.

Jim Lee, President/CEO/Founder of Susquehanna Polling & Research, Inc., said the firm is a Pennsylvania-based survey research and polling firm with a national reputation for expert polling for corporate, consumer and political clients.

Lee said the independent poll used a potential field of five candidates who reports say are considering running for the GOP nomination for governor.

The poll results showed Barletta, 65 of Hazleton, leading a field of five potential candidates, with the support of 20% of Republicans. Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, was the second highest vote-getter at 11%, followed by 3% each for U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Dallas; and former U.S. Attorney William McSwain. Former Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, a Bucks County native who served under former Gov. Tom Corbett, finished last at 2%.

Some 60% of Republican voters are still undecided, the poll showed.

– The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Reach Bill O’Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle. The Associated Press contributed to this report.