A CNN Political Comment on the GOP Presidential Candidate Running for a Second Term in the US Senate and the Challenges of Running for Governor
Editor’s Note: Charlie Dent is a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who was chair of the House Ethics Committee from 2015 until 2017 and chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies from 2015 until 2018. He is a CNN political commentator. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion on CNN.
Pennsylvania has two open seat US Senate races, and Gov. Tom Wolf will finish his second term in office. It is very rare in the commonwealth.
Mr. Rutter said that he thinks Mastriano is too extreme for governor. Josh Shapiro is more even-keeled and I think he would do a good job, I think he is a wing nut.
Shapiro has dominated the airwaves. Mastromaro made a false claim in an interview last week on the Real America’s Voice network about the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia experimenting on homeless children and kids in foster care with gender transitioning.
State of the Art and Tomorrow: A Toss-Up Between Oz, Fetterman, and the Democrat-Electoral Candidate
The US Senate race is a toss-up between Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz and Democrat John Fetterman. Fetterman, who suffered a stroke days before the primary election in May, will be in dire need of votes when Oz and Fetterman debate on Tuesday.
Fetterman has aphasia, a problem that can affect his ability to perform his duties as a US senator. All eyes will be on Fetterman, who will use closed captioning during the debate. Neurological experts have said people with auditory processing or hearing issues often use closed captioning.
Polling is very close. Oz’s unfavorable rating went up when he came out from a brutal GOP primary. Republican voters have since come home to Oz.
Fetterman has been hammered on the Green New Deal, which would make the United States remove fossil fuels from the economy and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Fetterman, an early supporter of US Sen. Bernie Sanders, has been attacked as a radical socialist.
Fetterman has also been praised by far-left Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, the subject of impeachment proceedings in the capital, Harrisburg, as “effective in moving commutations and pardons in the modern direction.”
Fetterman has waged aggressive attacks against Oz, cleverly trolling him over social media and paid advertising on issues such as carpetbagging, crudité, health care and Social Security in an attempt to portray the wealthy GOP candidate as out of touch with ordinary Pennsylvanians.
All things considered, there is a reason for Republican optimism. Oz is well-positioned to win because likely voters express concern about inflation and the economy. Republicans are surging on economic issues despite candidate quality problems and a recent Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision on abortion.
Pennsylvania also features three toss-up House races — in the Lehigh Valley, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and suburban Pittsburgh-based seats. In particular, watch the Lehigh Valley race between incumbent Democratic Rep. Susan Wild and Republican challenger Lisa Scheller, who runs a family-owned manufacturing business. It is a swing district that has been held for nearly 14 years by me. The fate of statewide races and control of Congress could be determined by Northampton County, a key national bellwether produced by CNN’s John King.
Todd Rutter: Why he voted for both the major parties and why he didn’t want to vote for Mr. Biden
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Todd Rutter is a 59 year old man who is on disability and who usually voted for Republicans. He backed Mr. Trump in 2016 but skipped the presidential election in 2020, he said, because he was dissatisfied with both of the major parties’ candidates.
Now Mr. Rutter, who said he watched all of the televised hearings by the congressional panel investigating the Capitol riot, said he was voting for Dr. Oz and Mr. Shapiro, both of whom he views as centrist candidates who would honor the results of their elections.
And while all four states have been the subject of nearly two years of false claims by Republicans that Mr. Biden’s victories in each one were illegitimate, only a minority of voters wanted to support a candidate who thought Mr. Biden won. A majority said that they did not care or preferred a candidate who says Mr. Trump won.