Ruh-roh. From Roll Call (hat-tip: Johnny Longtorso):
Former U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan (R), who was running for governor of Pennsylvania in 2010, has begun making calls and telling supporters that he will run for the open 7th district seat instead, according to a GOP source in the Keystone State.
Meehan’s campaign released a statement Friday afternoon announcing his departure from the gubernatorial race.
“Pat is more committed than ever to helping return Pennsylvania to a path of prosperity, and he is now seriously considering a run for congress in the Seventh Congressional District to fulfill that commitment,” his spokeswoman said in a statement.
Meehan, as you may recall, previously squashed rumors that he was interested in running for Congress next year, but this looks like it’s the real deal. (Perhaps he didn’t really believe Sestak would go for the Senate race until he actually made it official.)
This is pretty bad news for Team Blue, as Meehan is the strongest possible candidate the GOP could put forward in this district — and one with a very legitimate shot at turning this D+3 seat red. Before his stint as the Eastern District US Attorney, Meehan was the popular DA of Delaware County — where the vast majority of this district’s vote comes from. It remains to be seen whether the current GOP candidate in the race, local pharma magnate Steven Welch, will defer to Meehan, so the potential of a primary still exists here.
Democrats still have a very strong candidate of their own in Iraq vet/state Rep. Bryan Lentz (also from Delaware County), but state Rep. Greg Vitali, among others, is also considering it. While still boasting a GOP registration advantage, this district has taken a sharp turn toward the Blue in recent years, punctuated by Barack Obama’s 56-43 win here in 2008. Still, if there’s anyone who could successfully encourage voters to reconnect to their GOP roots, it’s Meehan.
This race is now probably best considered a tossup.
RaceTracker Wiki: PA-07
This is great news for us. We get a strong candidate in Sestak’s seat, and a less complicated Gov primary! Now, if only we could get Gerlach to run for re-election…
Lose this seat and Sestak tears Specter to shreads yet Arlen still wins the primary and is DOA against Toomey. Why oh why can’t people see the big picture?
face palm Pennsylvania is turning into a major headache right now.
Thanks Sestak! Because we really needed junk like this during a down cycle.
That’s how you win against a popular Republican in a Dem district. Also in our favor, Meehan will have to run on the same ballot as Pat Toomey, who can’t possibly be popular in PA-07.
This is exactly what I was afraid would happen.
Sestak just launched himself into an expensive senate bid and I give him roughly a 60/40 chance to actually beat Specter.
Meehan vs Lentz is going to be a very expensive race and ranks a toss up.
and the possibility of losing Lentz’s seat rates a toss up too unless the GOP drops the ball.
This is exactly why Sestak shouldn’t have run. I will not be at all surprised to have a bloodied Arlen Specter and be down a U.S. house seat and a PA house seat come November
We’ll probably pick up PA-06, anyway.
in this thread. This is Arlen friggin’ Specter people, who voted for Samuel Alito and just about everything else Bush threw at him without batting an eyelash. You think Specter’s going to keep voting with the Dems when there is no electoral incentive to do so? Me neither.
Joe Sestak is a hero for taking him on. Did he knowingly leave a vulnerable house seat? Yes. But this is not about whether electoral geeks get to put one extra House seat down for the Dems in their election spreadsheets in 2010. This is about whether my one-year-old daughter lives in a better country than I did when she is 20 and 30 and 40. Joe Sestak is doing his part to try to make that a reality.
What Joe Sestak is doing takes real courage, the kind that most people do not have. It is in many respects similar to Barack Obama’s decision to run for President. He may lose, and the Dems may lose his House seat and a State House seat. The whole thing may fail miserably, but don’t attack this man from trying to remove Arlen Specter from office. He will be a hero in my book if he does so, even if he loses to Toomey.
Gotcha. I think Toomey is being underestimated in this situation. The primary is ripe for him to exploit when one on one he wouldn’t have a chance.
We’ve got the House by a 70 seat margin, and you all are worried about potentially losing one seat even though it’s obvious that Sestak’s challenge of Specter has put the latter in line? Weren’t all of you pissed off when Specter switched to our side, announced he wouldn’t actually be voting any differently, but that didn’t stop all the Democratic establishment from kissing his ass? Were we really going to be stuck with spineless Specter for another six years, without so much as a primary?
I am glad Sestak is running. With us having exactly 60 votes in the Senate, we need Specter to be as reliable a Democrat as possible, and the evidence is there that since Sestak started making noises about running, that has happened.
But I flat out don’t trust Specter, not the way I trusted Jim Jeffords, or would have trusted Linc Chafee had he seen the light and switched. I think one single House seat (in a district that is only going to shift harder to the left in the future) is worth it.
And no, Pat Toomey is not going to win in a state that Obama won by 10 points. This is not the Pennsylvania of the 1990s.
It seems to me that Specter was reflecting the views of his constituency by switching parties. Much the same way Dick Shelby of Alabama did in 1994. I don’t remember him facing any kind of opposition. Same goes for Ben Nighthorse Campbell in Colorado. But no, the “big tent party” has to lay out the welcome mat for Specter with a nasty primary. Which leaves an opening for Santorum Jr (Toomey). I’m pretty sure there won’t be anymore party switching after this.
Instead of pissing and moaning about what is at most a tossup now, like so many are doing, let’s make Lentz a Netroots candidate and raise him some dough.
Ive noticed alot of people on this thread upset over Sestak’s decision to run against Specter in the primary. So I have to ask
Excatly why would you rather have Specter over Sestak?
Specter has shown himself to be nothing more than a political oppertunist. Hes not a loyal Democrat, at least in the sense that in the weeks leading up to his switch he was talking about how he was a loyal Republican. All of a sudden now hes voting straight party line. Hes done nothing great lately.
Compared to Sestak who has had a military background and has a pretty overall liberal voting record. I dont get it. If I was a Democrat, I would be pretty excited over rather having Sestak as our nominee instead of Specter.
from my question above. Practically nobody thinks Sestak will actually defeat Specter. Many of people’s reasonings include having lines of attacks Toomey would use against Specter in the general. Nothing about Sestak and him in the general election.
Interesting