PA-Sen: Sestak to Enter Race Tomorrow

After months of endless and merciless teasing, it looks like this is for real:

U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak is set to announce one of the worst-kept secrets in politics tomorrow: a Democratic primary challenge to veteran Sen. Arlen Specter in 2010.

Sestak, a retired Navy flag officer, will make a “major campaign announcement” in an 8:30 a.m. appearance before supporters at the Herbert W. Best VFW Post in Folsom, Delaware County.

That will be followed by a two-day tour that will take him to Pittsburgh, Johnstown, Harrisburg, and Scranton before ending Wednesday with an appearance on Comedy Central’s Colbert Report.

Sestak’s announcement will be streamed live on his website. Let the games begin.

RaceTracker Wiki: PA-Sen

31 thoughts on “PA-Sen: Sestak to Enter Race Tomorrow”

  1. Id be pretty on the fence on this primary, but that website certainly made me a huge Sestak supporter.

  3. Specter’s weakness to Toomey in polling and Rendell’s low approval rating in PA will help Sestak alot in his challange. Although it could bode ill if Specter ends up winning the nomination but Specter needs to be put to the test in his new party.

  4. there goes a few million wasted in a primary

    so who do we have in Sestak’s house seat that we can spend a few million on trying to hold it?

    and is the PA senate or house close, because if it is we may have to spend even more to hold the seat should an officeholder run from one of those positions.  

  5. Sestak winning is best case, but worst case Specter is kept in line at least until the primary.

    There are two reasons why we have a generally reliable 60th vote now, Pat Toomey and Joe Sestak.

  6. But for age, and general election reasons I think Sestak is the best interest for the Democratic party of PA.  

  7.   I have never voted in a competitive primary in Pennsylvania aside from the 2008 presidential race.  Ed Rendell picked Bob Casey Jr. to run against Santorum in 2006.  His picking our second senator would have been hard to swallow.  

     Joe Sestak is my congressman and I’ll be voting for him.  I plan to volunteer (work?) for him in March and April of next year before the primary.  I just don’t really see any upside in nominating Arlen Specter.  He’s not more progressive, he’s not more electable, and he’s older.  Sestak is extremely ambitious.  I thought he would run for Senate as soon as was elected to the House.  He and Allyson Schwartz both wanted the Senate seat (no love lost!), but Schwartz won’t run against the machine.  Sestak knows that if he beats Specter, he’ll arrive on the national scene.

      Bryan Lentz is a strong progressive candidate.  He beat the truly odious Tom Gannon in 2006, when frankly, not many other local Democrats capitalized on the blue wave.  Lentz’s district is entirely contained within the 7th congressional district.  Lentz’s state house district a bizarre mix of the most right-wing suburbs in Delaware county, liberal, bohemian Obama-loving (in the primary) towns like Swarthmore, and PUMA villages like Brookhaven and Aston.  It is a very white district and rather wealthy.

  8. that Specter supports the public option and has voted with the party 97% of the time since the party switch. Honestly, I dont see what the problem with Specter is and Joe Sestak can be very unfriendly. In fact many Sestak staffers quit with in month of Sestak becoming a conressman because they couldn’t stand the rediculous work hours and couldn’t stand to be around Sestak. Are you sure you’d rather have Sestak as a senator rather than Spector?

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