Meeting the GOP candidates
The 9th District has been a relatively safe seat for Republicans and it has been called the most conservative district in the state.
The three candidates running in Tuesday’s primary fit that conservative label.
Incumbent Bill Shuster, first elected in 2001, while receiving high marks from conservative groups, is facing challenges from Travis Schooley and Arthur Halvorson, both of whom tend to lean more right and espouse the philosophy of the Tea Party.
None of the three responded to interview requests and the following information was culled from their respective websites.
Shuster, who has been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, said he has a proven conservative record, voting to cut and control spending, voting to reduce regulations, getting our financial house back in order to make sure this economy gets back on track.
“And the way to do that is to cut spending, is to keep taxes low, is to reduce regulations, so we have a growing and prosperous economy. That will help cure many, many of our ills that we have in this country today,” he states on his website.
Schooley desribes himself as a “constitutionally conservative candidate” whose number one priority is to get the economy back on track and create new jobs and business opportunities. “We need to get back to limited government, less taxes, maximum liberty and a free enterprise system. I feel that America is up to the challenge of getting back on track, but not with the way things are being done lately,” his website states.
He said he believes in a strong national defense, domestic energy production, and a small, constitutionally limited government with low taxation to ensure plenty of jobs and a healthy and vibrant free market economy.
Halvorson said he is trying to break the pattern of entrenched career politicians and that’s why, if elected, he would serve only three terms.
His campaign has focused on four objectives. “First, I will join other like-minded members of the House to change the Republican leadership. We need leadership that has a plan to fix problems now. Second, I will push for repeal of Obamacare and replacement of it with a free market, patient-centered alternative. Third, I will insist on limiting the deficit and paying off the national debt with my plan of ‘Cap-Balance-and-Grow.’ Fourth, I will demand that Congress support economic growth and jobs, including jobs here at home in our district, by reducing the growing mountain of oppressive government regulations that strangle small businesses and farms,” he states on his website.
During a recent debate, both Shuster and Halvorson stated their opposition to medical marijuana, declaring it a gateway drug that should not be regulated by the federal government. Schooley said he was supportive of medical marijuana when properly administered by medical professionals for the treatment of sick children.
The three agreed on the importance of free market capitalism, the protection of 2nd Amendment rights and the impending danger of the growing federal debt.