Wagner makes campaign stop at Washington County GOP event
Tim O’Neal, left, who is running in the special election for the 48th District State House seat, and State Sen. Scott Wagner, who is running in the gubernatorial primary, were among the GOP candidates Tuesday at an event organized by the Washington County Council of Republic Women.
Scott Wagner
State Sen. Scott Wagner said Tuesday he can offer Pennsylvania voters “40 years of business experience” and “four years of serving in the Senate and seeing what’s going on.”
“I’m being painted as an insider,” said Wagner, who is seeking the Republican Party’s nomination for state governor in the May 15 primary. “And I have to laugh at that … I’m definitely not an insider – ask Dominic Pileggi,” a former Senate majority leader on whom Wagner publicly called to step down before his 2014 ouster.
Wagner, a York County businessman, said later he’s been in Washington County “probably at least a dozen times in the last year.” This week, he spoke to a cheerful crowd of a few dozen fellow GOP candidates and voters at Buford’s Kitchen in North Strabane during a candidate meet and greet event hosted by Washington County Council of Republican Women.
Organizer Sonia Stopperich Sulc, a former North Strabane supervisor, said she wanted the event to be an opportunity for candidates to gather signatures on nominating petitions, and for those who don’t belong to the party committee to get to know the candidates.
“We wanted it to be a win-win,” she said.
Members of the party sounded optimistic as they discussed the prospects for the upcoming campaign season, which includes at least one chance for the party to flip a traditionally Democratic seat in the state House.
Jess Wickard, secretary of the Washington County Republican Committee, pointed to the difference in the number of eligible county committee members who weighed in on the respective party candidates to replace former 48th District state representative Brandon Neuman, a Democrat who was elected to a seat on the county bench last month.
Out of 78 committee members, a total of 27 Democrats voted, compared to 73 Republicans.
“We keep it simple with the party. We’re recruiting, so we’re growing the party, and we want to win elections,” Wickard said.
In that race, Republicans picked Tim O’Neal, a human resources director for a construction firm and U.S. Army veteran. He will face attorney Clark Mitchell Jr., the Democratic hopeful.
Wickard wasn’t alone in her rosy outlook.
Joe DeThomas, 56, of Washington, was looking for signatures for his wife, Angela – who is seeking another term as a member of the state committee – and for state Sen. Camera Bartolotta of Monongahela.
“What I find is this is a Democratic area, but they seem to vote conservatively,” he said.
He added many people he knows “don’t vote on party lines. They vote for the person.”
DeThomas also offered a prediction for the March 13 special election to replace former GOP Congressman Tim Murphy in the 18th District, who resigned in October, which polling suggests could be a single-digit contest between Republican Rick Saccone, a state representative from Elizabeth, and Democrat Conor Lamb of Mt. Lebanon, a former federal prosecutor and U.S. Marine Corps veteran.
“I believe Rick will do very well in the 18th District, because he has the same values as the people in the 18th,” DeThomas said. He went on to say that Saccone’s opponent is “trying to appear conservative.”
“I would rather vote for a conservative candidate than somebody’s who’s trying to act conservative,” DeThomas said.