Donald Trump Jr. lends last-minute support to Saccone in 18th District
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Congressional candidate Rick Saccone campaigns Monday with Donald Trump Jr., left, as they tour the Sarris Candies facility in Canonsburg.
trumpjr
Celeste Van Kirk/Observer-Reporter
Donald Trump Jr. talks with Athena Sarris and Norm Candelore as he campaigns for congressional candidate Rick Saccone at Sarris Candies in Canonsburg last week.
Donald Trump Jr. talks with an employee as he campaigns with congressional candidate Rick Saccone at Sarris Candies in Canonsburg on Monday.
Robert Simms stood off to the side near the scrum of journalists and camera crews gathered outside Sarris Candies’ chocolate works in Canonsburg, where the president’s eldest son made a campaign stop for GOP candidate Rick Saccone Monday afternoon in a bid to fire up support ahead of today’s special election in the 18th Congressional District.
“I was hoping more of (Conor) Lamb’s supporters were down here,” said Simms, 61, a laid-off welder who lives nearby. “We could have a little group.”
Donald Trump Jr.’s visit to Washington County came amid an 11th-hour scramble to tip Tuesday’s election in favor of Saccone, a state representative from Elizabeth. A similar stop was planned later in the afternoon at the Blaine Hill fire station in Saccone’s hometown.
Saccone supporter Alice Zadakis of Wolfdale, a retiree from what was formerly known as the Deprtment of Public Welfare (now Human Services), came to Sarris for the political event.
She wasn’t impressed by Lamb, a Democrat and former federal prosecutor from Mt. Lebanon, during a televised debate she caught. She believes Lamb, who has been ambivalent on abortion during his campaign, is pro-choice.
“He’s Catholic, but he’s trying to please everybody,” Zadakis said.
Others were excited about the visit from a high-profile member of the first family.
“We love ‘The Donald,’ so we had to come down and see his son,” said Tammy Buckner, 42, of Amwell Township, who was just outside the business with her husband and young daughter.
In some parts of the nonunion, family-owned business, workers were jostled from their stations by the roving, dozens-strong scrum of media that trailed Trump and Saccone during a tour led by retail operations manager Norm Candelore Jr. Some parts of the production line are subject to a mandatory-hairnets rule that Secret Service agents helped enforce.
While Lamb’s campaign has outraised Saccone in individual donations, GOP groups have pumped millions into the race in a bid to stave off what could prove an embarrassing loss in a previously safe seat for the party.
Democrats fielded no candidates during the last two cycles when former congressman Tim Murphy – who first took office in 2003 and stepped down in October amid scandal – cruised to re-election.
Libertarian Drew Gray Miller of Pittsburgh is also on the ballot to replace Murphy.
Especially on the GOP side, the race has drawn national attention. President Trump appeared at a campaign rally for him Saturday in Moon Township, and Vice President Mike Pence has appeared for him at a fundraising event.
Meanwhile, labor unions have thrown their weight behind Lamb. United Mine Workers – which sat in the wings during the 2016 presidential election – endorsed Lamb during a standing-room-only rally in Waynesburg on Sunday, two days after a similar event hosted by United Steelworkers in Pittsburgh.
Campaign stops from candidates of both mainstream parties are nothing new for Sarris. In 2016, GOP Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican, visited. Republican Rudy Giuliani and Democrats’ Bob Casey and former governor Ed Rendell have also made stops there.
But news of Monday’s event brought a social media backlash, with at least two dozen Twitter users protesting the visit.
A tweet from the company’s account attributed to President and CEO Bill Sarris told followers, in part, that, “It’s an honor to have local and national politicians visit our facility.”
Told about the angry social media postings, Cindy Candelore of Canonsburg, who works for the company and is Norm’s wife, seemed unfazed as she sat with Michelle Morgan, an area native who now lives in California but was in town with her husband, Brad, for a visit.
Cadelore agreed with the couple as they dismissed the social media storm as “fake news” – one of President Trump’s favorite phrases.
“Sarris Candies has been here for over 50 years … and there’s no fake tweet that’s going to stop it from continuing to be a stronghold in the community of Canonsburg,” Brad Morgan said.