PA Political Digest - - As the leaves turn it's fall Debate Season, plus Cookies vote and Dems hit GOP Aud. Gen for...auditing a new program
Sharp analysis of PA politics and campaigns writ large
Thanks to PA Manufacturers Assoc. for sponsoring today’s edition of PA Political Digest…
Welcome to the Friday End of the Week post here at PPD - I’m your guide, GOP political consultant Christopher Nicholas.
As September comes to a close we have for you today:
Did you notice that the Debate onslaught begins next week, with the only VP debate plus the PA U.S. Senate debate on tap
Two Former GOP members of Congress join This Week in PA to talk about different aspects of Election 2024 — Lou Barletta and Jim Greenwood
In Extras, at the bottom, only in Philly can an elected Sheriff stop performing their main duties yet find thousands of dollars to fund and create a new office mascot, plus a Democratic state Senator tries to explain away old racist tweets.
Did you notice?
Sen JD Vance and MN Gov. Tim Walz will debate each other for the first and only time on Tuesday evening in NYC. As I wrote previously, some of their debate will be a rehash of what their bosses-to-be said (or messed up) at their debate. Both Vance and Walz have made some questionable statements/done some questionable things, which they will be called on to answer for as well. It’ll be interesting to see if the CBS moderators begin with questions about them or ones about their running mates.
A national poll from Quinnipiac University shows 64% of voters would like to see another presidential debate. VP Kamala Harris has accepted one later in October but no clear signal yet from Donald Trump.
More (four) PA presidential polls came out this week, and surprise, it’s all tied up here. Three of them showed a tie race and the other showed a very slight lead for Harris. In the Senate race incumbent Bob Casey holds a lead over his GOP challenger, Dave McCormick, but is under 50% in most of them.
The GOP is looking into the state’s new automatic voter registration program which Gov. Josh Shapiro pushed through unilaterally recently, specifically with an audit. “The audit is to include checking to see whether noncitizens are properly screened out from registering to vote — dovetailing with a top election-year issue for many Republicans nationally who are questioning whether noncitizens are registering to vote” [at PennDOT license centers].
PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll, a former Democratic State House member, attacked Auditor General Tim DeFoor for undertaking the audit now and for “politicizing his office.” (no paywall)
There’s no way the PennDOT Secretary would publicly attack a Republican state-wide officer such as DeFoor without an explicit okay from Shapiro’s office. For its part, Team DeFoor office reminded people that audits like this, especially on a brand new program, take months if not a year to complete. Counting Sen. John Fetterman, that’s two state-wide electeds Shapiro is feuding with…
Next Thursday, Oct. 3, ABC27 anchor Dennis Owens will moderate the only PA Senate debate officially now on the books, which will air state-wide from 8-9pm on the same stations that carry This Week in PA. That debate, as well as their PA Attorney General debate later in October, are both sponsored by the PA Manufacturers Association. (PMA)
At his IUP rally Monday Donald Trump declared that “If we win Pennsylvania we win the whole thing. It’s very simple.” Indeed it is.
A national poll asked voters if they agreed with this statement: “I am simply exhausted by the day-to-day news surrounding Trump and can’t wait for the day that the country can move on from him.” Fifty-seven percent of respondents Agreed while just 29% Disagreed.
Harris outlined her economic plan earlier this week in Pittsburgh, her new 2nd home during this campaign, and later today (Fri) will visit the southern border.
This Week in Pennsylvania
This week the guests are two former GOP Congressmen, Lou Barletta and Jim Greenwood. Both talked about different aspects of the presidential race. Barletta detailed his work, with former Gov. Mark Schweiker, to assure PA voters that our elections are safe and secure (which they are). Greenwood is backing Kamala Harris and explains why.
Later Democratic analyst Brittany Crampsie and I go back and forth on guns as an issue in the campaign and we also preview the big Casey-McCormick debate.
Watch TWIP Sunday across the state:
Philly Phl17 1:30pm
Pittsburgh KDKA+ Ch. 19 Noon
Harrisburg ABC27News 10am
Scranton WBRE Ch. 28 11am
Johnstown WTAJ Ch. 10 6:30am
Erie JET-TV Ch. 24 10am
You may also stream the show here — the new show loads around Noon on Sundays.
Extras
Pa. Democratic Sen. Jimmy Dillon denies writing racist, homophobic tweets.
Not the type of headline any campaign likes to see…
The Senate Republican Campaign Committee put out a chapter & verse oppo hit on Dillon on this, who won a Special Election to that seat in 2022…so this is his first real election in this Joe Biden 53% seat.
As NBC10 wrote, “A Pennsylvania Democratic senator denied claims from Republicans that he used the N-word and made racist and homophobic remarks about Asians and the LGBTQ community on social media more than a decade ago.” (no paywall) The tweets in question came from an account Dillon runs, which tweets about both his exploits in the state Senate and the basketball camp business he owns. He claims someone else — not named — made those tweets. (Maybe he and NC GOP Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson should confer on this apparent social media problem they both share.)
Only in Philly can the elected Sheriff not hold a Sheriff sale for 3 years, take up to 7 months to file deed transfers but yet find 9k to create a new office mascot (not a typo) and no one really bats an eye.
PennLive.com profiles PA’s 2nd Lady, Blayre Holmes Davis, who works for the Steelers, in addition to performing her state duties. (no paywall)
A new way to poll: Trump cookies are a big hit in NEPA, especially in this bakery’s cookie poll. At last count 45 was up 13,000 to 900 over Harris. (no paywall)