Six weeks after publicly expressing an interest in bid for Governor, Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor is looking to raise his profile. He sat down with Francine Schertzer of PCN to discuss a possible primary challenge to Tom Corbett.
“I’m considering it more and more,” he said. “When I first started thinking about this after the fall election and made some tentative announcements early in December, I was more like sticking my toe in the water. Now, I’d say it’s more like up to the ankles as some things have developed.”
You can watch the entire interview here.
One of those things is Corbett’s declining popularity. For most of the past year, the Governor’s job approval has been in negative territory.
Castor would have an uphill climb. A recent survey from Public Policy Polling showed Corbett ahead of Castor 51 percent to 11 percent in a hypothetical matchup. Ten years removed from a statewide campaign (he lost to Corbett in the 2004 Attorney General primary), Castor suffers from a name ID deficit.
But the same poll found only 45 percent of Republicans in support of the Governor as their 2014 nominee. 37 percent said they would like to see someone else.
In the PCN interview, Castor stated that he is interested in becoming that “someone else.”
Castor said he sees himself as a credible alternative to the incumbent should the Governor’s popularity ratings continue to drop.
He made the case that Corbett is a general election liability for Republicans despite deferring on some conservative acumen.
“The Governor has expended his political capital, but not on the things that we cared about, at least the things he campaigned on like pension reform, property tax reform, taking on public sector unions, the right to work, [and] paycheck protection,” Castor said.
Castor acknowledged the difficulties inherent in challenging Corbett. He said that the party organization will most likely favor the incumbent Governor — “as it should.” He also noted that garnering support and funds will require exceptional effort.
6 Responses
bruce castor is a show pony empty suit who just LOVES to raise your taxes. he cant get over the fact corbett beat him in the attorney generals race.
Bruce Castor is a trial lawyer and knows to present his positions persuasively.
Bruce Castor’s willingness to confront Union monopoly power and become champion of worker freedom and The Forgotten Taxpayer.
Were Pennsylvania to become the only right to Work state in northeast with access to markets of tens of millions of consumers and business could return Pennsylvania to economic pre-eminence to benefit of all except Union officials who profit from forced unionism.
I for one love giving voters a choice. I hope Castor makes a run so the Republican voters can decide who they want to represent them for Governor in the General Election.
It is healthy for the GOP to have this internal debate regarding its future occur statewide even as it transpires nationally.
The gauntlet has been thrown, and Corbett must indeed reassess priorities accordingly; prominent among them is the need to push PA along the trend-lines of other right-to-work states in the rust-belt.
He must also confront the Sandusky Scandal prophylactically, for it will otherwise–potentially–grow to haunt him; this is particularly problematic [despite the NCAA-litigation, which will probably have failed within months] among PSU-grads such as myself who have lived adulthoods characterized by JoePa idolization.
Or perhaps Castor is simply trying to divert attention from some other matter?
I watched the interview. Castor certainly looks and sounds the part. Reasonable, pragmatic, and articulate. Not nutty like, say, Sam Rorher and with none of the nervousness Corbett shows on camera. Obviously, Castor is accustomed to being in the public eye. Still quite an uphill climb. Maybe Corbett will start to be more aggressive in addressing things that matter to his base?