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GOP Challenger Accuses Perry of Being Insufficiently Pro-Trump

Rep. Scott Perry (R-York) has absorbed a barrage of criticism for his fealty to President Trump. For his new Republican challenger, it’s not enough. 

Perry, a member of the conservative House freedom caucus seeking a fifth term in Congress, is being primaried by millennial Republican, Bobby Jeffries, a logistics director for a health and wellness firm for the 10th Congressional District

In announcing a bid for the seat, Jeffries, 28 years-old, stressed the need for new leadership in Washington D.C. and opposing progressive policies. 

“We need fresh faces and boundless energy to show my generation and those behind mine that there are alternatives to being radically progressive,” the release read. “That free markets and personal liberty are worth fighting for, and they are our only pathway to continued prosperity.” 

Jeffries bills himself as an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump’s agenda and believes that although he thinks Perry is a “good man” that he is ultimately “ashamed” to stand up for the president when he is “inside the beltway.”

“There is no stronger a supporter of Donald J. Trump than Bobby Jeffries,” the Jeffries campaign said in a statement to PoliticsPA. “Unlike Congressman Perry, I have the energy and courage to fight for President Trump’s agenda. Frankly, I think Congressman Perry is ashamed to stand up for the president when he is inside the beltway. He doesn’t want to offend his special interest and lobbyist pals, it seems like the cocktail parties and receptions are more important to him.”

In addition to saying that Perry is not supporting the Trump administration to the fullest, Jeffries was also critical of the sitting congressman’s accessibility, specifically pointing to Perry’s recent townhall meeting as an example. 

“Accessibility is another area where I feel that I can do better than Mr. Perry,” Jeffries said in a statement to PoliticsPA. “It’s hard to understand why a member of congress would rig a townhall meeting.”

Jeffries is accusing Perry of falsely claiming that the late July townhall meeting was sold out in an effort to avoid being face-to-face with constituents. In a Facebook post after the town hall meeting, Perry said that progressive groups were “hijacking” townhall meetings for “political gamesmanship and making a mockery of this Nation’s legislative process day by day.”

On the policy end of his candidacy, Jeffries lauded Trump’s “pro-jobs agenda” and also mentioned “securing our borders,” and supporting Trump to keep guns out of the hands of “the mentally unstable,” while saying that the second amendment is not negotiable. He also said in a statement to PoliticsPA that he believes Trump needs to instruct the FBI to classify ANTIFA as a domestic terrorist group and was critical of Perry for not standing up to “big-tech companies” as he believes they are aiming to “censor millions and attempt to rig elections by shadowbanning and deplatforming many of President Trump’s biggest supporters.”

In a tweet on Aug 2., Jeffries offered words of encouragement for the Congressional bid of Laura Loomer, saying that Trump has “REAL ALLIES” running in 2020. Loomer, who NBC News describes as a “far right activist”, was kicked off of Twitter in November 2018 after criticizing Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and her Muslim faith. Loomer also made national headlines in 2017 when she was banned from using Uber and Lyft after a series of anti-Muslim tweets. 

Although Jeffries announcement did not include support for any progressive positions, he did mention two specific areas in which some in his party may take issue. In an interview with PennLive, Jeffries said he supports full equal rights for gays and lesbians and believes that Congress does need to address the student debt crisis, while not supporting some Democrats plans for free college. 

Perry is currently in his fourth term in Congress representing the central Pennsylvania district. He edged out Democrat George Scott by just over 2.5 points in 2018 in the newly drawn district with boundaries that voted for President Donald Trump by 10 points in 2016. Perry’s latest bid was his closest victory since being voted into Congress in 2012 in the old conservative 4th District. 

On the Democratic side, Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, who narrowly edged out GOP AG candidate John Brown in the newly drawn district boundaries, announced a bid for the seat in recent months, while Tom Brier, an attorney and author, announced his candidacy in April. 

The Cook Political Report recently changed the rating of the 10th District from Lean Republican to Toss-Up.

The Perry campaign did not immediately respond to comment.

21 Responses

  1. It defies my imagination to try to conjure up someone who is MORE pro-trump than Scott Perry. But, here he is in this new Perry challenger in the primary. God help us, or whoever…to lift the cloud of denial and willful blindness of so many in this area and dump both incumbent AND challenger before we lose this “work in progress”, this ‘great experiment” after less than 250 years of effort. Wake up Pennsylvanians!!!

  2. Bobby Jeffries works for his mommy and step-daddy’s vitamin supplement company. That’s the Crux of his work experience. He is also buddies with Roger Stone and has an affinity for JFK, Nixon, and Trump if you can figure THAT ONE out.
    The poor kid has an identity crisis. Would be interested in seeing if anyone is actually donating to his campaign.
    He’s a long shot but good for him. Make Perry blow through his out of state donor money and work for his seat.
    Keep it up on all sides

  3. Nothing screams ‘qualified’ like three years removed from Millersville State plus a couple of years in ‘administrative support’ for a small ‘prebiotic supplements’ outfit. This guy can’t be counted out of a backwater Republican primary, though, because he will never be accused of being elite.

  4. Not a chance in hell that Bobby Jeffries wins the Republican primary. Perry is terrible, but a Complete Trump clone is far worse.

  5. This is perhaps the dumbest damned strategy to take in our newly split district. Sure it is still packed full of TgeRumps yahoos. But these two now have convince all of Harrisburg, Carlisle, Hershey and and good death of urban York who backs our Racist in Chief mist slavishly. And I thought we Dems had the market cornered on circular firing squads. Full stream ahead, GOP!

  6. Someone should check to see if Trump is insider trading off his own tweets. When he can change the market by 500 points by tweeting that he is delaying tariffs on Chinese goods he already knows how the market will react. He wouldn’t do that…would he?

  7. “The Perry Campaign did not respond to comment” – is there even anyone working on the Perry Campaign? I’m not sure why anyone would want to work for that sinking ship. His team can’t even run a town hall correctly.

  8. Free markets are our only path to continuing prosperity, so you say. And what then is your position on the Trump tariffs? Which you should note is killing your 401k. If you have one.

  9. This dispute of who is “sufficiently Pro-Trump” is easily settled by seeing Scott Perry or Bobby Jeffries can correctly state the number of freckles on Trump’s ass. This would indicate who has spent the most time kissing it.

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