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PA-13: Leach Receives Slew of New MontCo Endorsements

Senator Leach
Senator Leach

State Sen. Daylin Leach added a whole new crop of endorsements from Montgomery County elected officials to his already sizeable list as an overwhelmingly positive response to his performance in Sunday night’s debate.

At the forum, three of the four candidates for the Democratic nomination showed up to spar over who should represent PA’s 13th District in Congress.

Former Congressman and Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel called Leach, “the clear victor, by a wide margin,” in the two-hour exchange.

“Daylin showed why he is the best prepared to represent the voters of both Montgomery County and Philadelphia,” Hoeffel said. “He demonstrated his command of issues ranging from foreign policy to making social mobility possible for every American, such as his innovative plan to make college affordable and protect Social Security. These are the issues that impact the lives of residents on both sides of the county line, and there could be no better choice than Daylin.”

Shelly Waldman, the Montgomery County Democratic Committee Area 14 Leader, said that Sunday’s debate, “made it clear that Daylin has a proven track record and will be a strong voice in Congress for protecting women’s rights, standing up for education and protecting our environment.”

Leach’s campaign manager, Aren Platt, said that Sunday’s debate was, “a great opportunity for the voters of the 13th District to see the clear contrast between Daylin and the other candidates – whether through Daylin’s 12 year record in the State Legislature protecting education from corporate interests or standing up for social programs, such as the ones that allowed his family to be lifted out of poverty.”

A full list of Leach’s endorsements can be found below.

State Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Phila.) is also running in the Democratic primary for the 13th District, and isn’t doing too bad in endorsements himself. Recently he revealed that he had received the support of 16 additional Democratic leaders and officials from Montgomery County.

Former Congresswoman Marjorie Margolies, also in the Democratic primary for the 13th District but not at Sunday’s debate, received a boost to her campaign earlier this month in the form of support from five ward leaders from Philadelphia.

Community leader and physician Val Arkoosh is also running, but she hasn’t received the same type of party establishment support that other candidates have been seeing. Her main endorsements have come from various medical associations.

Here is Leach’s full list of endorsements:

Member of Congress:

Joseph Hoeffel, Former Member of Congress (PA-13)

Pennsylvania State Representatives:

Mary Jo Daley, PA State Representative

Larry Curry, Former PA State Representative

Lita Cohen, Former PA State Representative

Mayor:

Ed Foley, Jenkintown Mayor

Montgomery County Democratic Committee Area Leaders:

Howard Rovner, Montgomery County Democratic Committee Area 7

Tom Kohler, Montgomery County Democratic Committee Area 12 Leader

Joseph Foster, Montgomery County Democratic Committee Area 13 Leader

Shelly Waldman, Montgomery County Democratic Committee Area 14 Leader

Township Council, Commissioners, Supervisors:

Elizabeth Rogan, Lower Merion President, Board of Commissioners

Paul McConnell, Conshohocken Borough Council President

William Caldwell, Norristown Council President

James Griffin, Conshohocken Council Vice-President

Richard Bunker Jr., Jenkintown Coucil Vice President

Erika Spott, Upper Merion Supervisor Vice-Chair Board of Supervisors

George Manos, Lower Merion Commissioner

Kenneth Wollman, Whitpain Township Supervisor

Carole Kenney, Upper Merion Township Supervisor

Raj Gupta, Conshohocken Borough Council

Cheryl Gelber, Lower Merion Commissioner

Greg Waks, Upper Merion Chair, Board of Supervisors

Edward Phipps, Borough of Conshohocken Council

Richard Greenstein, West Conshohocken Council

Gregory Lynch, West Conshohocken Council

Anita Barton, Conshohocken Council

Marc Alfarano, Norristown Town Supervisor

Stanley Ropski, Upper Dublin Township Commissioner

Linda Christian, Norristown Council Vice-President

Morton “Micky” Simon, Cheltenham Township Commissioner

Justin Mixon-Jenkintown Borough Councilman

Jules Mermelstein, Former Upper Dublin Township Commissioner and President

Maria Weidinger, Former Plymouth Township Council

School Board Members:

David Karen, Upper Merion School Board Director

Albert Mauthe, Jr., Norristown School Board Director

Maura Buri, Upper Merion Area School Board Director

Melissa Gilbert, Lower Merion School Board President

Beth Suchsland, Colonial School District Board

Ron Stoloff, Wissahickon School District Board

Andrea Trainer, Abington School Board

Fran Littlewood, Upper Merion School Board

Alan Tabachnick, Colonial School Board

Heather Palmer, Colonial School Board

Denise Ashe, Norristown School Board

14 Responses

  1. Beside the fact that Leach doesn’t even live in the 13th, he is just way to liberal for my taste. Brendan Boyle is the candidate I hope emerges from the Democratic field. Margolies is a washed up politician looking to run on her relationship with the Clintons. The only thing I know about Val Arkoosh is she’s running for Congress. Her campaign operation seems a bit week.

  2. @Tad on cad and @Philly Progressive – I refer to my earlier post in which the consensus was that Boyle, Leach , and Arkoosh were in agreement on the overwhelming majority of issues. Ergo Boyle should be a good fit for the 13th District if Leach and Arkoosh are good fits. So when I see such a consensus, I think that you are the outliers, not Brendan Boyle.

    It is also the height of hypocrisy to suggest that Brendan Boyle find somewhere else to run when Leach and MM don’t even live in the 13th District. Perhaps they should run in other areas – preferably their own Districts.

    As for your counterpoints to my examples of Brendan Boyle’s support of various progressive issues, I can only say it is disappointing that you dismiss them out-of-hand. Even if Brendan Boyle is not your choice for the seat, I would expect that you would give credit where it is due. Your failure to do so confirms in my mind that you apply strict litmus tests for candidates to determine who is “pure”, and such an attitude will keep the Democratic Party in minority status in Pennsylvania for years to come.

  3. @John Sullivan, are you really looking at supporting abortion rights as an issue of “purity”? Maybe you are too young to remember or just don’t know, but there was a time when women were dying when seeking an abortion.

    Furthermore, in losing Schwartz from Congress, we are losing one of the most knowledge voices for women’s reproductive rights — not just for Philadelphia, or Pennsylvania, but for the entire country.

    If your issues are LGBT rights, wasn’t Leach fighting these fights when Boyle was still in high schools? That’s why State Rep Brian Sims endorsed Leach (and he and Boyle are colleagues in the House, so I’m pretty sure he knows what he’s talking about).

    And Margaret Thatcher? Really? Are you an English coal miner? Who cares? The stakes were pretty low on that one.

    And finally, are saying that the middle part of our state condones violence against women? I haven’t spent a lot of time out there, but I find that hard to be true.

    Either way, Boyle’s brand of conservative Democrat just isn’t a good fit for this district — he should run somewhere else.

  4. I don’t think Brendan Boyle lives anywhere near the 7th District. I believe he once was in Mike Fitzpatrick’s District because his name was being thrown around as a possible challenger. I think that the Republicans then gerrymandered him out of that District when drawing the new Congressional lines.

  5. Brendan Boyle is pro-life and pro school vouchers. Also in bed with the same labor unions who often times suppress needed environmental regulations. Not nearly progressive enough for a D+12 seat, that’s just a fact.

    As far as his “excellence in economic issues” during the debate, Brendan said almost nothing of substance. He wanted better for “all Americans” but provided almost no road map. His one substantive idea, non-discrimination against the long term unemployed, was ripped directly from Pres. Obama’s announced SOTU agenda.

  6. Barbara-
    Considering that (so far) there doesn’t even appear to be any Dem candidate for the 7th, you can be sure that Brendan is not the only one who has brought up this point (and to no avail).

  7. Brendan: why not run in the 7th where you. Live? We need to defeat Meehan and I think you would make an excellent opponent. Unlike the contest in the 13th you would not have a primary battle. You would have the full support of Democrats across this gerrymandered district. Please consider this.

  8. @ Philly Progressive: I honestly don’t know what you are talking about. I saw the candidates forum, and all of the accounts I have seen about the forum conclude that the three attending candidates are in agreement except on a handful of issues. If these handful of issues are what led you to conclude that Brendan Boyle is not fit for the Congressional seat, then the Democratic Party is in real trouble in the Commonwealth if yours is the prevailing view.

    I hope your comment about Brendan Boyle running from the middle part of the Commonwealth was not meant to be sarcastic. But let’s follow that train of thought for a moment.

    I remember several years ago when Brendan Boyle was the swing vote in Committee on a LGBT issue. He received a lot of pressure, including from groups in the middle part of the Commonwealth, to vote against LGBT rights. Of course he voted in favor of LGBT rights.

    Just recently Brendan Boyle introduced legislation to make it easier to protect those subject to domestic violence – many of whom are women. Not exactly the sort of proposal to get you noticed in he middle part of the Commonwealth.

    And just last year a Brendan Boyle opposed a PA House resolution honoring that conservative icon, Margaret Thatcher, posthumously. Most politicians were falling over themselves to honor her, but Brendan’s stance caused about one quarter of the House to vote against the resolution.

    So I really don’t know what you are talking about. Brendan Boyle has taken progressive stands under a lot of pressure without garnering the attention through grandstanding endemic among many politicians. That is the sort of person you want in Congress. But if progressives shake out good candidates like Brendan Boyle over a handful of issues where they are deemed to be “unpure”, then the Democrats will continue to be the minority party in the Commonwealth for a long time.

  9. @John Sullivan, Brendan Boyle is pro-life.

    He is way too conservative for Schwartz’s district. Maybe he should try running for congress from the middle part of the state, they seem to be more in line with his politics.

  10. All of the candidates attending the forum did well, but my watching of forum shows that Brendan Boyle excelled vs the other two candidates on economic issues. He has consistently through the years been a strong advocate for the poor and middle class, and it has spilled over into his campaign for Congress. The other two candidates’ campaigns seemed scattered all over the place. While Brendan Boyle agrees in various shades with the other two candidates on progressive issues, he seems to realize that our most pressing problems are economic. This is why he has received overwhelming labor support and why he is overwhelming popular in his State House District.

  11. He also got the endorsement of many people in the 7th Congressional District, since that’s where he lives.

  12. He also has my endorsement Bruce Slater Chair of Pa. Dem. State Progressive Caucus

  13. Just as a heads-up, Sen. Leach also received the endorsements of Congressman. Alan Grayson (FL-9), Rep. Brian Sims (D-182), and Sen. Judy Schwank (D-11).

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