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Raja To Step Down As Allegheny County GOP Chair

On Friday, D. Raja, Allegheny County GOP chair, announced that he will resign from his post to provide enough time to select a successor prior to the all important 2020 election.

“If [the new chair] comes in and has five months for the presidential and all the other elections, that’s a very short period of time to work with the committees,” Raja said according to the Post-Gazette.

He told local outlets he never intended on seeking another term, but didn’t specify why exactly he was stepping down.

Raja took over as County Chair in 2015 and amid his departure touted committee membership and Republican registration growing during his tenure coupled with having about $70,000 cash on hand.

Raja ran for elected office three times, once for County Executive and twice for the 37th state Senate district, but lost in each attempt.

His most recent campaign earlier this year against Democrat Pam Iovino for the 37th state Senate district was one of the most closely watched races of the year in PA.

After falling short to Iovino in April, in a seat previously represented by Republican Guy Reschenthaler, two high profile GOP names took different stances on the future of the county party.

Mary Ann Meloy, former chair of the southwest caucus of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, wrote an op-ed to the Post-Gazette calling for Raja to step down. She noted that Allegheny County is now without a GOP member of Congress or state Senator for the first time since 1936.

Just two weeks after Meloy’s op-ed was published, state Senate President Pro-Tempore Joe Scarnati (R-Jefferson) wrote in the Post-Gazette thanking Raja for his most recent campaign and work with the Republican Party. Scarnati wrote that Raja “represents the very best of the Republican Party” and that the party must embrace him and others like him if they want to be successful in promoting their message.

The Tribune Review reports that Raja currently “has no imminent plans to run for another public office.”

It is currently unclear who will succeed Raja, but WESA reports that Allegheny County Council at-large member Sam DeMarco plans on seeking the position.

10 Responses

  1. Dear Doggie Catcher…Wooo there woofie…ruf ruf ruf…DD is only making the point Raj lost 3 times which is a fact. I posted here multiple times that Raj was fighting an uphill battle last election as Trump has totally changed the dynamic for business folks running as an Republican and not positively. Look at Scott Wagner–as goofy as he had been as a candidate one could argue easily that he would have done better if Hillary had won in 2016. We will never know but it is interesting to speculate. By the way, I ran for dog catcher in my area and won in a landslide. I could catch no dogs and was impeached.

  2. Raja ran for elected office three times, once for County Executive and twice for the 37th state Senate district, but lost in each attempt. The Tribune Review reports that Raja currently “has no imminent plans to run for another public office.”

    We really need to make Dog Catcher an elected position to see if people like Raja could win.

    1. At least he tried DD, it’s more than you can say for yourself you keyboard warrior…did you create a multi-million dollar business that employees hundreds in the Commonwealth, move to a new country as a younger kid, became a citizen the legal way and give more back to your community than you’ve taken? Oh, that’s Raja, not you! Again, get in the game and then you can take shots at someone else. By the way, I’m sure there are plenty of open positions in your area, run and let’s see what your neighbors thinks of you! Haha, now that would be funny.

      1. DD for Dog Catcher?

        Gee, another anonymous poster talking about “credentials” and “accomplishments”? If you had any actual job, skills or position of respect, you would post under your real name. People like you are a dime-a-dozen here, with 9-cents in leftover change for the dime.

        1) Over the years, I’ve used software skills to keep several multi-million dollar businesses going.

        2) Are you saying that Raja “decided himself” to come here? That sounds unlikely. You can’t credit him as though he made a decision when his parents dragged him here.

        3) I became a citizen the legal way too: I was born here. And, I haven’t supported a traitor like Trump. (Raja can’t say the same.)

        4) I’ve paid more in taxes than it cost to educate me, so yeah, I’ve given back more.

        5) I ran for committee person, and won. I provide data/tech support to dozens of candidates (some of whom are elected officials now).

        1. This is a sad response, David. You respond with- worked for successful businesses, you don’t give him credit for a difficult naturalization, you pay taxes, and equate running for committee person to the risks of Raja.

          I’m sorry. I don’t like Raja, but your response does not address the previous poster’s points.

          Further, the name of a poster shouldn’t matter as much as the content of the message. You seemed to avoid his/hers.

          1. Huh-
            If you read my original post about Raja’s un-electability, you’d realize that Dog Catcher’s response ignored my point.

            As for Dog Catcher’s criticism of me, I debunked his implications that I wasn’t a contributing member of society (and I also pointed out that anonymous Dog Catcher has no apparent accomplishments of his own).

            I couldn’t give a rat’s @ss about Raja’s professional job history, as that has nothing to do with his failed efforts at elected office.

            As for his “difficult naturalization”, you are making the claim that it was difficult. From what I could find of his biography, he came here on a student visa to study and work with computers during the 80’s, which was a great time to get in on the ground floor.

            But, AGAIN, the topic is that Raja has shown he’s unelectable.

            As for leaving a GOP leadership position, all I can say is that the GOP is such decline due to Trump that the rats are fleeing the sinking ship, that’s about to get capsized by a fresh Blue wave.

          2. My point being you didnt debunk or address any of those things.

            Did you really just say moving to another country is not that hard? Are you serious? Moving to the South could be a difficult adjustment, let alone moving across the world. That’s just a ludicrous statement, David.

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