President Donald Trump touched down in Montoursville on Monday to boost state Rep. Fred Keller’s bid for Congress. A day after the Republican’s landslide win, he spiked the football – and then some.
In an impromptu speech in the White House Rose Garden, Trump mostly railed against the Mueller investigation and Democrats’ subsequent subpoenas. But he segued to PA12 to argue the national media had ignored a favorable story.
“We had an election for Fred Keller, who was a 50-50 shot, but won in a landslide,” Trump said. “We went and we did a rally, hardly mentioned today and yet if he lost it would’ve been the biggest story in the country, even bigger than this witch hunt stuff that you guys keep writing about.”
Keller won by 36 points. It was a good night for Trump and the GOP. But the race was never close to 50-50.
Keller’s win was in line with the partisan lean of PA12. Trump carried PA12’s boundaries by 36 points in 2016 over Sec. Hillary Clinton. Retiring Rep. Tom Marino (R-Lycoming), who was the first Pennsylvania representative to endorse Trump’s his presidential candidacy in 2016, defeated Democrat Marc Friedenberg by 32 points in 2018.
Furthermore, while Republicans took the race seriously, Democrats barely mentioned the race – let alone spent on it. According to the National Journal’s Alex Clearfield, the DCCC and DNC did not tweet about Friedenberg’s bid once leading up to the election. None of the two dozen presidential hopefuls came to stump.
That said, the fact that Republicans ran up a similar margin as 2016 is a favorable sign for the party. As is the fact that the first special election of the 2020 cycle saw no shift in the Democrats’ direction.
Trump shared a nearly identical message during the rally on Monday night right after Keller joined him on stage calling the race a “little bit of a referendum” on him and said the story would be ignored by and large by the media if Keller won.
There was clear evidence of a Trump bump Tuesday. The President tweeted his endorsement of Superior Court hopeful Megan King just hours after his rally. King was the highest GOP vote-getter in the three candidate field.
Loading ...
11 Responses
This is absolutely priceless! 50-50 before he came to the 12th? What’s more offensive, folks? Trump’s absolute childish stupidity or his spineless followers who never check him on even basic facts. Why the aversion to truth, Republicans? Are you THAT afraid of being on the receiving end of one of his petulant diatribe? Seriously!
TheRumps 40% so blindly nodding to everything he says is way more offensive. And scary. This example is a glaring whopper, granted. But daily he outdoes himself, and daily his base regurgitates his lies.
The only story from about “partisanship” I’m interested in hearing from journalism, is the true story regarding the State Committee politics behind the push for Megan King, one’s just the politics of the bully- pulpit, but the other?????
John Cole-
“That said, the fact that Republicans ran up a similar margin as 2016 is a favorable sign for the party. As is the fact that the first special election of the 2020 cycle saw no shift in the Democrats’ direction.”
This is wishful thinking if the Republicans believe your analysis. The fact that “Republicans took the race seriously, Democrats barely mentioned the race – let alone spent on it” is actually a bad sign for the GOP. They got about the same margin as 2016, despite working for it in 2018, and the Dems doing the bare minimum.
Trump’s margin in PA was razor-thin, and his loss in 2020 will be wide enough to drive a truck through.
Dave you should take up another field of employment because your take on politics leading up to the 2016 election especially in Pa. was total bullshit deserving of a tomato patch somewhere! So why should anyone listen to you now?
Bruce Slater-
Trump’s win in PA was a surprise to EVERYBODY.
The stupidity of the Bernie supporters who either voted for Trump, third party or stayed home was beyond astounding. It’s hard to believe they have opposable thumbs.
The extent of the Russian infiltration of social media was unknown at the time.
The PA Dems have replaced our inept former Chairman, and are much better positioned going into 2020 than they were going into 2016.
Russia again? Dream on David. 2020 will be decided on Election Day.
ConservativeDemocrats-
Hate to clue you in and burst your fact-free bubble, but the Russians actively looking for ways to disrupt our elections.
They have a clear incentive to flip races, and prefer Trump because he’s so stupid and easy to manipulate. They are also interested in causing disruptions and mistrust of our election systems.
If they can hack computers and shut down states or counties, that would be a serious problem. If they can hack the voter rolls and delete, add or alter voter records, that would erode public trust, and candidates could blame their opponents.
On social media, they are pursuing and spreading fake news, fake science and hate-speech. In 2016, they made up a fake Trump rally, and got pro-Trump and anti-Trump supporters to attend, with the goal of creating a riot.
China is also trying to interfere with our elections yet you seem unworried about that. Every Country tries to interfere in each others elections nothing new. Obama was in charge in 2016 so again Ill ask the same thing Ive asked since then, IF THEY KNEW WHY DID THEY DO NOTHING ABOUT IT? Clearly they didn’t see it has an issue then. Im tired of my party avoiding that question.
LOL. President Kardashian spiking the ball in a “race” that consisted of a Trumpy and a challenger, in the Trumpiest QAnon tinfoil area on PA.
It makes it that much sweeter to see Trump lose big in PA next year.
See my post in “Keller Cruises In PA12 Special Election”:
David Diano says:
May 22, 2019 at 12:03 am
Keller won by 2-1 in a 2-1 Rep to Dem registration district.
1) In other news: water is wet
2) Trump will take credit for the win.