Brier Announces Bid For PA10

We officially have one candidate.

Tom Brier, an attorney and author, announced his intentions to seek the Democratic nomination for the 10th Congressional District.

In a Medium post, the 27 year-old Hershey native explained the reasons he decided to run for Congress now.

“I run for Congress because disastrous, divisive policies can be changed only by changing the representatives who make them,” Brier wrote in the announcement post. “I run for Congress because I believe it is time for a new generation of leadership — a generation comprised of the young in age and the young in spirit; a generation that prefers creative experimentation to rigid ideology; and a generation prepared to offer a new vision for recapturing America’s moral leadership in the world.”

Brier cited statistics about the opioid death rate, student loan debt, infrastructure and unemployment as specific areas that need to be addressed in Pennsylvania.

He mentions being involved in Democratic politics for more than a decade, including a stint as a legislative intern for Sen. Bob Casey, while he also served as a law clerk on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for a year.

Policy positions laid out under the priorities tab on his campaign website include climate change, economy, education, gun violence, healthcare, national defense, opioid epidemic, technology, and unions.

Brier is the first Democrat to officially announce a bid for the 10th District. Auditor General Eugene DePasquale told PoliticsPA he is mulling a run for a couple of different offices, while not ruling out a run for the 10th District in 2020. It is also currently unclear if George Scott, the Democratic candidate in 2018, will make another run for the seat.

Rep. Scott Perry (R-York) was awarded a fourth term in Congress by besting Scott by just over 2.5 points.

The DCCC listed the 10th District as one of the three Congressional seats in Pennsylvania on their initial 2020 target list.

9 Responses

  1. This guy is a joke. George Scott is the only one that can win in the Central PA. He has the support of the people and DePasquale and Kim are too liberal.

  2. It is obvious that student loan debt is soaring as an issue and will drive young voters to the polls. Why more candidates are not fired up about the total lack of leadership on the issue is beyond me. I say this–Candidate Brier would be wise to pursue this dynamic and volatile issue because it will absolutely drive young first time voters to the polls in droves.

  3. He is not an apparent improvement on George Scott by any measure. Depasquale would be more formidable. Frankly, I don’t want to be presented with a ‘boys only’ slate as I was in 2016. I believe the answer is Patty Kim.

  4. I’m a Dem, but this release doesn’t sound promising. Running for Congress and touting a congressional internship? (By the way, he’s including “legislative” to raise the stature of the internship.) No way this guy could pull a Casey endorsement. The clerkship is nice if you’re applying for an entry-level job at a law firm. But the seriousness of his campaign will be judged by his FEC reports. Dismal reports and lacking a good story leaves him only with an issues-based campaign and relying on people who don’t know him pulling the lever based on the letter next to his name. Basically, this is a primer for some township supervisor campaign later on, maybe county commissioner is he’s really, really lucky. But posture campaigns annoy me, they create unnecessary division within the party and are self-serving.

  5. People want a representative who communicates *with* them, not *above* them. His announcement post references Pericles, RFK, and MLK…Tom, some friendly advice: don’t try to be so inspiring. Just be relatable. Good talk.

    1. Any constituent who has a high school education should know who each of those people are.

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  • Will tonight's U.S. Senate debate affect your decision?


    • No. I've already decided on how to cast my vote. (81%)
    • Yes. Anxious to hear from both candidates (19%)

    Total Voters: 27

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