Democratic Congressional candidate Steve Larchuk set out to introduce himself to voters in his first TV ad.
“Steve Larchuk, the grandson of immigrant coal miners, built on his working-family roots to become a respected attorney, leader in solar energy production, champion for healthcare reform and creator of American jobs,” the narrator states. “Steve Larchuk is the path to a better Congress.”
Before that, though, the commercial spends the first ten seconds blasting incumbent GOP Congressman Keith Rothfus as extremist and ineffective.
“Steve Larchuk wants to get a jump on introducing himself to key Democrats as the primary election begins to come into focus,” Campaign Manager Bruce Spector. “His Western Pennsylvania roots and history of success in the practice of law and the solar energy business uniquely position Steve as the only candidate with the qualifications and resources to send Keith Rothfus back to Wall Street and give the people of the 12th District a member of Congress they deserve – someone who will work tirelessly every day for the Middle Class.”
Larchuk is running against 2014 nominee Erin McClelland in the Democratic primary. Congressman Rothfus has represented the seat since 2013 and Cook Political Report rates it as R+9.
The 12th district covers Beaver County and parts of Allegheny, Cambria, Lawrence, Somerset, and Westmoreland Counties.
Loading ...
34 Responses
Erin could win but not with Chuckie. That ugly little monster scares people on sight.The shame is that, at 40 years old, Erin still plays with dolls.
Dan you’re a hoot. You take a figure of speech literally.
Policoff– that bill was anti-union and eliminated malpractice suits in PA. But you keep thinking it was progressive and about single payer.
I am astonished by these baseless attacks on Erin McClelland. Comparing her to an arsonist, an addict? Suggesting she’s “inconsistent in her personal life”? Attacking her with these claims — That’s weak.
Ad hominem attacks are not how to go about the political process. Let’s focus on the issues, like how Steve Larchuk’s “healthcare for all” plan penalized union workers. I know about Steve Larchuk because he (and his self-funded campaigns) don’t go away. He keeps trying to implement his ridiculous, outlandish ideas, that hurt the middle class, and only help the rich like himself.
He’s not a legitimate candidate. Erin beat her primary opponent in 2014, and will beat Steve this year. Let’s focus on the real candidate, instead of entertaining his nonsense.
Silly internet trolls. It is not the quality of the ad production that matters. All of that chatter is just plain geeky. The ad is solid enough. We all have seen far worse.
It is about the quality of the message and I think the message is pretty good. He takes on Rothfus and doesn’t mention his primary opponent dismissing her as a minor distraction. And he bios himself as someone with deep working class, western pa roots and a successful business career with appeal to folks outside of the traditional Democratic base. I think the message works well and makes we want to learn more.
When there is a fire, call the firefighters not the arson.* Apologies for the typo I’m responding via my phone.
My comment was not stating in anyway whatsoever that Erin as a woman cannot drink and do what she wants as an adult. I support women 100%. Dan likes to play games on here. He will act like you attack women and then in turn he will refer to Larchuk as “a rich white layer just like Rothfus.” Dan your statements are wrong for not thinking Steve has a chance against Rothfus. My attack on Erin was not about drinking, it was more about her being a so called addiction specialist that works with substance abuse. She is inconsistent even in her own personal life. When we have grave problems facing us as a nation we need a well balanced candidate who doesn’t have dirt in their own life. When the is a fire call the firefighters not the arson. For not liking the guy you pay a lot of attention to him…
Steve Larchuk also pioneered the effort to pass single-payer health care in Pennsylvania, an idea whose time has come. I am proud to serve on the Board of the group Steve helped found, Healthcare4ALLPA.
All this time I thought those were glasses he normally wears on his head. Now I realize they are solar panels.
Dan Polcyn-
I think Bill’s point/claim was not that she drinks, but rather drinks too much, thus causing loud/drunken behavior.
But, I think Erin’s support is going to come from her support of local unions and her time on the picket line with them.
Sestak lost his endorsement of a nurse’s union, because he abandoned them during one of their strikes. So, Erin’s likely to get endorsements for the effort she put in.
Whether that’s enough to tip an election is another matter.
So your attack on Erin is that she talks loudly and drinks alcohol? Because, y’know, a woman can’t talk above a certain decibel level and shouldn’t be allowed to drink alcohol, right? What ridiculousness is this? Have you heard Larchuk’s ideas? He’s proposing 2 trillion dollars in pure inflation, every year. Erin’s at least suggesting reasonable ideas.
Erin McClelland has widespread support. Steve Larchuk is just another old rich white lawyer, just like Rothfus. Erin McClelland will provide a real change in representation. We don’t need another crazy ideologue. We need someone practical.
He is the democrats only shot* mistype lol
It seems to me that there are quite a number of tea party trolls here. Yes the video could be better, but Democrats need to back Steve. He is the democrats against Rothus only shot against Rothus. I hear talk about Erin, she is and addiction specialist, you should see how many bottles of Miller Lite she can down before her stump speech. One other thing about her, if she wants to use a microphone, she should probably stop yelling into it. It could just be the beer though. Its tea party Rothus or Larchuk. Democrats take your pick. If you vote the republican who we have had and know his ways, he is part of the shit that is clogging up the sewage sytem that is Washington. He doesn’t want to solve problems, he wants to make a name obstructing. What a legacy, huh boys and girls?
Vivid video makes better quality spots than that.
Lost in PA no progressive Democrat will beat Rothfus. This district is conservative. Find another district to invest your time and money.
LostinPA:
And Donald Trump has put as much into his campaign as others. Money’s not going to help a lost cause. Funding can be fixed. Ridiculousness can’t be.
Dan Polcyn…. they didn’t like her ideas last time when she got her clock cleaned by Rothfus. I’m not sure either of these candidates has a prayer in this district (which I live in by the way). I will however grant you the fact that part of her problem last time was that she was woefully underfunded. She was a decent speaker, but a terrible fundraiser. He has put almost as much into his own campaign as she raised the last time. Based on her last report as stated earlier there is no evidence that she has found her way in that area. If I had to pick between the two I’ll take the guy with money. Honestly, I think the chance of either of them winning is very slim.
LostinPA:
What’s embarrassing is not even being able to raise any funding. Larchuk has raised so little, and has so little support/endorsements. Even if McClelland has less money because she’s not a millionaire lawyer like Rothfus, at least people like her ideas. He’s wasting his money.
It’s kind of crazy to give the guy grief for investing in his own campaign early on. I mean his democratic opponent has been running since she lost the last time and as of her last filing she has 32,342 on hand and 52,400 in debt. I’d agree that this is an amateurish production, but he’s certainly not running a primary against someone who is a fundraising juggernaut. Her numbers are embarrassing. If this is where she stands after running for two years I’m not sure how anyone questions what he’s done? Rothfus is looking good either way at this point. He can run against an amateur with money or a broke one.
Lol. Basically a liberal Donald Trump self funding a ridiculous campaign.
HillarysDamnEmails-
The post-gazette article was on the third page of my google search and is 11 years old opinion piece, on health care, which has a completely different landscape (insuring 20 million more people).
I don’t think this article will sink his campaign.
This commercial is garbage.
David – Is that what google search results and public campaign filings are – opposition research? I thought we called that high-information voting.
Who is running this ridiculous campaign? I have never heard of Bruce Spector. Do they not know this is embarrassing the candidate, not promoting him? With what he has spent, I imagine he is surrounded by mindless apostles who clearly know very little about vetting their own candidate much less how to run a race. But its a paycheck I suppose.
HillarysDamnEmails-
I’m not sure what you are agreeing with? Just that it’s interesting mixture?
I really hadn’t gone into his financials, but you seem VERY well-versed and at the ready with opposition research. LOL
D. Miller-
The Sun does shine there. But “solar energy production” could also mean building solar panels. Maybe he helps start-ups with investments.
Around mile marker 280 on the PA turnpike (between Philly and Harrisburg) is a farm with a huge solar panel array.
Senator Rutherford B. Cattywampus-
Let’s see how he does with Petitions and fundraising this quarter.
The only American Jobs he has created are the staffers on his make believe campaign.
This guy raised $15000 in 2015, so he has no real support. He is using his own money in the form of loans to try to look like he has a real campaign. The only question is how much more of his own money is he willing to put on the table.
Looney Liberal Larchuk is the Bernie Sanders of the 12th District. Do yourself a favor and use your money to help the poor in the 12th. You are so far to the left you make your opponent in the primary look like a conservative constitutionalist.
I will say this about Mr. Larchuk. He is much more impressive in person. This ad is terrible and looks as if it was done by a middle school AV class. Although unlike his opponent he actually has the money to do an ad. I’m not sure McClelland could pay for an ad in the Pennysaver at this point.
All that money spent and the best he can do is come out with an ad that looks like it was made by high schoolers in 1998. #theracetolosetorothfus
David Diano, you make an interesting point and I agree. His personal financial disclosure shows no income from this company in two years and the website is about as low quality as this ad. But it does show that he has about $200K in credit card debt and his bank assets yield less than $1000 in interest annually. Between his obvious mismanagement of his own money, his history of running on his own invented political party and the statements he has made in this article alone
http://www.post-gazette.com/opinion/brian-oneill/2004/04/11/Is-Tiny-HealthCare-Party-a-voice-crying-in-the-wilderness/stories/200404110248,
Rothfus is salivating at the idea of this man being his opposition. The opportunities for negative ads are quite significant. Overall, it looks like he’s following the Tea Party playbook on how to primary an establishment candidate.
Did he put this together with iMovie?
Solar energy in south western pa? Get a grip freak
Interesting juxtaposition: grandson of coal miners and leader in solar energy production.