Democrat Manan Trivedi’s campaign hopes in Pa’s 6th Congressional District were recently promoted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee from an “Emerging District” to an “Emerging Race.”
The title is a distinction given out by the DCCC’s Red to Blue program — a program that follows closely contested congressional elections.
Last week, PoliticsPA reported that PA-6 had received an “Emerging District” status by the committee, meaning that the congressional race would be on the DCCC’s “watch list” to see if “serious resources” should be allocated in the future to one of the Democratic candidates.
Yesterday, Democratic challenger Mike Parish announced he was leaving the race, citing the effects a “contentious Democratic primary fight” could have on the Democrats “ability to win [the] seat in November.”
Parish stated that he would be fully supporting Trivedi, who is running for the seat for a third time.
With Trivedi the lone Democratic challenger set to face off against Republican Ryan Costello, the DCCC has upped their support for his campaign. Now that PA-6 has been promoted to “Emerging Race” status, Trivedi can expect financial, grassroots, and strategic support from the committee.
“I am honored by the outpouring of support we’ve had in Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District, as Pennsylvanians have joined our grassroots campaign to stand up for middle class families and build an economy that works for everyone,” said Trivedi. “The early strength our campaign has demonstrated led us to earn a spot as an Emerging Race in the Red to Blue program, and it means we have the support, confidence, and momentum it takes to win in November, and bring commonsense solutions to Washington.”
“Manan Trivedi has shown he can put this seat in play with his unwavering commitment to public service as an Iraq war veteran, a physician, and tireless advocate for Pennsylvania’s middle class,” said DCCC Chairman Steve Israel. “Manan Trivedi has proven he won’t back down from the toughest challenges facing Pennsylvania families and has strong potential in this race.”
PA-6 became a highly contested race when incumbent Rep. Jim Gerlach (R-Chester) decided that he would not seek re-election in 2014.
PA-6 is listed as a district with a R+2 partisan voting index by the latest Cook Political Report.
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5 Responses
The Democrats just lost the opportunity to win this seat by backing Trivedi. He was a weak candidate the last to times he ran. Parrish was at least an unknown quantity that could avoid the Obamacare pitfalls and his resume was pretty extensive. Oh well, Ryan Costello will now proceed to beat the c**p out of Trivedi with all of his on the record Obamacare support recorded on TV and in print for the last 2 cycles. I believe Manan even claimed to be an advisor on Obamacare if I remember the ads correctly. Awesome strategy there Democrats. The hammer is about to come down and come down hard. BOOM
13th-
Well, of course they should go after it. But, they’ve got to recognized that their own pick was not trusted by the rank and file, so they need to smooth things over with Trivedi.
KSJW-
Once Trivedi gets his campaign in gear, expect the race to advance further. However, 2012 was presidential and voter turnout model is different, and this is open seat. Old ranking isn’t relevant for comparison.
So, by the DCCC’s own admission, this race is less competitive than in 2012?
Red to Blue 2012: http://ballotpedia.org/Democratic_Congressional_Campaign_Committee
vs.
Emerging Race 2014
Diano:
Alternate translation: The DCCC has few pickup opportunities, and this might be the only one in PA. They can’t afford to not contest an open-seat R+2, no matter the candidate.
Translation: Trivedi beat the DCCC pick into withdrawing (endorsements favored Trivedi, which means he’d be marked as such on sample ballots).
So, DCCC recognized that Trivedi’s better than they thought. Good for Manan.
Let’s see if DCCC backs their words up with $$$.