Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski officially dropped out of Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race will now support State Treasurer Rob McCord in his bid for state governor.
“It has been a good campaign and we have accomplished several of our key objectives, most importantly, drawing attention to the need for economic development and more jobs for Pennsylvanians,” Pawlowski said.
“But the truth is that it takes a lot of money to run for a state leadership position and raising that money takes a lot of time,” he continued. “Because of my duties as mayor of the third largest city in the state, I simply was finding it difficult to run a city and spend the 8 to 10 hours a day fundraising that is needed to run an effective campaign. Stepping down will allow me to focus all of my energy on the job that I really love: Being the Mayor of Allentown.”
In regards to his support for McCord, Pawlowski said he has faith that McCord will continue to push for family-sustaining jobs and fight for the type of economic development that will help Pennsylvania return to a leadership position in this development across the country.
“We have had some very good talks, and I believe this is the person who can lead Pennsylvania to a new and brighter future,” Pawlowski said.
McCord also released a statement today, saying, “Mayor Pawlowski and I share a common vision for the future of Pennsylvania. We both believe in the power of education and economic development and the core need for safe neighborhoods. And we both know that, with appropriate innovation and investments, the best days of our Commonwealth are ahead of us.”
Several other elected officials also announced their support for McCord along with Pawlowski, including State Rep. Mike Schlossberg, Whitehall Mayor Ed Hozza, Allentown City Council President Julio Guridy, Allentown City Council Members Pete Schweyer and Cynthia Mota, State Rep. Dan McNeill and Reading Mayor Vaughn Spencer.
As a gubernatorial candidate, Pawlowski focused on his success in bringing jobs and development to Allentown. He also pushed for better funding for state public schools, a more farmer-friendly agricultural policy and the adoption of the federal Affordable Care Act.
“The most important thing now is to bring strong, effective leadership back to Pennsylvania,” Pawlowski said. “I am confident that Rob can do that and I urge Democrats to get behind him.”
Also running for state governor are former Secretaries of the PA DEP John Hanger and Katie McGinty, Rep. Allyson Schwartz, former Secretary of the PA Department of Revenue Tom Wolf, County Commissioner of Lebanon County Jo Ellen Litz and former pastor Max Myers.
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4 Responses
Dear ‘Me’
The first cut is the deepest – I’m sorry that your current political ‘crush’ isn’t catching on.
He or she will invariably land on his or her feet.
But, I would try not to act out too much with every break in good news for the other candidates. It doesn’t look good.
Take a deep breath and let go,
Yours,
‘You’
“Me”-
Don’t take Pawlowski’s endorsement of McCord as representative of anyone else in the Democratic party besides Pawlowski himself kissing up to whom he thinks is the front runner.
With Pawlowski’s exit (ie non entrance) for Gov, the question is: which remaining candidate would appeal to Allentown voters?
BTW, I’m really regretting not announcing myself for Gov back in the summer. I could have done absolutely nothing, and then just skipped filing petitions, and have outlasted Pawlowski’s bid by several weeks.
Well, congratulations Democrats, you get McCord. You get four years of moderate rule and no progressive reforms. I mean, better to be safe than bold, right? Nothing positive ever came from boldness. No, no, safe and cautious is always the best bet, even in an election where a can of tomato soup with a “D” next to it on the ballot would beat the Republican incumbent. You sure don’t want to rock the boat too much, do you now?
What a load of f****** bull****.
“we have accomplished several of our key objectives, most importantly..” consulting fees for political operatives?
““Because of my duties as mayor of the third largest city in the state, I simply was finding it difficult to run a city and spend the 8 to 10 hours a day fundraising that is needed to run an effective campaign.” and he didn’t know that BEFORE??? How many hours a day does he even spend working at being Mayor?
McCord is a strong candidate and I’m sure he can recover from Pawlowski’s endorsement. 🙂