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PA10: DePasquale Defeats Brier in Dem Primary

The general election is finally set for perhaps the most closely watched House race in Pennsylvania in 2020. 

Eugene DePasquale, the state’s Democratic Auditor General, has won the Democratic primary for the 10th Congressional District. 

DePasquale secured 60% of the vote, while Tom Brier, an attorney and author, received 40% of the vote when the AP called the race on Friday afternoon. 

Although DePasquale entered the primary as the heavy favorite against Brier, who was making his first run for office, this race turned out to be a closer call for what has been described as the Democrats “dream candidate” than previously expected. DePasquale was even named in the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s first round of challengers in their “highly competitive” red to blue program and remains the lone Pennsylvania candidate in the DCCC program. 

DePasquale carried endorsements from a bevy of local Democratic elected officials in the district, plus Gov. Tom Wolf, various labor unions, and the Blue Dog PAC, while Brier embraced a more progressive agenda in the race by promoting the Green New Deal and more. 

As of the final FEC filing report prior to the primary, DePasquale raised $1.1 million in the election cycle-to-date, while Brier raised just over $590,000 in the election cycle-to-date. 

DePasquale will now take on Rep. Scott Perry (R-York) in November. Perry, who is currently serving his fourth term in Congress, edged out Democrat George Scott by just over 2.5 points in 2018 in the newly drawn district with boundaries that voted for President Donald Trump by 10 points in 2016. Perry’s latest bid was his closest victory since being voted into Congress in 2012 in the old conservative 4th District. 

The Cook Political Report has this as the lone Congressional race in the state as a Toss-Up.

12 Responses

  1. Why is everyone acting “shocked”? DePasquale had a 20-point win. That is a solid victory.

    But, in a primary, when you have a more moderate candidate against progressive candidate.. the results are based on the ratio of moderates to progressives in the district and has less to do with the candidates themselves. So, a 60/40 ratio of moderates/progressives in that district makes sense.

    With the collapse of Bernie’s campaign, the progressives are out in force to support whatever progressives are on the ticket. Brier said “Green New Deal” .. so he got all the Green New Deal votes.

    In Philly, incumbent Larry Farnese got taken out by a very progressive candidate… because there are a lot of progressives in that part of Philly.

    1. It’s not going to be a 20-point lead. it will be less. and Brier was a first-time candidate. DePasquale is an experienced campaigner who had establishment support. despite that, his campaign ran an underwhelming campaign. Brier had a better television ad, more energy and did much more with much less. in the end, DePasquale should have beaten him 75/25 so this was not very impressive by Brier. and embarrassing for deapquale. it raises questions about his campaign’s ability, if you ask me.

  2. Let’s see. Depisquale infuses illegal campaign funds into his campaign. He seeks campaign donations from vendors of the organization he audits and he hires his “friend” to a high level, non-advertised, non-bid position. This guys feet aren’t made of clay, their made of sand. Unfortunately Perry has all the ammo he needs.

  3. It ain’t over yet – Dauphin County has not yet counted or submitted Mail in vote totals.

  4. Hopefully Brier will fully endorse and work to get DePasquale elected in December. As George Will is saying, Republicans must be turned out of power in large numbers so the party can pull back and remove influences like Trump.

  5. He was a good, aggressive Auditor General until he decided he needed the powers that be for his Congress race. Then he became complacent.

    1. More like a political opportunist with his audits vs a responsible public official. It will be closer when the Dauphin mail ins are added in. I’ve been very dissapointed Eugene’s actions since eyeing up this Congressional seat. He has moved to the left. Always thought his Pittsburgh roots grounded him as a bluedog of sorts. Meanwhile, Scott Perry has responed well to his new district since the last election and will mount a strong campaign. Let the games begin!

  6. Agree with what others said. Establishment Dems are lucky he won because he’s their best bet to beat Perry. The biggest problem seems to whoever is calling the shots. I’m guessing it’s the dccc. Depasqale has always been a good campaigner, raising decent money for the office he was seeking, memorable ads, tons of free publicity and active on the campaign trail. He’s noticeably different in this campaign for some reason: not terribly compelling in his message. His mail and television were worthy of a trash bin. Does anyone know if his campaign manger is from his other campaigns? . If it’s his same Campaign team as before, they have forgotten what got him to where he is. If it’s a new team, they are grinding him into a boring typical losing establishment candidate.

  7. Hats off to Tom, he has a bright political future.

    Eugene has all of the tools to beat the terrible Scott Perry. But I hope Eugene gets more serious about running – he is going to need to perform better. Maybe Brier can help give him a boost.

    1. Maybe Scott Perry can help DePasquale by continuing to suck up to despicable Trump.

      1. Scott Perry is beyond terrible – it will be interesting to see how much he sucks up to Trump in the next few months, especially as Trump’s numbers go down.

  8. Tom Brier had half as much money, none of the big shot endorsements, none of the statewide praise and great publicity that DePasquale had and narrowly lost the Democratic nomination. This was a lumpy meandering showing for DePasquale this primary season and a stellar showing for Tom Brier. Eugene DePasquale can win but it will be contingent of Pres Trump bumbling his way through the rest of the 2020 political cycle. Fitzpatrick is very similar to DePasquale in that he too poorly performed with numerous advantages of an incumbent. Yet with the Bucks County Democrats around this presents a great advantage for Fitzpatrick with the Bucks County Dems unintended ability to assist Fitzpatrick this November.

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