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Politico: PA Dubbed one of 10 States “That Could Decide the Next Senate”

Pat ToomeyPennsylvania’s 2016 Senate race is one to watch.

Politico reporter James Hohmann labeled PA as one of the states (ahem commonwealth) crucial to the pursuit of a Senate majority.

The article looks at ten incumbents, eight Republicans and two Democrats, who are potentially vulnerable heading into the next election cycle.

Facing what looks to be a 54 seat majority for the Republicans in the Senate, Democrats need all the help they can get and have targeted Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) in 2016.

Toomey is likely to face a rematch from 2010 opponent Joe Sestak. Sestak lost by only 2%, and is seen as the early front runner, declaring his intention to run last year and backing it up with a recent fundraising email sent to supporters.

Hohmann acknowledges the fact that Toomey will likely have a tougher time running in a presidential cycle, as a GOP presidential candidate hasn’t carried PA since George H.W. Bush in 1988.

Furthermore, Hohmann notes that Toomey “has made efforts to move to center, co-sponsoring a background check bill last year, for example. Still, Quinnipiac pegged his approval at 41 percent in June.”

Toomey’s challenger may also come in the form of Attorney General Kathleen Kane, however “sources say she’s likely to opt for coasting to a second term in 2016.”

Sestak, a former three star admiral in the U.S. Navy, represented Pa’s 7th Congressional District from 2007 to 2011.

7 Responses

  1. As we learned with Corbett, attorneys general ought to have to resign before running for other offices; the appearances of conflicts of interest are simply too great.
    And Sestak’s “cup of Joe” is coffee that has been warmed over far too many times. The man is competent, but unfeeling. He brutalizes his own staff. He has the warmth of an anaconda. He won’t draw a single Republican vote, or very many independent votes — and independents will decide the 2016 Senate race. If a Wolf associate makes a splash in 2015, there’s the best choice for a Democratic nominee.

  2. jim-
    What have you been smoking?

    “First, Sestak lost in what was a Democratic year.”
    Umm…. not only did we lose the Governor’s race in PA, but the GOP took over congress. 2010 was considered a Republican wave year.

    You are correct that Toomey is far-right. The American Conservative Union gives him life time score of about 95%.

    Toomey is a right-wing ideologue, but he’s quiet about it, unlike Santorum. Toomey will occasionally make a somewhat moderate vote once in a while (when it doesn’t count) so he can get idiots to claim he’s not far-right. His voting record as a congressman was further to the right than Santorum’s.

    As for Kane, I think she will stay in the A.G. position. The attacks against her are mostly from chumps like Fina trying to cover-up his own failures by trying to discredit her, and from ambitious politicians like Williams who want her job.
    She can get past the primary if she has more than one challenger, as her opponents will cancel each other out. She should do well in the general if Hillary is the nominee because there will be a record high female vote, and the Dems have a high registration advantage.

    Switching to Senate would be a worse move for her since she will be attacked as being a political opportunist. As A.G. running for second term, she’ll be able to trot out a a list of accomplishments to voters.

  3. It is inescapable to mesh awareness of this page with the Reader-poll that supported Josh Shapiro as a preferred nominee; as much as I have “issues” with him [regarding Iran, for reasons aforementioned], he would be a far more engaging candidate for the Dems than Sestak [with whom I recall disagreeing a half-decade ago when I heard him @ Rosemont].

    The reporter also was apparently unaware that AG-Kane has had a few political problems of her own, so “coasting” to re-election would not necessarily be a reasonable way to capture the current atmospherics; it’s also possible that Wolf will want to influence the process by ID’ing a preferred candidate.

    Finally, Toomey is not a far-right ideologue; he is experienced [both on foreign and domestic affairs] and merits re-election.

  4. This reporter clearly didn’t do his homework on Pennsylvania politics. First, Sestak lost in what was a Democratic year. Rendell and others cleared the way for Specter but they couldn’t get Sestak out and the Democratic voters revolted and voted Sestak as their nominee. And the result is that Pennsylvania got another far right Senator. The reporter suggests that Toomey is moving to the middle because he co-sponsored background check legislation is an absurdity–just check his record–he’s no more moving to the middle than the man in the moon. And his sources assertion that Kathleen Kane will coast to victory another absurdity–checking your sources is reporting 101. Another example of how you can’t believe what you read. We have a chance to take out Toomey but Sestak can’t do it. He’s proved.

  5. Obviously Politico doesn’t have anyone covering PA if they think Kane will “coast” to re-election.

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