From Behind the Camera to Center Stage: Can Wertz Help Turn PA Senate Blue?
Chair of Erie Democrats hopes to topple Rep. Dan Laughlin in bellwether county
August 29, 2024
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Chair of Erie Democrats hopes to topple Rep. Dan Laughlin in bellwether county
Former chair of Erie Democratic Party hopes to face two-time incumbent
Jim Wertz spent his early professional years behind a camera before moving to the head of the class as a professor at Edinboro (now PennWest) University.
Now, he steps on center stage as a political candidate who could help turn the Pennsylvania Senate from red to blue.
The Erie Democrat is challenging two-term Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) in the 49th senatorial district. PA Dems hope that the chair of the Erie Democratic Party can topple Laughlin and move them one seat closer to a majority position in Harrisburg.
Republicans presently hold a 28-22 advantage in the state Senate, but Democrats are hopeful that Wertz, along with Rep. Patty Kim (D-Dauphin) in SD-15 and Nicole Ruscitto in SD-37, can flip those seats. And with a Democratic governor in Josh Shapiro, that would put Dems in control of the chamber for the first time since 1994.
Wertz never anticipated running for office. The first member of the family to graduate from college, he was a union broadcaster and production manager for WICU-TV before founding his own production company.
He was elected Chair of the Erie County Democratic Party in 2018 and was moved to run for office since “Republicans in Harrisburg have shown they can’t be trusted to fight for our country, our schools, or the rights of workers to earn a living wage.”
The capper was while Wertz was serving as a contributing writer for a local alternative monthly – The Erie Reader. He wrote an opinion article entitled, “Erie at Large: A Congressman and a State Senator Walk Into a Bar” – suggesting that U.S. Congressman Mike Kelly (R-16) and Laughlin sought to invalidate mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election and that the pair were on proposed pardon lists in front of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle.
Laughlin sued both Wertz and the paper for $1 million in defamation. While some of the attorney fees were picked up pro bono, other additional costs would bankrupt the alt-biweekly.
The lawsuit propelled Wertz into the race and, while his lawsuit is still pending, has Pennsylvania Democrats dreaming of what could be.
Erie is one of the bellwether counties in the Commonwealth with the county moving back and forth between Barack Obama, Trump, and Joe Biden. As Erie steps back into the national spotlight, the downballot state Senate race may get outsized attention.
Democrats have nearly a 12,000-voter edge in registration over Republicans in a recent report from the Department of State. Both camps will be looking to keep their partisans in the fold while finding ways to attract the more than 18,000 independents in the district to their side.
One of the political groups that national Republicans have railed against – immigrants – now make up nearly 25 percent of Erie’s population. Combine that with a coalition of labor and civil rights groups and Wertz believes that he can carry the day.
“(Erie) a place of immigrants, old and new, protestant and catholic, Muslim and Jewish – Irish, polish, Italian, African, Latino, and Eastern European – and like them, I had an immigrant’s love of this town,” said Wertz in his campaign announcement.
“I’m running for State Senate because I believe that the people of Erie deserve a senator who will embrace democracy and jealously guard our right to vote, not someone who would trade it for personal power or the whims of their party. Pennsylvania is the cradle of democracy and Erie is its last line of defense.”
Laughlin, chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and Vice Chairman of the Game and Fisheries Committee, and his wife were sued by The Erie Reader for “stealing” hundreds of free copies of the paper, because they believed the column defamed the senator.
His wife, Peggy, said she took the free papers to “prevent maybe somebody from reading all of the ridiculous, unjustified, completely dishonest, unprovoked attacks on my husband.” He testified that he collected 20 “nice, crisp, fresh copies for myself.”
The lawsuit was dismissed last week.
For his part, Wertz says he is focuses on seeing Erie becoming a welcoming community for newcomers and longtime residents alike.
“I was on the beach this past weekend with my family, and the beach was full of immigrants and new Americans. And it was, it was exciting,” says Wertz. “It was invigorating.”
Laughlin was reelected after a 20-point win over Julie Slomski in 2022.
Jim Wertz spent his early professional years behind a camera before moving to the head of the class as a professor at Edinboro (now PennWest) University.
Now, he steps on center stage as a political candidate who could help turn the Pennsylvania Senate from red to blue.
The Erie Democrat is challenging two-term Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) in the 49th senatorial district. PA Dems hope that the chair of the Erie Democratic Party can topple Laughlin and move them one seat closer to a majority position in Harrisburg.
Republicans presently hold a 28-22 advantage in the state Senate, but Democrats are hopeful that Wertz, along with Rep. Patty Kim (D-Dauphin) in SD-15 and Nicole Ruscitto in SD-37, can flip those seats. And with a Democratic governor in Josh Shapiro, that would put Dems in control of the chamber for the first time since 1994.
Wertz never anticipated running for office. The first member of the family to graduate from college, he was a union broadcaster and production manager for WICU-TV before founding his own production company.
He was elected Chair of the Erie County Democratic Party in 2018 and was moved to run for office since “Republicans in Harrisburg have shown they can’t be trusted to fight for our country, our schools, or the rights of workers to earn a living wage.”
The capper was while Wertz was serving as a contributing writer for a local alternative monthly – The Erie Reader. He wrote an opinion article entitled, “Erie at Large: A Congressman and a State Senator Walk Into a Bar” – suggesting that U.S. Congressman Mike Kelly (R-16) and Laughlin sought to invalidate mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election and that the pair were on proposed pardon lists in front of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle.
Laughlin sued both Wertz and the paper for $1 million in defamation. While some of the attorney fees were picked up pro bono, other additional costs would bankrupt the alt-biweekly.
The lawsuit propelled Wertz into the race and, while his lawsuit is still pending, has Pennsylvania Democrats dreaming of what could be.
Erie is one of the bellwether counties in the Commonwealth with the county moving back and forth between Barack Obama, Trump, and Joe Biden. As Erie steps back into the national spotlight, the downballot state Senate race may get outsized attention.
Democrats have nearly a 12,000-voter edge in registration over Republicans in a recent report from the Department of State. Both camps will be looking to keep their partisans in the fold while finding ways to attract the more than 18,000 independents in the district to their side.
One of the political groups that national Republicans have railed against – immigrants – now make up nearly 25 percent of Erie’s population. Combine that with a coalition of labor and civil rights groups and Wertz believes that he can carry the day.
“(Erie) a place of immigrants, old and new, protestant and catholic, Muslim and Jewish – Irish, polish, Italian, African, Latino, and Eastern European – and like them, I had an immigrant’s love of this town,” said Wertz in his campaign announcement.
“I’m running for State Senate because I believe that the people of Erie deserve a senator who will embrace democracy and jealously guard our right to vote, not someone who would trade it for personal power or the whims of their party. Pennsylvania is the cradle of democracy and Erie is its last line of defense.”
Laughlin, chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and Vice Chairman of the Game and Fisheries Committee, and his wife were sued by The Erie Reader for “stealing” hundreds of free copies of the paper, because they believed the column defamed the senator.
His wife, Peggy, said she took the free papers to “prevent maybe somebody from reading all of the ridiculous, unjustified, completely dishonest, unprovoked attacks on my husband.” He testified that he collected 20 “nice, crisp, fresh copies for myself.”
The lawsuit was dismissed last week.
For his part, Wertz says he is focuses on seeing Erie becoming a welcoming community for newcomers and longtime residents alike.
“I was on the beach this past weekend with my family, and the beach was full of immigrants and new Americans. And it was, it was exciting,” says Wertz. “It was invigorating.”
Laughlin was reelected after a 20-point win over Julie Slomski in 2022.
Jim Wertz spent his early professional years behind a camera before moving to the head of the class as a professor at Edinboro (now PennWest) University.
Now, he steps on center stage as a political candidate who could help turn the Pennsylvania Senate from red to blue.
The Erie Democrat is challenging two-term Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) in the 49th senatorial district. PA Dems hope that the chair of the Erie Democratic Party can topple Laughlin and move them one seat closer to a majority position in Harrisburg.
Republicans presently hold a 28-22 advantage in the state Senate, but Democrats are hopeful that Wertz, along with Rep. Patty Kim (D-Dauphin) in SD-15 and Nicole Ruscitto in SD-37, can flip those seats. And with a Democratic governor in Josh Shapiro, that would put Dems in control of the chamber for the first time since 1994.
Wertz never anticipated running for office. The first member of the family to graduate from college, he was a union broadcaster and production manager for WICU-TV before founding his own production company.
He was elected Chair of the Erie County Democratic Party in 2018 and was moved to run for office since “Republicans in Harrisburg have shown they can’t be trusted to fight for our country, our schools, or the rights of workers to earn a living wage.”
The capper was while Wertz was serving as a contributing writer for a local alternative monthly – The Erie Reader. He wrote an opinion article entitled, “Erie at Large: A Congressman and a State Senator Walk Into a Bar” – suggesting that U.S. Congressman Mike Kelly (R-16) and Laughlin sought to invalidate mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election and that the pair were on proposed pardon lists in front of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle.
Laughlin sued both Wertz and the paper for $1 million in defamation. While some of the attorney fees were picked up pro bono, other additional costs would bankrupt the alt-biweekly.
The lawsuit propelled Wertz into the race and, while his lawsuit is still pending, has Pennsylvania Democrats dreaming of what could be.
Erie is one of the bellwether counties in the Commonwealth with the county moving back and forth between Barack Obama, Trump, and Joe Biden. As Erie steps back into the national spotlight, the downballot state Senate race may get outsized attention.
Democrats have nearly a 12,000-voter edge in registration over Republicans in a recent report from the Department of State. Both camps will be looking to keep their partisans in the fold while finding ways to attract the more than 18,000 independents in the district to their side.
One of the political groups that national Republicans have railed against – immigrants – now make up nearly 25 percent of Erie’s population. Combine that with a coalition of labor and civil rights groups and Wertz believes that he can carry the day.
“(Erie) a place of immigrants, old and new, protestant and catholic, Muslim and Jewish – Irish, polish, Italian, African, Latino, and Eastern European – and like them, I had an immigrant’s love of this town,” said Wertz in his campaign announcement.
“I’m running for State Senate because I believe that the people of Erie deserve a senator who will embrace democracy and jealously guard our right to vote, not someone who would trade it for personal power or the whims of their party. Pennsylvania is the cradle of democracy and Erie is its last line of defense.”
Laughlin, chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and Vice Chairman of the Game and Fisheries Committee, and his wife were sued by The Erie Reader for “stealing” hundreds of free copies of the paper, because they believed the column defamed the senator.
His wife, Peggy, said she took the free papers to “prevent maybe somebody from reading all of the ridiculous, unjustified, completely dishonest, unprovoked attacks on my husband.” He testified that he collected 20 “nice, crisp, fresh copies for myself.”
The lawsuit was dismissed last week.
For his part, Wertz says he is focuses on seeing Erie becoming a welcoming community for newcomers and longtime residents alike.
“I was on the beach this past weekend with my family, and the beach was full of immigrants and new Americans. And it was, it was exciting,” says Wertz. “It was invigorating.”
Laughlin was reelected after a 20-point win over Julie Slomski in 2022.
Jim Wertz spent his early professional years behind a camera before moving to the head of the class as a professor at Edinboro (now PennWest) University.
Now, he steps on center stage as a political candidate who could help turn the Pennsylvania Senate from red to blue.
The Erie Democrat is challenging two-term Republican incumbent Sen. Dan Laughlin (R-Erie) in the 49th senatorial district. PA Dems hope that the chair of the Erie Democratic Party can topple Laughlin and move them one seat closer to a majority position in Harrisburg.
Republicans presently hold a 28-22 advantage in the state Senate, but Democrats are hopeful that Wertz, along with Rep. Patty Kim (D-Dauphin) in SD-15 and Nicole Ruscitto in SD-37, can flip those seats. And with a Democratic governor in Josh Shapiro, that would put Dems in control of the chamber for the first time since 1994.
Wertz never anticipated running for office. The first member of the family to graduate from college, he was a union broadcaster and production manager for WICU-TV before founding his own production company.
He was elected Chair of the Erie County Democratic Party in 2018 and was moved to run for office since “Republicans in Harrisburg have shown they can’t be trusted to fight for our country, our schools, or the rights of workers to earn a living wage.”
The capper was while Wertz was serving as a contributing writer for a local alternative monthly – The Erie Reader. He wrote an opinion article entitled, “Erie at Large: A Congressman and a State Senator Walk Into a Bar” – suggesting that U.S. Congressman Mike Kelly (R-16) and Laughlin sought to invalidate mail-in ballots for the 2020 presidential election and that the pair were on proposed pardon lists in front of former President Donald Trump’s inner circle.
Laughlin sued both Wertz and the paper for $1 million in defamation. While some of the attorney fees were picked up pro bono, other additional costs would bankrupt the alt-biweekly.
The lawsuit propelled Wertz into the race and, while his lawsuit is still pending, has Pennsylvania Democrats dreaming of what could be.
Erie is one of the bellwether counties in the Commonwealth with the county moving back and forth between Barack Obama, Trump, and Joe Biden. As Erie steps back into the national spotlight, the downballot state Senate race may get outsized attention.
Democrats have nearly a 12,000-voter edge in registration over Republicans in a recent report from the Department of State. Both camps will be looking to keep their partisans in the fold while finding ways to attract the more than 18,000 independents in the district to their side.
One of the political groups that national Republicans have railed against – immigrants – now make up nearly 25 percent of Erie’s population. Combine that with a coalition of labor and civil rights groups and Wertz believes that he can carry the day.
“(Erie) a place of immigrants, old and new, protestant and catholic, Muslim and Jewish – Irish, polish, Italian, African, Latino, and Eastern European – and like them, I had an immigrant’s love of this town,” said Wertz in his campaign announcement.
“I’m running for State Senate because I believe that the people of Erie deserve a senator who will embrace democracy and jealously guard our right to vote, not someone who would trade it for personal power or the whims of their party. Pennsylvania is the cradle of democracy and Erie is its last line of defense.”
Laughlin, chair of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and Vice Chairman of the Game and Fisheries Committee, and his wife were sued by The Erie Reader for “stealing” hundreds of free copies of the paper, because they believed the column defamed the senator.
His wife, Peggy, said she took the free papers to “prevent maybe somebody from reading all of the ridiculous, unjustified, completely dishonest, unprovoked attacks on my husband.” He testified that he collected 20 “nice, crisp, fresh copies for myself.”
The lawsuit was dismissed last week.
For his part, Wertz says he is focuses on seeing Erie becoming a welcoming community for newcomers and longtime residents alike.
“I was on the beach this past weekend with my family, and the beach was full of immigrants and new Americans. And it was, it was exciting,” says Wertz. “It was invigorating.”
Laughlin was reelected after a 20-point win over Julie Slomski in 2022.
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