It’s been six years since he shocked Democratic powerbrokers in Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. Now Joe Sestak is trying to do it again.
In 2010, Sestak won the Democratic senatorial nomination from Pennsylvania, beating the party leadership’s preferred choice Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter. Six years later, Sestak is running against Katie McGinty, former chief of staff to Gov. Tom Wolf, who has been endorsed by President Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Bob Casey.
Once again, Sestak is winning.
With only two weeks left until primary day, Sestak continues to lead McGinty in the polls, leaving many Democrats worried he’ll win the nomination and perhaps lose to incumbent Republican Sen. Pat Toomey for a second time. Pennsylvania is one of the states that will decide whether Democrats retake the Senate majority from Republicans in November.
T.J. Rooney, who chaired the Pennsylvania Democratic Party in 2010 when Sestak fell to Toomey by two points, believes the former Democratic congressman’s personality and past dealings with the establishment in the state rubs state Democrats the wrong way.
“A lot of times when you run the first time and you come up short and you intend to run again, you try to figure out maybe what some of your shortcomings are and try to overcome them. Joe Sestak doesn’t do that,” Rooney told the Washington Examiner. “Everybody else has shortcomings except Joe Sestak — just ask him.”
“He’s never reached out to anybody. He’s called people names and he says the game is unfair. He runs television ads … that say he was running against the establishment. I’ve got news for you: The establishment paved the way for him not to have a primary because Joe Sestak didn’t want to have a primary when he ran for Congress in 2006,” Rooney said mockingly. “It wasn’t these martians that he says sent him here — it was people who picked up the phone … and cleared the way because Joe Sestak didn’t want a primary. He didn’t call the fairy godmother when he didn’t want a primary — he called the establishment.”
Thanks to Donald Trump and the Republican presidential contest, Toomey’s seat is in danger. While he leads both Sestak and McGinty in head-to-head polling, the University of Virginia Center for Politics recently shifted Toomey’s seat (along with Ohio Sen. Rob Portman’s) from “Leans Republican” to “Toss-up,” giving renewed hopes to Keystone State Democrats.
Democratic leaders have been trying to boost McGinty’s chances. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has $1.1 million in ad buys lined up for the final two weeks of the campaign, with Biden and other heavy hitters having started to hit the road for her. But name ID has continued to keep Sestak’s numbers high, as well as ads hitting the airwaves last month promoting his military career.
“Undecided still seems to be the big vote getter,” said Pennsylvania Democratic chairman Marcel Groen. “[McGinty] didn’t have much of a base that she could go to and she has to combat Sestak’s volunteers, and with the institutional support I think she can. But I’m not prepared to call a winner at all.”
Few within Democratic circles underestimate Sestak’s drive, given his rigorous campaign schedule and non-stop courting of voters since his 2010 loss. What they do question is his ability to actually beat Toomey and the Republicans.
“If you’re a partisan Democrat or Republican and a skunk is your nominee, you’re going to support the s—- out of that skunk. You may hold your nose, but you’re going to support it. So its not about that — we’re used to supporting skunks,” Rooney said, adding later that he likes McGinty’s chances to close the deficit with Sestak. “He’s just a different breed of cat … You’d need Dr. Freud, $100,000 and a couch to try to figure all that out.”
“He goes about his politics in a very, very different way. God bless him,” he added. “Maybe he’ll be successful. Who knows, but I don’t think he will.”
