The Pennsylvania GOP refused to endorse any statewide candidates for office, leaving the Republican primary ahead of the November race to replace outgoing Sen. Pat Toomey wide open.
The Pennsylvania Republican Party’s vote at a meeting Saturday in Lancaster rejecting all statewide endorsements had been predicted by party leadership for months. But with the term-limited Gov. Tom Wolf set to depart office after this election cycle, Saturday’s vote marked the first time in decades when the state had both its Senate seat and governorship open.
The vote result was particularly hard on real estate developer Jeff Bartos, who performed well in the straw polls of committee members in the weeks leading up to the vote but has been struggling financially and in state polls.
“These straw polls have been the only votes cast in this election — and the results are clear,” Bartos’s campaign manager Conor McGuinness said, according to Politico. “Republicans prefer an actual Pennsylvanian, an actual conservative, to slick TV ads from out-of-state pretenders.”
PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRATS, FACING DWINDLING NUMBERS, DECLINE TO ENDORSE IN CROWDED SENATE RACE
Current front-runners in the Senate race are television personality and celebrity physician Dr. Mehmet Oz and former hedge fund CEO and West Point graduate David McCormick.
Oz, who announced his run in November, said he was running for office to fix the problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“America should have been the world leader on how to beat the pandemic,” Oz said in the announcement of his candidacy in the Washington Examiner. “Although we had some moments of brilliance, such as the gift to the world of mRNA vaccines made possible by President Donald Trump’s Operation Warp Speed, many great ideas were squashed. That’s not the America my parents came to. That’s not the one I grew up in. That’s not the one I want to leave behind.”
Commentator Kathy Barnette and former Ambassador to Denmark Carla Sands are among the other candidates vying for the Republican nomination.
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The Pennsylvania Democratic Party also decided not to endorse any of its candidates for any primaries last week. Both primaries are set for May 17.
The Pennsylvania Senate race is widely expected to be among the most competitive in the nation.
