Democratic candidates meet public
A large crowd of curious voters turned out Thursday to meet Democratic congressional and state House candidates.
The event, at the Steamfitters Technology Center in Harmony, gave voters a chance to hear from Congressional candidates:
16th District, which includes Butler and nearly all of western Butler County — Ron DiNicola, Dr. Rob Multari and Chris Rieger. Much of the 16th is the former 3rd Congressional District, currently represented by Republican Mike Kelly of Butler since January 2011.
14th District (Washington, Greene, Westmoreland, Fayette counties) Amy Fazio.
Also state House candidates:
8th District (north central Butler County and eastern Mercer County) Lisa Boeving-Learned.
12th District (Cranberry, Adams, Forward, Penn, Clinton and Middlesex townships) state House candidates Honora Rockar and Daniel Smith Jr. both seek to unseat Daryl Metcalfe, the Republican incumbent since 1999.
Butler County Democratic committee volunteer Catherine Lalonde said the event's goal was to increase the involvement of Democrats in the county.“It's time we stop hearing people say 'I thought I was the only Democrat in the county,'” she said. “We're going to have an active presence in the county.”Each candidate presented the reasons they're running and vision for the future.Rieger, along with many of the other candidates, believes this is the year Democrats turn out to vote in Butler County.“In all of these special elections that we're seeing across America where Democrats are over performing by 9, 10, 15 and sometimes 20 points or more,” Rieger said. “This is a newfound wave environment and what we've done is we've embraced these new emerging grassroots organizations and grassroots activists all across Pennsylvania's 16th District.”To learn more about the candidates present, the full story is in Sunday's Butler Eagle.
