GOP stresses getting voters to the polls
Butler County Republicans held their fall dinner Friday, and much of the event was dedicated to shining lights on three candidates: U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly, who is running for the 16th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Glenn “G.T.” Thompson, who is running for the 15th and Jeff Bartos, who is running as gubernatorial challenger Scott Wagner's lieutenant governor.
Age seemed to be on the candidates' minds Friday, with Bartos probably bringing it up most explicitly.
“This election coming up is about our children and our grandchildren,” Bartos said. “It's about too many of our children and grandchildren leaving the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for green pastures in Texas and Florida and South Carolina and other states that have great conservative, free market executive leadership. We need that in Pennsylvania.”
In an interview before his speech, Thompson mentioned retirees at Penn United Technologies.
“They're having 50-year-olds retiring because they did so well,” Thompson said. “We need to help get young people in who can fill those jobs.”
Before County Republican chairman Al Lindsay launched into his introductions, he had the room's youngest person, 12-year-old Isaac Pawlowicz, lead the room in the Pledge of Allegiance. He offered Isaac the microphone for a word as well, but the kid turned him down.
What was Isaac there to do?
“To help out and support Congressman Kelly,” he said.
And what is it that Kelly is so worked up about?
“I don't think our nation has ever been at greater peril than it is right now,” Kelly said.
All three men, along with the various state and local level candidates in the room, stressed voting in the Nov. 6 midterm.
For candidates like Kelly, Butler represents a base of conservative voters that such Republican candidates want to turn out in a few weeks. Lindsay conducted an informal interview with Kelly and Thompson as the main event of the evening, with both men telling their own origin stories as politicians and stumping for their campaigns.
Lindsay spoke some about President Donald Trump's recent appearance in Erie. Trump merchandise was intermingled among the candidates' signs and pamphlets. Both Kelly and Thompson associate themselves with Trump. A Trump-themed teddy bear was auctioned off during the event.Asked about polling projections which generally pick Democrats as the favorite to win the U.S. House of Representatives, Thompson again referenced the president.“My game plan is to not let that happen,” he said. “If polling always turned out to be true, Donald Trump wouldn't be our president today.Butler County Sheriff Mike Slupe spoke to campaign for Senate candidate Lou Barletta and Bartos did his own share of proxy campaigning for his running mate, Wagner.“Yeah, I'm the smaller name on the signs,” Bartos joked to one table. In an interview, he assured that he isn't having trouble with name-recognition and was only joking.Several accusations of bad conduct by Democratic candidates were made, but no stage time was devoted to Wagner's recent suggestion that he'd stomp on Gov. Tom Wolf's face with golf cleats. Bartos mentioned that “folks at the DEP” weren't prepared for Wagner.After all, the night mainly focused on Republican celebrating and networking. Lindsay, on his way into the event's main room, put simply his goal for the night.“Help people have fun,” he said.
