So, probably one of the most popular senate races in the country is happening in my own state. And I feel like I should talk about it, since that's coming up soon. I'll be focusing on the democratic side since that's the side I'm registered as and identify more closely as, but I will be discussing both. This is the seat that Pat Toomey is retiring from, Toomey able to hold onto it because 2010 and 2016 were rather red years. Then you have Bob Casey's seat, who seems to hold onto the other one because his election years seem to occur in more blue years like 2012 and 2018. Amazing how in a purple state like PA that one seat keeps going red and the other blue simply because of the timing of their reelection.
Anyway, based on that alone I don't have much faith in the democrats winning the seat given 2022 is shaping up to be very red, but at the same time, this senate election does not look typical. The republicans are running whackjobs and as of right now progressives look like they're dominating the democratic primary. So this might actually swing blue. Anyway, to discuss the varying sides.
Republican primary
The republican side looks rather crowded with around 7 candidates, but 2 seem to really be competitive. David McCormick is the leading option, with an average of 22% of the vote. He seems to be a very corporate candidate looking at his record, and seems to represent the old guard of the republican party. He condemned the January 6th attacks, he's pro globalism, and he even supports LGBT rights. He seems to be a fairly liberal republican.
But he has competition, mostly from Dr. Oz, you know, THAT Dr. Oz. Dr. Oz is at 19% of the vote, and well within the margin of error to win. He's endorsed by Trump, but he's also fairly liberal at times. Honestly, this guy is all over the place looking at wiki. He's pro life, but also pro LGBT. He's against cannibis legalization. He seems to be one of those hydroxychloroquine whackjobs on COVID. Strangely enough he supports universal healthcare in the form of an insurance mandate (same as many moderate democrats). And yeah. He's kind of weird. Anyway, i'm just gonna say I wouldn't take him seriously as he seems to be running for senate based on his celebrity status and trying to pull a Trump. But a lot of republicans seem to like him.
I won't go too far into detail on the other candidates as I'm not really closely paying attention to the republican primary and have no dog in that fight, but there are 5 others running. Kathy Barnette is at 11% in the polls, Jeff Bartos is at 10%, Carla Sands is at 9%, George Bochetto is at 3%, and Sean Gale is at 2%. Let's face it, it's probably Oz or McCormick.
Democratic Primary
The democratic primary is a bit less crowded, with 3 major candidates running according to Ballotpedia. I watched a debate the other night with those three, and it was pretty good. There are a couple more minor candidates running, but the race seems to primarily be of the three.
John Fetterman is the frontrunner, with 37% of the vote. Former Mayor of Braddock, and currently Lieutenant Governor, Fetterman has been overlooked in the past, and in 2016 was deemed "too far left", but now with more experience under his belt he's being taken seriously. And that's good. I like him. He represents a kind of working class progressive brand of politics long forgotten by the democratic party. He supports a $15 minimum wage, medicare for all, and generally holds progressive positions. He is being attacked for a 2013 incident involving pointing a shotgun at a black jogger. Apparently he heard gunshots and essentially being mayor and head of law enforcement at the time decided to apprehend him on the basis that he was a suspect in a potential shooting. he turned out to be wrong, and now the BLM crowd is claiming he was wrong for it, because obvious that sort of thing is touchy. it should be noted even the suspect defends Fetterman for his actions, but it doesn't stop the black community along with rival Malcolm Kenyatta from criticizing him for it.
Conor Lamb is the runner up with 14% of the vote as of now. Lamb is a more establishment politician, more in the mold of Joe Biden. He seems to be a "democrat" through and through and is generally more moderate. While I have seen him make a couple good points in the debate (since progressives tend to overextend their leftism at times, and moderates sometimes pull back on those reins and talk logistics and practicality), I generally am not a fan of his, as he's going to be far more moderate overall. He's a very intelligent and accomplished person for his age, but honestly,he's not in my wing of the democratic party.
Malcolm Kenyatta is an African American from Philly, who grew up in a relatively poor household. He has 6% of the vote as of now. He's also very young, and rather educated and accomplished. Honestly, I like him roughly as much as Fetterman based on the debate. On healthcare, he always mentioned that his mom died rationing her insulin, and that he supports healthcare for all. Honestly, he is a good candidate. too.
There are more minor candidates, but they aren't really getting much recognition at all. Alex Khalil has 2% of the vote and seems to be for medicare for all too. Looking at her other policies she seems to be a standard fare progressive democrat, supporting things like $15 minimum wage, paid family leave, a jobs program, worker's rights, etc.She seems to go a bit further than Fetterman or Kenyatta at times on some issues and I actually really like her despite her lack of visibility or support.
Then there's Kevin Baumlin with 5% of the vote. He's another standard fare democrat who doesn't seem to mention medicare for all but supports other staples.
So who do I support?
Honestly, the field seems largely....redundant to me. Fetterman and Kenyatta seem to have identical platforms. And Fetterman has far more support. So unless you're really gonna make a big deal over his shotgun incident, I don't see a reason not to support Fetterman. Conor Lamb is a bit underwhelming, being the solid establishment option. I'm gonna be honest. I'm really impressed with Khalil, she actually seems to be the one candidate who seems to be more progressive than Fetterman. She supports paid family leave, a job guarantee, and while those sorts of things aren't necessarily my big thing, I kind of have to give points for effort here. Baumlin just seems meh.
Based on policy positions alone, I'd probably rank them as follows
1) Khalil
2) Fetterman/Kenyatta (tie)
4) Lamb
5) Baumlin
As for who I'll support....honestly....I gotta go with Fetterman. Khalil's additional progressive positions are not something I'm willing to fall on my sword on like I will sometimes do in these elections. While often times certain progressive positions will cause me to go against the grain and be like "i'm gonna support this candidate with 2% of the vote because they support UBI or something"....no one here is supporting UBI. Heck, most candidates are supporting almost the same platform. Khalil is marginally more progressive but honestly, I'm not gonna vote my principles over a JOBS PROGRAM. Especially after what I posted yesterday. So...honestly, Fetterman is acceptable, and I'd like to see him win.
Honestly, a huge issue I have in general is that there's very little difference between the candidates. So you get a 2020 effect where it's like you get a crop of candidates who all say similar things with only a few outliers. Except here it's all progressives with one slightly more progressive and the moderates just crapping the bed in general.
Honestly, I'm just gonna support Fetterman. I'd rather ensure that he DOES in fact win and is the nominee.
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