Wolf speaks at Chesco Dems event

Four women among Democrats running for county offices

VALLEY >> The Chester County Democratic Party displayed not only a sense of new energy at its spring fundraising event, but also a record number of party supporters in attendance, the party leader said Monday.

Chairman Brian McGinnis noted that more than 325 people turned out Sunday to hear Gov. Tom Wolf address them at the Coatesville Country Club in Valley, including candidates for the local row office races and statewide judicial candidates.

“There is a ton of energy in the party,” McGinnis said afterwards, referring to those who attended the event. “We want to keep the momentum going all the way through the primary up to the general election in November.”

Wolf, he said, urged those who appeared to do more than just resist the current state Republican attacks on human rights related to health care, the environment, workers and unions, and immigration. “The state budget has to ask more of our government rather than asking more of our fellow citizens,” the governor said, according to a news release.

According to the release, Wolf singled out former Pittsburgh Steeler Dwayne Woodruff as deserving to be the first black man elected to the office of state Su-

preme Court Justice, “someone who spent his last five years as a player also going

to law school,” and Wolf reminded the supporters that he will be up for re-election next year, as well as U.S. Sen. Bob Casey.

(In fact, the late Chief Justice Robert Nix Jr. was the first black person to be elected to the court, and the first to win statewide office in Pennsylvania. He served from 1984 to 1996.)

“If we keep putting good Democrats up in state and local races, presenting our values, we are going to win those seats,” Wolf was quoted as saying. He said all Democrats should “stand together to defend the America, the Pennsylvania, and the Chester County we know and love,”

and “to resist the temptations of the right-wing extremists; let’s protect the values and priorities that have made our commonwealth truly great.”

There were brief speeches by the four women Democrats running for county offices: Margaret Reif for controller, Patricia Maisano for treasurer, Dr. Christina VandePol for coroner, and Maria Crossan for clerk of courts. It is the first try for elective office for all four.

The Municipal Primary is scheduled for May 16.

Gov. Tom Wolf