SEEKING THE SPOTLIGHT
Pennsylvania politicians in New York City to network, raise funds
With midterm elections over, and a crop of fresh new faces on Pennsylvania’s political scene, this year’s annual weekend of schmoozing and networking in New York City — ironically called the Pennsylvania Society — will be all about jostling for the spotlight.
The mad dash to Manhattan this week is ostensibly to attend some government-like forums, but it’s mostly to raise funds, party and — for the ambitious — draw attention. The itinerary features an exhaustive list of dinners, receptions and cocktail parties (most invitation-only) hosted by law firms, lobbyists, and others with a financial stake in Keystone State government and politics.
The burning topic of conversation tends to be less about policy and more about who is showing up where — and why.
Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who has fanned chatter that he may run for president in 2020, will be making a return appearance. So will state House Speaker Mike Turzai, R-Bradford Woods, who many believe will try to position himself early on as the favored GOP candidate for a gubernatorial nomination; and Jeff Bartos, who, though unsuccessful this month in his Republican run for lieutenant governor, has already sparked speculation about his next political move.
Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat who just won re-election, decided to sit it out this year. Mr. Wolf has never been a big fan of the annual trek north, which even those who enthusiastically attend acknowledge is largely for the political elite and the people who want something from them.
Democrats are expected to spend time doing a victory lap, celebrating key pickups in Congress, as well as in both chambers of the state Legislature, while retaining the governorship.
Republicans are likely to downplay the significance of their losses while privately regrouping to map out what many expect will be an unabashedly more conservative policy agenda leading up to the 2020 election.
That year — with Pennsylvania again expected to be a battleground in the race for president — has the
potential to shape politics and governing in the state for the next decade. All seats in the state House, as well as half those in the state Senate, will be up for grabs. Whoever snags majorities in those chambers controls the brass ring of legislating: the once-in-adecade redistricting process, during which maps are drawn for congressional and state legislative districts.
As it stands, Republicans control both the state House and Senate. But Democrats this month took a sizable chunk out of those majorities and are plotting to further erode GOP control in 2020.
Given those stakes, both parties will be looking for political stars to lead the way.
“Now, we wait to see who will emerge as the next series of leaders,” said political pollster and analyst G. Terry Madonna of Franklin & Marshall College.
The Pennsylvania Society can be the place where such reputations are made. For decades, the event — capped by a Saturday night ballroom dinner — was held inside the gilded halls and reception rooms of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in midtown Manhattan and was the place to see and be seen.
Last year, because of renovations at the Waldorf, the event was transplanted to the far less glamorous Hilton Midtown. The storied Waldorf remains closed this year, so this weekend’s event is again be at the Hilton.
Mr. Casey is holding a reception, as he does most years. But this time around, there is more buzz around him. After his victory in the 2018 election over GOP challenger Rep. Lou Barletta, Mr. Casey was asked by NBC News if he planned to run for president in 2020.
His response: “We’ll see what happens.”