Gov. Wolf: Democrats ‘can’t afford’ to let Trump win Pa.

Unlike many of his Democratic counterparts across the country, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf hasn’t made it a routine to publicly lambaste President Donald Trump over his administration’s response to COVID-19.

Mr. Wolf wasn’t as reserved on Monday morning, hopping onto a Zoom call with Pennsylvania’s delegation to the Democratic National Convention and insisting that his party’s presidential nominee, Joe Biden, will inherit a “mess” from Mr. Trump’s presidency if he wins.

Democrats “can’t afford to let” Mr. Trump win Pennsylvania this November, Mr. Wolf said, adding that “there is a real frustration among people who have to deal with the president in terms of [him] just not acting — or acting in ways that are absolutely, well, downright nasty.”

Republican and Democratic governors alike, Mr. Wolf claimed, need what Mr. Biden would bring to the COVID-19 response. “We pine for leadership in the White House,” Mr. Wolf said. “We’re not getting it.”

Mr. Wolf said he’s approaching this election with a “greater sense of urgency” than in 2016, when Mr. Trump carried Pennsylvania by about 44,000 votes. “We have a chance in this election, I think, not only to get Democrats into office, but to re-establish our party as the party that actually is dedicated to making ordinary Pennsylvanians’ lives better,” Mr. Wolf said.

Like other speakers during the state party’s first virtual breakfast session, Mr. Wolf talked of the need to win down-ballot races.

“We have a real shot to take back at least one of the chambers — if not both the chambers — of the general assembly,” Mr. Wolf said of the state Legislature, adding that he’s “working hard to make sure [state legislative candidates] have the ... financial support they need to get elected.”

The party’s entire state congressional delegation will speak at Tuesday’s Pennsylvania breakfast.