McKeesport’s Davis says he has a chance at second-in-command
The race to be the governor’s right hand is a crowded one with three Democrats and nine Republicans all vying for the lieutenant governor’s job, but McKeesport native Austin Davis thinks he has a pretty good shot.
Known as the state’s second-in-command, the lieutenant governor oversees the state Senate, the Board of Paroles and the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency.
Only two in this race, Mr. Davis and Republican Teddy Daniels, have aligned themselves with gubernatorial candidates. Though they don’t officially run on the same ticket until the general election, this type of endorsement isn’t uncommon.
Mr. Davis has teamed up with Josh Shapiro, the only Democratic governor candidate and the current state attorney general.
“I feel really good about my chances,” Mr. Davis said last week. “I think Josh and I have a great relationship and people should feel [that in] the way we’ve run this campaign.”
The two have campaigned together, including this past week, ahead of Tuesday’s primary.
“That’s not just for show,” Mr. Davis said. “We’re dedicated to having a real partnership and working together as a team.”
A state representative for the 35th District, Mr. Davis was elected in 2018, and was the district’s first Black representative.
If things go his way on Tuesday and then again in November, Mr. Davis will be the first person of color elected lieutenant governor, a feat he said he “does not take lightly.”
Mr. Davis boiled down his plan if elected to three main goals, one of which is supporting a strong economy in Pennsylvania, particularly in helping those who are “struggling to recover” from the pandemic.
The second goal is to make sure children are getting a quality education.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the strong public schools and public school teachers I had at McKeesport public schools,” Mr. Davis said.
The final goal is to “make surethattheCommonwealth is a partner in creating laddersof opportunities for folks to join the middle class.”
This would include such things as raising the minimum wage, increasing access to affordable health care and lowering prescription drug costs, Mr. Davis said.
Current Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party have backed his candidacy.
He also has been endorsed by Planned Parenthood and said he was proud that he had voted against “every single bill to restrict a woman’s right to choose.”
The other candidate building a relationship with a gubernatorial hopeful is Mr. Daniels. He has aligned himself with state Sen. Doug Mastriano, of Franklin County, who is currently leading the polls on the Republican side in the governor’s race.
Hailing from Wayne County, Mr. Daniels, like many of the other GOP candidates, is anti-abortion and pro-Second Amendment and has previously described himself as a “ruffle-yourfeathers-type person.”
He has also openly spoken about making health care more affordable through things like lowering the cost of prescription drugs.
The veteran and retired police officer has recently been making news for a temporary protection-fromabuse order that his wife had filed against him. A judge dismissed the order on May 6 after attorneys questioned the motivation behind it.
Despite his endorsement from Mr. Mastriano, Mr. Daniels’ court battles may have opened the door for another Republican to gain traction among voters.
State Rep. Carrie DelRosso, of Oakmont, has been making her rounds across Pennsylvania over the last week, meeting with voters.
Part of Ms. DelRosso’s campaign has centered on her victory over Democrat Frank Dermody in the 33rd House District in 2020. Mr.
Dermody, who was the House minority leader at the time, had been the district’s incumbent since 1991.
In an interview Ms. DelRosso did with the Lackawanna County Commissioner Chris Chermak on May 9, she said she “knocked on 13,000 doors” to win that district.
“[I had] a decent relationship with him,” she said of Mr. Dermody during the interview. “But I thought it was time for him to retire, and he didn’t want to retire so, unfortunately, I had to retire him.”
Her focus has been on bringing jobs back to Pennsylvania and preventing further COVID-19-related shutdowns, she said. She has also given her full support to backing law enforcement and received an endorsement from the Pittsburgh police union.
The others
Joining Mr. Davis in the race on the Democratic side are state Rep. Brian Sims and Ray Sosa.
Mr. Sims, of Philadelphia, has served in the state House since 2013. He was the first openly gay person elected to
the General Assembly.
He believes in criminal justice reform; being the overseer of the Board of Pardons is a good way to “bring justice to those who have been falsely imprisoned,” he said.
Mr. Sosa, of suburban Philadelphia, ran for lieutenant governor in 2018 as the first Pennsylvania Latino do so, against eventual winner John Fetterman.
He has not previously held a public office, but has served on various emergency response task forces under former Pennsylvania governors Tom Ridge, Mark Schweiker and Ed Rendell, according to PennLive.
In addition to Mr. Daniels, there are eight other Republicans vying for the nomination including former state Rep. Rick Saccone of Elizabeth Township.
Mr. Saccone served four terms in the state House from 2011 to 2019. He ran for Congress during the 2018 special election where he lost to current U.S. Rep. Conor Lamb.
Mr. Saccone received backlash for his involvement in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot in Washington, D.C.. He
never entered the building, but posted a video on Facebook showing him standing outside the Capitol in view of the rioters, yelling things that were taken by some as encouragement.
The video led to him resigning from his job as an adjunct professor at Saint Vincent College.
Mr. Saccone has built his lieutenant governor’s campaign on issues like tax reform and protecting the Second Amendment.
Russ Diamond, currently in his fourth term in the Legislature, also has shifted his focus from the House of Representatives to the lieutenant governor’s seat. His goal is to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the government, he said.
Also on the Republican ballot is another former state representative, Jeff Coleman, of Hershey; Northampton County Councilman John Brown; New Castle Mayor Chris Frye; former legislative aide Clarice Schillinger of Montgomery County; and businessman James Jones of Hatboro.