Mercuri announces bid for Congress against Deluzio
WASHINGTON — Republican state Rep. Rob Mercuri announced Tuesday that he would seek the U.S. House seat held by freshman Democrat Chris Deluzio in what is widely seen as Western Pennsylvania’s most competitive House race.
A veteran who owns a UPS store with his wife in Pine, Mr. Mercuri, R-Pine, cast the race in the 17th District as a fight over partisanship and values in a critical battleground state that he said has been weakened by an “overreaching Biden administration.”
He did not mention Mr. Deluzio — who has stuck to progressive positions since winning election last fall in the 17th.
“Western Pennsylvanians are tired of partisan politics failing to deliver solutions,” Mr. Mercuri said. “As a veteran, I know that America is worth fighting for. As a father, I care deeply about our future. As a small business owner, I know that anything is possible here with hard work. I’m running for Congress to help restore the promise of prosperity to our region and to revive the American dream so each one of us has the opportunity to thrive.”
Mr. Mercuri enters the race four months after the Rev. Jim Nelson, the senior pastor of New Birth Ministries in Duquesne, announced he would run in the Republican primary.
Mr. Nelson, a retired law enforcement officer, and Mr. Deluzio, a voting rights attorney, are also veterans.
Located just outside the city of Pittsburgh, the 17th is a swing district featuring both suburbanites who have left the Republican Party during the Trump era and rural, working-class voters who have broken with Democrats.
Mr. Deluzio won an open seat by defeating businessman and former Ross Township commissioner Jeremy Shaffer in one of last year’s most expensive Congressional contests.
During his first eight months in office, Mr. Deluzio already has had a role in crafting major legislation, relying on his military background as a member of the House Armed Services Committee during the debate on legislation setting defense policy.
The competitive nature of the 17th District prompted the House Democrats’ campaign arm to name Mr. Deluzio one of the party’s most endangered incumbents. Both the Cook Political Report and Inside Elections, which track congressional races, give Mr. Deluzio a slight edge.
Viet Shelton, spokesman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said Mr. Deluzio already has a strong record to run on as “a fearless fighter for everyday families in his district.”
But Chris Gustafson, a spokesman for the House Republicans’ campaign committee, described Mr. Deluzio as too far left for the region.
“Chris Deluzio is a partyline hack taking his orders from socialist Bernie Sanders to support extreme policies at the expense of Western Pennsylvania,” Mr. Gustafson said. “While families struggle under Bidenomics, Deluzio has been busy voting for higher prices and saddling taxpayers with trillions in debt.”
Mr. Mercuri is a West Point graduate who served in Iraq and later earned an MBA at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He’s worked for two New York City accounting firms as well as PNC Bank. He has represented Pennsylvania’s 28th District in Harrisburg since 2021.
Mr. Mercuri said he’s authored education, finance, autonomous transportation and data privacy overhauls. In his announcement, he aligned himself with congressional Republicans who claim President Joe Biden has pursued “an extreme agenda.”
“I’m running to protect our communities, grow our economy and fight for our future,” he said. “Joe Biden is diminishing our values at home and our role in the world.”
Mr. Deluzio is a graduate of the Naval Academy and a former naval officer who served in Iraq before working with a New York law firm and joining the Brennan Center of Justice to work on voting rights and election security. He has worked with Pitt Cyber on voting issues, technology and civil rights, and was part of the Pitt Faculty Organizing Committee with the United Steelworkers.
Mr. Nelson graduated from McKeesport Area High School with a congressional nomination to West Point, but gave it up when his father fell ill. He served in the U.S. Air Force and Pennsylvania Air National Guard before spending 30 years in law enforcement, including as an Allegheny County deputy sheriff and McKeesport police officer.