GOP selects Saccone for race
other Republicans: state Rep. Jason Ortitay of Bridgeville, state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler of Jefferson Hills and state Sen. Kim Ward of Hempfield. The district itself ranges across four counties: Allegheny, Greene, Washington and Westmoreland.
Mr. Saccone attributed his success partly to his military service — he served as an Air Force flight mechanic and later worked in counterintelligence — as well his experience overseas, particularly in Korea. He spent a year in North Korea as part of an effort to prevent the regime there from developing nuclear weapons, and spent 12 years in South Korea.
“One of the things people told me they were concerned about [is] national security and terrorism,” he said. “They’re worried about our country.”
But geographical considerations and personal rivalries also apparently played a role in Saturday’s outcome.
Some 215 conferees were chosen by county leaders, in proportion to the votes cast for Mr. Trump in each county last year. Winning the nomination required winning an outright majority of those votes: If no candidate cleared that bar, the candidate with the lowest number of votes was removed for thenext round of voting.
Mr. Ortitay withdrew prior to balloting. On the first round of voting, Mr. Reschenthaler led with 75 votes to Mr. Saccone’s 74. Ms. Ward had 66 votes and was removed from the contest. Most of her votes evidently migrated to Mr. Saccone, who won a second ballot by a count of 123-91.
The elevation of Mr. Saccone, who joked about having no campaign staff and had been running for U.S. Senate until Mr. Murphy resigned from the 18th District seat last month, stunned supporters of Mr. Reschenthaler. Many observers assumed he was the frontrunner. But there is little love lost between him and Ms. Ward, and insiders said that after her elimination, Ms. Ward urged her supporters in Westmoreland County to backMr. Saccone.
Ms. Ward would only say that “I talked to them privately, but that’s going to stay private. … I think we have two really good candidates.” But she did allow that Mr. Saccone had considerable support in Westmoreland, which she described as a conservative county. “He is a very fiery guy,” she said.
As for Mr. Reschenthaler, she called him a “very nice young man.”
Mr. Reschenthaler, who called for the conferees to endorse Mr. Saccone by universal acclamation, declined to address what he called “procedural questions.”
Mr. Saccone’s selection comes days after a general election in which Republican setbacks in Virginia and elsewhere were seen as a referendum on Mr. Trump’s sagging popularity. But Val DiGiorgio, who chairs the state Republican Party, said, “In this part of the state, the president is very popular.” Mr. Saccone, he said, “has the right message for southwestern Pennsylvania.”
Kim Stolfer, the president of Second Amendment advocacy group Firearm Owners Against Crime, hailed the selection. “Our nation needs quality leaders with impeccable credentials,” Mr. Stolfer said. “He fits the bill in spades.”
Brandon Cwalina, press secretary of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, said in a statement, “It seems like just yesterday State Representative Rick Saccone was trying to convince Pennsylvania he should be their next US Senator. Desperate to get to D.C. andimplement draconian policies on behalf of President Trump, like giving tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of teachers and first responders, Saccone now wantsto run for Congress.”
Democratic committee members will gather to recommend their own nominee next Sunday in a caucus to be held in Washington, Pa.
Mr. Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, resigned last month after news reports that he had an extramarital affair, encouraged his mistress to get an abortion and treated his staff poorly.