State Republican lawmaker wins 12th District House seat
Republican state Rep. Fred Keller easily beat Penn State University professor Marc Friedenberg, a Democrat, in a special election Tuesday in Pennsylvania’s heavily Republican 12th District.
The seat was vacated in January by former Rep. Tom Marino, a Republican who left for a job in the private sector. With 53%of precincts reporting, Mr. Keller had 70% of the vote compared with nearly 30% for Mr. Friedenberg.
Mr. Friedenberg was also the Democratic nominee in 2018, when he lost to Mr. Marino by 32 percentage points.
Pennsylvania redrew its congressional districts in 2018. The current 12th District, which covers a large and deeply conservative swath of the north and central parts of the state, voted 66.1% for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
Shortly after beginning his fifth term in Congress, Mr. Marino announced in January that he was resigning later that month to take a job in the private sector.
Mr. Trump nominated Mr. Marino to be the nation’s drug czar in 2017. But Mr. Marino withdrew from consideration in the wake of a “60 Minutes” investigation detailing the lawmaker’s role as the chief architect of a law that undermined government efforts to crack down on the opioid industry.
Mr. Trump tweeted his support of Mr. Keller on Monday and made a campaign stop in the district to rally support for him. At a rally in Montoursville, Mr. Trump called Mr. Keller a “tough man” who is “tough on crime.”
“He loves our military. He loves our police. He loves our vets. And he will always protect patients . ... We will always protect preexisting conditions,” said Mr. Trump, despite his administration’s efforts to gut the Affordable Care Act.
Health care looms as a major issue in 2020, with the Trump administration pushing the courts to declare the ACA unconstitutional. The 2010 law ensures coverage for Americans with pre-existing medical conditions. Republicans have failed to craft a health care plan that provides the same benefits.
Mr. Keller, wearing a bright red tie and dark jacket, bore an uncanny resemblance to Mr. Trump as he stood next to the president onstage.
“The people of northeastern and north-central Pennsylvania have been behind you since Day One,” he told Mr. Trump. “And Mr. President, our support for you is as strong today as it ever was. In 2016, Pennsylvania put Donald Trump over the top. And in 2020, we’re gonna do it again!”
Mr. Friedenberg responded to the rally in a tweet Monday night.
“If tonight tells you one thing, let it be this. Our campaign is fueled by every day, working people, while our opponent @VoteFredKeller has vowed to be nothing more than a puppet for corporate interests,” the Democrat said.
Mr. Friedenberg had repeatedly sought to tie Mr. Keller to Mr. Trump’s trade policies, which he argued are hurting Pennsylvania’s agriculture and manufacturing industries.
After Tuesday’s election, there will be two remaining vacancies in the 116th Congress. One is in North Carolina’s scandal-plagued 9th District; the other is for the seat of the late representative Walter Jones, R-N.C. Both vacancies will be filled after special elections in September.