Tea Party U.S. Senator Pat Toomey (R. PA) today revealed his big re-election strategy:
Pennsylvania Senator Pat Toomey addressed the dilemma of running for re-election with Donald Trump at the top of his party’s ticket come November and believes there are both positives and negatives that could impact his fate.
Toomey, talking with Chris Stigall on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, stated there are currently no plans to coordinate their efforts inside the commonwealth.
“I’m definitely going to run my own campaign. We will run separate campaigns. Whether our paths cross, whether we are together at an event, I don’t know. I don’t rule that out. That would be a function of the logistics and what makes sense on a given moment in the campaign.”
He believes that while the specter of Trump presents a full array of possibilities, he will just focus on defeating his opponent.
“I think Pennsylvania voters are very capable of distinguishing between two completely separate people, candidates, different races. Pennsylvania is famous for ticket splitting. Donald Trump might win Pennsylvania. He could win Pennsylvania. He could win this general election. He could drive turnout in a way that is very helpful to guys like me and also some of the things he has said have been outrageous. And they are offensive. That could be problematic. But I think that voters have a sense of who I am and they’re going to make the decision in my race based on the contrast between me and Katie McGinty.”
But Toomey’s big strategy of going after McGinty involves anti-immigration fear mongering that Trump is known for:
After blasting his Democratic challenger repeatedly over comments on sanctuary cities, Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey took the issue back to the Senate floor with a proposal to penalize local officials who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration officials.
The amendment that Toomey introduced Wednesday would strip federal community development money from cities or counties that do not detain prisoners suspected of being in the country illegally or that decline to share information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
"Sanctuary cities impose a very real cost," Toomey said in a floor speech. "It's entirely reasonable for the federal government to withhold some of these grants in the event that a city chooses to inflict that cost on the rest of us."
The proposal comes on the heels of U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson visiting Philadelphia to urge the city to notify agents when immigrants in custody are about to be released.
Philadelphia's policy, which Mayor Jim Kenney reinstated at the beginning of the year, bars almost all cooperation between city police officers and federal immigration agents.
Philadelphia isn't alone: At least 32 Pennsylvania counties — including Lehigh County — have either formal or unwritten policies on not honoring immigration agency requests, according to a 2015 report from Temple University's Beasley School of Law.
Johnson and other federal officials say agents target violent criminals, but immigrant advocates have condemned the detention policy as undermining community trust.
Toomey's measure is his latest move in a weeks-long campaign effort to criticize Democrat Katie McGinty for her views on Philadelphia's policy.
Toomey thinks he found the issue that will take down McGinty and has been even been trying to label McGinty as #PhillyMcGinty on Twitter but there’s just one problem:
Democrat Katie McGinty, who is challenging Mr. Toomey in November’s general election, blames the incumbent for being part of the problem because he has not supported comprehensive reforms that would take undocumented immigrants out of the shadows.
The Toomey campaign shot back through the senator’s official Twitter account, repeatedly calling her #PhillyMcGinty. The hashtag drew rebukes from Philadelphians on Twitter who chided him for invoking their city as an insult.
Mr. Toomey said Wednesday that it refers only to Ms. McGinty’s refusal to condemn Philadelphia’s sanctuary policy.
“The last thing I’d ever do is make a generalized slam against Philadelphia. I love Philadelphia. I have a lot of support in Philadelphia,” he said. “This isn’t about Philadelphia. This is about Philadelphia’s sanctuary-city policy, which Katie McGinty supports.”
That’s not entirely accurate.
Ms. McGinty supports the Department of Homeland Security’s new Priorities Enforcement Program, which is less stringent than Philadelphia’s policy. It emphasizes notification over detainment and focuses on undocumented immigrants who are considered threats. Priorities Enforcement replaced the Secure Communities Program, which had called for local law enforcement to detain undocumented immigrants at the Department of Homeland Security’s request.
And McGinty has been pointing out how Toomey is dissing 1.5 million of his constituents:
Naturally, McGinty’s campaign slammed the, er, nickname saying Toomey “has turned to the Trump playbook of insults.”
“Pat Toomey is supposed to be a proud representative for all Pennsylvanians in the U.S. Senate,” McGinty spokesman Josh Levitt said, “but instead he decided to use the Commonwealth’s largest city — where 1.6 million of his constituents live — as a punch line.”
Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia-based political strategist and principal of Ceisler Communications, said Pennsylvania Republicans often utilize a “time-honored tradition” of tying Democrats to Philly. He said the move to isolate the city of Philadelphia in campaign materials or on social media isn’t usually done without some sort of polling or research to back it up, but it does have the potential to backfire.
“If his campaign… takes a shot at McGinty for being partial to Philadelphia, does the inverse say that Toomey does not care about Philadelphia?” he said. “That’s sort of the chance that you take.”
Sure, Toomey represents Philadelphia now as the incumbent senator and he’s from the Lehigh Valley. But the Republican doesn’t exactly need Philadelphia to win statewide re-election, as the Democratic base is concentrated here where voter registration is nearly 8 to 1 in favor of the Dems.
When Toomey won statewide in 2010 — a non-presidential election year that probably had lower turnout than this year will — he beat Democrat Joe Sestak by just two points statewide but only won 15 percent of the vote in Philadelphia. He and Sestak split the four counties surrounding Philly. Toomey fared much better in the “T” portion of the state, or the areas that are not Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
Former Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican who also won statewide election in 2010, took 17 percent of the votes in Philly and also won Chester and Bucks… while losing in Delaware and Montgomery counties. Things could be different though this year, as it’s a presidential election year and Democrats enjoy a voter registration advantage of nearly a million people statewide. With Donald Trump on the top of the ticket, experts say Toomey will work to localize the election specific to Pennsylvania as much as possible.
Ceisler, who is originally from south Pittsburgh, said there’s an inherent bias against Philadelphia in many parts of the state. Tying McGinty exclusively to Philadelphia could work — or it could engender resentment for Toomey in the city and its suburbs.
Billy Penn points out that this attack strategy is reminiscent of Senator Ted Cruz’s (R. TX) (who Toomey voted for in the primary) “New York Values” line of attack against Donald Trump. With the Democratic National Convention taking place in Philadelphia this year, Toomey may have opened a big opportunity for McGinty energize the base in both the city and the suburbs. We can’t allow Toomey to scare the voters into giving him second term and stopping comprehensive immigration reform from becoming a reality. Click here to donate and get involved with McGinty’s campaign.