The knives are out for John Morganelli, the anti-immigration, pro-Trump district attorney for Northampton County who, it might surprise you, is in fact seeking the Democratic nod in Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District. EMILY's List, which has endorsed former Allentown solicitor Susan Wild, and Tom Steyer's NextGen America, which hasn't otherwise taken sides in the May 15 primary, are spending six figures apiece on separate efforts slamming Morganelli.
EMILY is running a TV ad, backed by a $105,000 buy, that goes hard at Morganelli, saying he "opposes a woman's right to choose," "took thousands from an organization tied to an anti-immigrant hate group," (more on that here), and "even suggested he hoped to serve in Trump's administration," which he did in a now-deleted tweet shortly after Trump won in 2016. (EMILY has also spent $80,000 in recent days to run a separate pro-Wild spot.)
NextGen, meanwhile, is putting $100,000 into a digital and mail campaign, though their online ad is just 10 seconds long and simply says, "We can’t let this Pro-Trump candidate win our Dem primary. Stop Morganelli. VOTE May 15." As we've noted previously, though, Morganelli benefits from a split on his left between Wild and pastor Greg Edwards, who has the support of Bernie Sanders. We'll soon see if this late effort is enough to stop him.