There’s a critical special election in Pennsylvania a month from now where a Democratic nurse who supports universal healthcare is running against a Republican who seems to believe the Clintons ran a child sex trafficking ring out of the basement of a pizza restaurant. You can donate to the Democratic cause here.
If you need more detail than that to donate, please read on. Because, well, our team spent a lot of time researching this race to make sure it was an opportunity to Give Smart.
The Critical Special Election
Democrats need to flip 9 seats in the Pennsylvania House to control the chamber and help Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf pass his progressive agenda for the state. More than 20 Republicans sit in seats that can be won by a Democrat so there’s a path forward, but 15 Democrats sit in seats won by Donald Trump, so we need to play a lot of defense, too.
One such Democrat was Sid Michaels Kavulich, who passed away less than a month before the 2018 election. He was running unopposed in the 114th District north of Scranton that Trump won by 8 points after Obama won it by 18. If that swing sounds terrifying to you it should. Hillary Clinton lost Pennsylvania because she ran far behind Obama in counties containing blue collar mid-sized cities like Scranton, Erie and Bethlehem. If Democrats want to win back the presidency, they need to start by winning in places like the 114th.
The Democrat Who Supports Healthcare for All
After Kavulich was re-elected, the Governor called a special election for March 12. Democrats nominated nurse Bridget Malloy Kosierowski, whose oldest son was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 4. Thankfully he survived his fight and is a healthy teenager today, but after her family had to deal with the pain of finding insurance for a child with a pre-existing condition she decided to take action so everyone could get the health care they need. We’re excited to support Bridget. And just wait until we compare her perspective with her opponent’s!
After looking at our funding options we decided that the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee’s (PA-HDCC) special election fund is the best place to Give Smart because they have the most detailed spending plan—so we know where every cent is going. In a race like this paid media is an effective use of resources (especially because Indivisible is doing such a great job helping with the turnout operation) and we really liked the plan that they have. They’re using vendors who we trust to do professional work on digital and TV production and purchasing at a reasonable cost. If you donate you’ll get weekly updates on where your money is going so you know they aren’t using it on races they’ll win anyway. And as always, we don’t take a cut at all—all of your money goes directly to paying for the PA-HDCC special election effort less ActBlue’s 4% processing fee.
Pizzagate Frank Scavo
Kosierowski’s opponent is Frank Scavo, who like many Trump supporters posts a lot on Facebook. In my research, I discovered that he’s a school board president who can’t spell and thinks child abuse is funny, a real estate mogul who campaigns on cutting his own property taxes and a rube who likes InfoWars, Gateway Pundit and Laura Loomer.
But most disturbing of all was the post below, which Scavo shared while he was running for State Senate last year:
Jenny Moore was one of the proponents of the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, which holds that the Clintons are running a child sex trafficking ring out of the basement of a pizza restaurant in Washington, DC. It’s fucking insane and people almost got killedbecause of it. Scavo shared a post from Christian Andy Thames, who has been banned from Facebook for spreading right wing nonsense like this. Imagine how bad you have to be to be banned from Facebook for spreading right wing nonsense. And Scavo himself says that he’ll do an expose [sic] of it if he ever makes it into the Pennsylvania legislature.
If Scavo’s willing to say this in public, imagine what he’s willing to say in private. Seriously, if someone shares Pizzagate posts they’ll probably believe anything the right wing noise machine comes up with…and act on it. That’s someone who should never, ever hold a position of power.
Hopefully the residents of Lackawanna County will learn about Scavo’s insane beliefs and vote for Kosierowski on March 12. But in a district that voted for Trump, we can’t take anything for granted. So please, Give Smart so we can make sure that the Pennsylvania House doesn’t spend its time investigating Pizzagate.
And if you want to support Future Now Fund in its broader efforts to stop people like Frank Scavo, you can donate to us here.