Both houses of the Pennsylvania State Legislature are in the hands of the GOP, and have been for quite some time (at least 25 years). If the Pennsylvania electorate can flip just four seats, Democrats can take control of the 50 seat Senate. Swing Left has targeted four particular districts for flipping (and one 2019 Democratic special election win for shoring up) to achieve the goal of a Democratic PA Senate. While I don’t live in one of these districts, I do live close to one of them, PA-49, currently held by Republican Dan Laughlin. His Democratic challenger is Julie Slomski, and I want to help her win.
Dan Laughlin was elected to the Senate in 2016, beating a one-term Democrat by the name of Sean Wiley. Laughlin should not have won that election. He’s not very bright, and the only issue he had any passion for had to do with expanding deer-hunting season. However, this was the election of 2016, the year the the long Democratic stronghold of Erie County flipped from blue to red, Trump prevailing over Hillary Clinton. Sean Wiley could easily be classified as collateral damage from that election.
Now Laughlin is facing his first re-election bid. The landscape has changed since the 2016 wake-up call. Yes, some local blue-collar workers have been permanently lost to the Democratic Party, but local Democrats are mobilized as never before. Trump’s tiny chance of winning Pennsylvania’s electoral votes is shrinking on a daily basis, but in my mind, there’s no chance he’ll win Erie County a second time.
And we have a great candidate to challenge Laughlin: Julie Slomski! A native of Erie, she has spent recent years working for local Democratic political campaigns, and she was tapped by Governor Tom Wolf as his Northwest Regional Director. In that role, she was able to bring new state investments to the City of Erie, revitalizing the region and strengthening the funding of the Erie School District. She’s been endorsed by President Obama, and Katie Porter held a virtual event to support Julie’s candidacy. I’m impressed with the friends that she’s made.
Julie knows what the region needs and what the residents of the district want. She’s ready to serve. All she needs to do is win, and she’ll provide one of those four crucial seats needed to flip the state senate blue. If you’ve got a few bucks to contribute, you could do it here.
You’ll find the comments below the fold, but first, here’s a word from our sponsor:
Here at Top Comments we strive to nourish community by rounding up some of the site's best, funniest, most mojo'd & most informative commentary, and we depend on your help!! If you see a comment by another Kossack that deserves wider recognition, please send it either to topcomments at gmail or to the Top Comments group mailbox by 9:30pm Eastern. Please please please include a few words about why you sent it in as well as your user name (even if you think we know it already :-)), so we can credit you with the find!
Top Comments (August 26, 2020):
From belinda ridgewood:
In SemDem's diary, "Pam Keith's rightwing opponent jokes about rape, sex with 15-year-old girls", Captain Frogbert wrote an eloquent comment that ends by describing the "core principal of conservatism", but the whole journey, along with the conclusion, had me nodding vigorously.
Highlighted by GeriSanMarcos:
This comment by Eric Nelson, from Frank Vyan Walton’s recommended post on Trumps desire to brutalize immigrants.
Highlighted by HJ123:
This comment by AtaraxiaNow, from Walter Einenkel’s front page post on the RNC speaker who imagined her considered her Black son more violent than her white son.
Highlighted by Yosef52:
This comment by Belle Ame, from Yosef52’s post encouraging us all to get out there and campaign for Democrats.
Top Mojo (August 25, 2020):
Top Mojo is courtesy of mik! Click here for more on how Top Mojo works.
Top Photos (August 25, 2020):
Tonight’s picture quilt is courtesy of jotter!
