What to Know
- Donald Trump Jr. tweeted on July 2 his support for Pennsylvania GOP Acting Chairwoman Bernadette "Bernie" Comfort.
- Comfort, a Lehigh County Republican, and Lawrence Tabas, a Philadelphia lawyer, are running to succeed Val DiGiorgio, who resigned in June.
- Pennsylvania will once again play the role of swing state in the 2020 presidential election.
Pennsylvania's 361 Republican state committee members will convene Saturday to vote on the political party's next state chairperson in what has become a contentious two-person contest.
Some Republicans are backing the acting party chairwoman, Bernadette "Bernie" Comfort, who served as vice chairwoman under Val DiGiorgio. He resigned the post last month following a news report that he and a Philadelphia City Council candidate exchanged lewd texts. Comfort is an executive from Lehigh County.
Another faction of Republicans is backing Lawrence Tabas, an attorney with the Philadelphia law firm, Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel. His supporters believe he will be a superior fundraiser to Comfort.
The competition, and infighting leading up to the vote, takes on added importance as state Republicans ready for the presidential election next year. Pennsylvania is once again expected to be a key state in determining whether President Trump is re-elected or a Democrat takes back the White House.
Many of Pennsylvania's Republican bigwigs like Scott Wagner, who challenged and lost to Gov. Tom Wolf in 2018, have weighed in.
"It is time for everyone to look in the mirror and come to the realization that our party is fractured, divided, and many people are fed up and disillusioned," Wagner, who is not a committee member, wrote in a letter to those with a vote this weekend. "The time is now for a strong leader with the necessary skills to step in to guide our party through this crisis period. We must find a way to come together and be united, because there is a lot at stake for our party, and the people of Pennsylvania."
Another, Lou Barletta, the former congressman from northern Pennsylvania who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate last year, has also thrown his opinion into the ring. The Trump accolyte supports Comfort, who probably not coincidentally has also received the backing of some in President Trump's inner circle.
The president's son, Donald Trump Jr., tweeted July 2 that "we need Bernie as Chair to win again!"
Charlie Gerow, a Republican consultant and state committee member who will cast a vote Saturday afternoon in Hershey, said he supports Tabas because of the attorney's fundraising prowess.
Still, Gerow said he expects that no matter who wins, the state Republican party will rally behind the next chairperson as preparations begin for the 2020 presidential and congressional races.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
"I don’t think I know one person who’s voting for Lawrence Tabas who thinks Bernie would do a bad job," Gerow said.
"Whoever wins is going to be all-in for Trump," he said.
Republican Outsider's Take
Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale, up for re-election in November, is running political ads on Talk Radio 1210 AM all week until the vote on Saturday.
Gale, one of Trump's earliest supporters in Pennsylvania, has long butted heads with the state's Republican leaders. His ad goes after the entire establishment.
"GOP swamp creatures are scrambling to fill the void heading into 2020," a man says in the one-minute radio ad. "But let’s be honest: Donald Trump didn’t win Pennsylvania in 2016 because of the Pennsylvania Republican party machine or infrastructure, which was and remains a dysfunctional mess stacked with covert never-Trumpers."
"No, he won because he talked over the party bosses and mainstream media and spoke directly to you, the voters," the ad says.
Gale, in an interview Wednesday, said he "could care less who the chair is."
"It's leading the swamp," he added.
Gerow, the longtime political consultant, said it's naive to think the Trump campaign won't need all the help it can get from Pennsylvania's Republican Party.
"There are 12 million people in Pennsylvania. Reaching all of them is not easy, and Trump will need all the help he can get," he said.
