McCord Throws His Hat in the Ring

Throw another name into the race for governor.

Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord confirmed Tuesday that he will join the already crowded Democratic field for governor and try to challenge an expected re-election bid by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett next year.

“I'm running because I believe we need to start investing in Pennsylvania families again. Somewhere along the line, the current governor stopped doing that and it's been a terrible mistake,” McCord said in an email sent to supporters.

The eighth Democrat to declare his candidacy, McCord scheduled news conferences Tuesday at Montgomery County Community College in the Philadelphia suburb of Blue Bell and an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers facility in Pittsburgh. He has already hired a campaign staff and formed a fundraising committee.

McCord, a 54-year-old former venture capitalist who was re-elected as treasurer last year, says he's running because he wants to invest in Pennsylvania families and provide opportunities for young people.

Other candidates include Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, Philly area U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, former state revenue secretary Tom Wolf, former state environmental protection secretaries Katie McGinty and John Hanger, Lebanon County Commissioner Jo Ellen Litz and Pentecostal minister Max Myers. At least two others are considering running.

Corbett's political support remains stubbornly low -- a recent Franklin & Marshall College poll showed only 20 percent of voters think he deserves a second term -- and Democrats believe a strong challenger could make him the first the governor to be denied re-election since they were allowed to seek second terms in 1974.

State Republican Party Chairman Rob Gleason dismissed McCord's announcement Tuesday as “just another tax-and-spend liberal” joining “the Democratic primary circus.”

Before launching his first political campaign, which got him elected as treasurer in 2008, McCord served as CEO of the nonprofit Congressional Institute for the Future in Washington and later worked for Safeguard Scientifics Inc. before helping start several private enterprises that fed capital to technology and biotech firms.

He has a bachelor's degree in economics and history from Harvard University and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School.

He lives in Bryn Mawr with his wife and two children.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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