Tom Smith will seek the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania.
Smith's campaign said Monday that he would hold announcements and rallies in seven Pennsylvania cities and towns over the following two days. Philadelphia will be his third stop on Tuesday afternoon.
“He's just really fed up with the way things have been in Washington and feels we need to stop the out-of-control spending and policies that continue to hurt job growth in this economy,” said Mark Harris, a Smith campaign team consultant.
Smith is from Armstrong County and is former chairman of the Armstrong/Indiana Patriots, a tea party group.
Smith's campaign biography says he mortgaged everything he had to go into the coal business in 1989, and when he sold his interests last year his companies had more than 100 employees and were mining more than a million tons a year.
Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is expected to seek a second term.
The Republican field looking to take him on in the 2012 election also includes John Vernon, a retired U.S. Army colonel from Tioga County, Harrisburg-area lawyer and former aide to Rick Santorum, Marc Scaringi and Bucks County businessman and former congressional candidate David Christian.
Politics
Others reported to be considering a Casey challenge include Scranton tea party organizer Laureen Cummings, Chester County businessman and former congressional candidate Steve Welch, former congressional candidate Tim Burns, Western Pennsylvania tea party leader Tom Smith, and former state Rep. Sam Rohrer.
