May 16, 2018 Press Releases

Barletta’s Primary Win Leaves GOP Wanting More

Washington Post: Barletta’s “performance was weaker than expected”

TPM: Tuesday’s “results are unlikely to calm [GOP’s] nerves”

Congressman Lou Barletta failed to meet Republicans’ already-low expectations last night when he failed to garner a decisive primary win, despite an endorsement and last-minute robocall from President Trump and outspending his “unknown, underfunded” opponent by significant margins.

Barletta has a lot of baggage – he has connections to white supremacists and Holocaust deniers and has worked to undermine Medicare and Social Security – and his campaign has been a source of constant worry for Republicans. Last night’s results did nothing to alleviate their fears. See what Pennsylvanians are reading:

TPM: Trump-Backed Barletta Underperforms In Pennsylvania Senate Primary Win
By Cameron Joseph

Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) won his primary to face Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) on Tuesday — but his margin of victory wasn’t exactly awe-inspiring.
Barletta, a close Trump ally whom the President backed with robocalls in the closing days of the race, led underfunded Pennsylvania state Rep. Jim Christiana (R) by 59 percent to 41 percent when the Associated Press called the Tuesday night.
That’s not exactly a huge margin for Barletta, a longtime congressman who had the explicit endorsement of the President — and who spent nearly $2 million on the race to just $250,000 for Christiana.
Republicans have already privately worried that the divisive Barletta, like Trump an immigration hardliner, could hurt the rest of the GOP ticket in a state where more than a half-dozen House seats are up for grabs this cycle, most of them Democratic pickup opportunities. These results are unlikely to calm their nerves.

Read the full article here.

Washington Post: Daily 202: Barletta won the GOP primary to challenge Sen. Bob Casey (D) but his performance was weaker than expected. Despite vocal support from Trump, and a last-minute robo-call, he only got 63 percent against an unknown, unfunded state representative. Rep. Jim Renacci (R-Ohio) similarly underperformed in a Senate primary last week.

CNN: Barletta, who was elected in the tea party wave of 2010, has taken a hard line on immigration in the Senate. Republicans sought a more moderate candidate for the race but were unable to persuade other prospects to run. Barletta has lagged in the fundraising race, collecting nearly $1.3 million in 2018’s first quarter and ending with $1.6 million on hand, compared to Casey’s nearly $10 million on hand.

Washington Post: Casey has built a much bigger campaign account than Barletta, giving them another reason to be confident he will prevail in November. As of late April, Barletta had about $1.3 million in his campaign account. Casey had more than $9.9 million.