DV Journal

The Delaware Valley may be trending Democratic, but that did not stop the nation’s top Republican from coming to Chester County to rally the GOP troops.

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel revved up a crowd of Republican activists Saturday morning at the Desmond Hotel in Malvern. They gathered to knock on doors for U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and Guy Ciarrocchi, the GOP challenger to incumbent Rep. Chrissy Houlahan. Her message: Vote Republican in Pennsylvania and fire Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer from their leadership posts in Washington.

NRC Chair Ronna McDaniel talks to Chester County Republicans at the Desmond Hotel on October 15, 2022.

Oz, who appears to be closing the polling gap with his opponent, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, continued his campaign focus on the crime issue.

“I was in Philadelphia at a prayer vigil in Olney for a murder that happened, last year, 561 murders, the worst of any major city. Shocking,” Oz said. While he was there, someone told him it was easier to find fentanyl than baby formula.

“I was stunned,” he said. “She was right. How could the land of opportunity, the land of plenty, leave people with fentanyl and no baby formula?”

He told the group it was important to knock on doors and “get people excited” about what Republican candidates represent.

“You’re talking about changing the lives of lots of people around you,” said Oz. “There are many that love this country passionately, and see it as the land of opportunity, the land of plenty, but it no longer seems to represent that,” Oz said. “My dad was an immigrant who grew up with a dirt floor. He didn’t have a [political] party. When I was 8 years old, I asked him what party are we going to be. And he looked around and he said, ‘You know what? We’re going to be Republicans…Because Republicans have better ideas.’”

“Here’s my commitment to you: We have plans that work for the economy.”

A crowd of GOP supporters gathers at the Desmond Hotel in Malvern, PA

Ciarrocchi called out President Joe Biden’s energy policy, an important topic in Pennsylvania.

“It’s amazing watching the president as gas prices go up and people are in trouble,” he said. “As he flies around to the other side of the world looking for energy. It’s like a game. It’s right under our feet.”

“So, we have the solution. We will make America energy independent,” he said.

Ciarrocchi also used the opportunity to tout the GOP’s message of hope. “We’re here today because we still believe in the

Dr. Oz shakes hands with congressional candidate Guy CiarrocchiAmerican dream, despite everything the Democratic Party has done, to crush our economy, to push parents out of schools, to make us feel less safe at home and less safe around the world.

“All of us that are running are here today for one reason, we still believe in the American dream,” he said. “We offer hope. We offer solutions. We can fix the mess they created.

“We will unleash our small businesses to revive our economy. We will support our police officers. We will fight crime. We will make sure every person feels safe to go out and live and work. We will restore the rule of law. We know that parents are the bedrock of the family and the bedrock of the community. Under our watch, when Sen. Oz and I go to Washington the Attorney General of the United States will never, ever threaten parents with using the FBI again.”

Former state Rep. Duane Milne came to support Oz and Ciarrocchi. Oz is the “best-qualified candidate,” said Milne. And Ciarrocchi brings “a tremendous world of experience” and “will make an excellent congressman.”

Republican Committeeman Dave Sommers, of West Goshen, said, “People are excited to support conservative candidates.”

Elizabeth Hyde, who traveled from Montgomery County to attend, said Oz is “a successful, smart man who has his heart in the right direction. I think he’s sincere and his values align with mine. We need more doctors in the Senate since the healthcare system and Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) are such a big part of the economy.”

The event was followed by a training session for Young Republicans and other volunteers who were going to hand out campaign literature.

Guy Ciarrocchi talks to resident Sandy Lee

Ciarrocchi headed out to Tredyffrin Township to knock on doors and talk to potential voters. Most of the residents he spoke with were friendly, he said.

Like Oz, he talked about the crime issue and its impact on local communities, including a carjacking at a Target in Devon, an armed robbery at Whole Foods in Tredyffrin, and a stabbing at Bertucci’s on Lancaster Avenue in Wayne. He said the CVS drug store in East Goshen was also held up.

“We should not be blasé to carjackings or a robbery or a stabbing,” he told Delaware Valley Journal.

And grab-and-go shoplifters are targeting stores like Lowes, Home Depot, and Walmart, Ciarrocchi said. Clerks are being trained when to try to stop them and when not to.

Crime is “not an academic discussion,” he said. But, he added, “This can be stopped.”

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Pennsylvanians deserve much better. The Keystone State is the birthplace of some of America’s greatest achievements, but in recent years it has become better known for its disastrous election integrity issues. There are several reasons for this. But perhaps number one is the state’s failure to ensure uniform election practices apply statewide.

Pennsylvania’s Constitution is clear: It says that election rules must “be uniform throughout the state.” But under  Gov. Tom Wolf and Democrat leadership, the rules for counting your vote vary drastically depending on where you live. Last week, a coalition led by the Republican National Committee and several concerned citizens sued the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in an effort to help right this significant wrong in Pennsylvania’s unequal treatment of voters.

Our lawsuit seeks to ensure that all counties treat their voters the same when it comes to counting their ballots. In recent elections, some counties have begun the practice of contacting voters who return ballots with mistakes, such as lack of a signature, and allowing them to fix–or “cure”–the problem. State officials admit that allowing for such a practice is nowhere to be found in Pennsylvania law, but many counties are ignoring the law.

To be clear, the Republican Party is not against allowing absentee voters to fix mistakes. Just last year, Republicans in the General Assembly sent a bill to Gov. Wolf that would standardize the process for voters to fix their ballots. However, he vetoed it because the legislation also contained such commonsense measures as voter ID and restrictions against ballot harvesting. That is truly unfortunate and a loss for Pennsylvania election integrity. But it doesn’t change the fact that without a law allowing for curing on the books, counties cannot create one out of thin air.

Our lawsuit simply asks Pennsylvania’s courts to ensure uniformity throughout the state and not punish county election officials or their voters for following the law. Counties that allow for curing may be well-intentioned, but their practices are doing nothing more than undermining the rule of law and causing voters who witness this dysfunction to lose confidence in the state’s elections. It has to stop.

The same rules should apply to a voter voting in the Delaware valley and a voter across the state in Pittsburgh. And these rules should be set by the legislature which is elected by you, the voters. We don’t need counties going rogue and making decisions about election guidelines that should be made by elected representatives in the legislature.

Our recent lawsuit against Pennsylvania was the RNC’s 59th example of election integrity litigation so far this cycle. Since suing North Carolina’s Board of Elections last week, we’re at 60.

This is part of our broad, nationwide effort to ensure transparency and fairness in elections across America. When states like Pennsylvania fail to administer their elections in a standard, fair manner, it falls to groups like ours to step in. We’ll continue fighting to ensure that elections in the Keystone State are free, fair, and transparent – because Pennsylvanians deserve nothing less.

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The day before President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union speech, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich gave the media their thoughts on the state of the country under Biden.

In a word: Terrible.

The two pointed to polls showing Biden’s approval rating below 40 percent. And they touched on the issues Republican candidates will be running on in this fall’s midterm elections: Inflation, the economy, foreign policy, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the mismanaged withdrawal from Afghanistan where Americans were left behind.

McDaniel said Republicans will offer upbeat, positive solutions in contrast to what will “not be a unifying speech and will not focus on the issues that the American people really need and are looking to address.”

McDaniel predicted the midterms this November will be “a wake-up call for Democrats.”

Biden ran as a centrist but has shifted to the left, she said.

In addition to the economy and foreign policy, people are concerned about the open border and confusing messaging on COVID.

People “are being slammed with consumer prices rising at the fastest rate in 40 years,” said McDaniel.

She cited a recent RNC poll that found 53 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Biden is doing with 41 percent approval. Biden’s approval among independent voters drops to 37 percent with 55 percent disapproving. On the economy, 49 percent of independents favor the GOP versus 32 percent for Democrats. On crime, 50 percent of independents back Republicans versus 28 percent for Democrats.

Gingrich touted Emerson College’s ‘generic ballot’ poll showing Republicans with a 9 point lead over Democrats in congressional races. He said it reminded him of when former President Bill Clinton decided in 1996 that staying on the left “would not work” and came to the middle in his State of the Union speech and announced the era of big government was over.

“Have they figured out anything from these polling numbers, or are they where Clinton was before the ’94 election when his team just couldn’t believe it?” he asked.

“You have to look at Ukraine in terms of 10 months ago in April of last year, Biden commented on Putin possibly going into Ukraine. So the failure wasn’t this week or last week,” said Gingrich.  The administration “had 10 months to help Ukraine prepare so that attacking (it) would have been crazy.

“Had he been willing to build on the things that Trump was already doing — Trump was already sending javelins, for example, which is a very sophisticated anti-tank weapon — we could have created a porcupine in Ukraine that Putin would have decided he couldn’t attack. But for 10 months, the Biden administration dithered and dathered and kept talking about negotiations, etc. and failed to use that time in a productive way.”

On inflation, Biden “has to say something, because inflation is just too big of an issue not to do something,” Gingrich said. “On oil and gas, this administration is moving in the wrong direction. They just had the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission come out with rules that make it virtually impossible to create liquefied natural gas ports, yet that’s exactly what we need to help wean Western Europe off of Russian gas.”

On education, “When 70 percent of the people in San Francisco vote to recall three members of the school board, clearly there is an issue here that the president should be addressing,” said Gingrich.

“On crime, with every passing week, we learn the damage George Soros has done in electing people who are deeply committed to putting violent criminals back on the street and putting the rest of us in danger.”

In response to a question from the Delaware Valley Journal about whether the GOP plans to call out Democrat’s long-standing opposition to expanding domestic energy production in the U.S., McDaniel said, “Absolutely.

“We’re seeing it in our pockets every day with the cost of gas and that’s directly correlated to Joe Biden shutting down drilling on federal lands, on shutting down the Keystone pipeline. And we’re importing Russian oil when we could be exporting our oil and gas. And so those are things that I think are critical to the American people. They understand it. One anecdote, I have a family member who called me this week and said, ‘I’m about as liberal, Green New Deal Democrat as I can be…I don’t know why we’re funding Russia’s war, and allowing them do to this.’ I think that’s where a lot of Americans are and that will be a big issue for the campaign going forward.”

In response to another press question, Gingrich said he’s optimistic about the Republican’s chances to take not only Congress but to win at the local levels, but said GOP candidates need to run.

“Fill up the slate,” he said. He noted that last year, an unknown truck driver beat the president of the New Jersey Senate with a campaign budget of $2,300, you look just this week we had a dramatic 17 point swing in Jacksonville, Fla. where we picked up a Democratic city council seat and we had an even bigger swing, I think it was 45 points, where we kept a Republican seat with a much greater margin, I look around, I think there are very few genuinely safe Democratic seats this year.”

The governors will also contribute “a ton of success stories” to show “why we will be better,” he said.

In fact, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will deliver the Republican response to the State of the Union Speech.

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Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel is bullish on her party’s chances both this year and in 2022.

Bucks County Republicans and Pennsylvania GOP Chairman Lawrence Tabas welcomed McDaniel to a get out the vote event at Bucks County Republican headquarters in Doylestown last week.

The current election “is helping us prepare for next year with our ground game,” McDaniel said. “It’s a test run, so it’s going to be critical with our turnout this November to measure and see how we’ll do in the midterms.”

In addition to congressional races and the governorship, Pennsylvania voters will be choosing a replacement for Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, who is not seeking another term. The GOP hopes to retake both the House and the Senate which Democrats now hold by narrow margins.

“What I’m seeing across the state and across the country is a huge enthusiasm for Republicans. With special elections this year, Republicans are outperforming the ticket from 2020 and Democrats are underperforming their ticket from 2020. And we’re hoping that will continue into this election,” said McDaniel.

“The midterms are always a referendum on the party that has the power,” she added. “That’s historically the way it is and the Democrats have the House and the Senate and the White House. As we are watching unemployment rise especially here in Pennsylvania, we’re watching more people leave the workforce, we’re watching the labor shortages, we’re watching inflation, energy prices going up, what’s happening at the border, all of that is a referendum on the Biden administration. And right now based on the polling that we’re seeing, the American people are not pleased.”

A recent poll average finds President Joe Biden with a 42 percent approval rating. It has fallen faster during his first nine months in office than any president in the modern era. But that doesn’t mean Republican candidates can coast and expect to win.

“I think my message to every Republican candidate is to know your district, know your community, invest in retail politicking, and don’t take anything for granted. And run on the issues that the people in your constituency believe in. And if you run your race and you really do that work, we’ll win,” she said.

One reason that former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election was he lost the support of suburban women. But McDaniel believes women are coming back to the GOP in droves due to Democratic policies.

Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Lawrence Tabas introduces judicial candidates Judge Drew Crompton, candidate for Commonwealth Court; Judge Kevin Brobson, candidate for Pennsylvania Supreme Court; Megan Sullivan, candidate for Superior Court, and Stacy Wallace, candidate for Commonwealth Court.

“We’re seeing women come back for a variety of reasons,” she noted. “A lot of it is having to do with the failed leadership of the Biden administration. We’re seeing gas prices go up. As moms, we understand what that means. I get that as a mom. We’re seeing our groceries cost more. We’re seeing everything cost more. And we know that inflation is affecting our families, and the border, national security and I think what’s happening in the schools, when you see in Virginia, a Democrat candidate say that parents have no right to have a say in their children’s education, that’s really resonating with women and moms across the country, especially in the suburbs. I know I’m one of them.  And what we’re seeing is a huge influx of people running for school board and it’s bringing women back to the Republican Party.”

Republican judicial candidates also attended the Doylestown event and were introduced to the party faithful.

The state Supreme Court, which now has a 5-2 Democrat majority, made several rulings regarding mail-in ballots in 2020 that some Republicans believe helped swing the presidential election to Joe Biden.

“I think that’s why these court races are very important,” said McDaniel. “Court races are critical because you can have a legislative session, one bad court ruling can overturn what happened legislatively. And a lot of times court races and judicial races are not given the attention they deserve, especially compared to the impact they can have on a state and no state understands that better than Pennsylvania. So every race is important. Obviously, these are the focus right now and the RNC is building a ground game to help the whole ticket.”

Commonwealth Court President Judge Kevin Brobson (R) and Superior Court Judge Maria McLaughlin are vying for the seat now held by Thomas Saylor (R). Under state law, Saylor must retire because he turns 75 this year.

McDaniel, a Michigan resident, has two children, one a junior in high school and one who just left for college.

“They were both pandemic kids. She was a pandemic senior,” said McDaniel. “It’s so hard and she did not get a senior year like so many kids. We really watched our kids struggle. We’re all navigating it. But I certainly do not think I should not have a say in my kids’ education. And my voice matters, just like every other parent across this country.”

McDaniel, 48, has been the National Committee Chair since 2017 and enjoys the job.

“I love traveling the country and meeting people, being in Bucks County today and meeting your county Chair Pat Poprik, seeing her and how hard she works. Everywhere I go, I get to meet amazing people. I love that. It’s also the thing that’s the hardest, traveling and being away from my family. I love seeing the whole great nation that we live in and the variety and the difference in every single state,” McDaniel said.