“Congressman Joe Sestak has made his position clear, he is standing by the liberal wing of the Democrat Party, instead of most Pennsylvanians, by supporting the Obama Administration’s reckless pact with Iran. When will Katie McGinty decide to take a stand on President Obama’s disastrous Iran deal? Ms. McGinty’s continued refusal to take a stand on the Obama Administration’s disastrous deal with Iran is simply unacceptable at this point. Pennsylvanians deserve to know if she will stand with liberal Democrats in supporting Obama’s bad deal with Iran.” — PA GOP Communications Director Megan Sweeney
Toomey, Sestak Jab McGinty For Silence On Iran Nuclear Deal
Beaver County Times
J.D. Prose
September 2, 2015
If the pressure on U.S. Senate candidate Katie McGinty to take a stand on the proposed Iran nuclear deal was bad before it will only increase now that U.S. Sen. Bob Casey has announced his support for the accord.
Last week, Politico reported that Republicans were targeting Democratic Senate hopefuls such as McGinty for not offering their opinions on the agreement and some Democratic opponents were doing the same.
On Tuesday, Casey, D-Scranton, and Democratic U.S. Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware said they would support the agreement, leaving President Barack Obama just one vote shy of the number needed to uphold any veto of a Republican resolution to disapprove the deal.
Politico highlighted Pennsylvania’s Democratic primary race pitting McGinty, a former gubernatorial candidate and former chief of staff for Gov. Tom Wolf, against former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, who is also a retired admiral.
Sestak has supported the agreement brokered by the Obama administration while U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Zionsville, Lehigh County, whom the Democrats hope to unseat next year, has been an ardent opponent.
“On this critical issue, Katie, like Sen. Casey and others, is carefully assessing the impact of the proposed agreement on the nation’s security,” McGinty campaign manager Mike Mikus told Politico. “While some Republicans are using this issue to score political points, Democrats need to remain focused on the facts and what is best for the country.”
Sestak and Toomey, along with the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have hammered away at McGinty for not offering her opinion on one of Obama’s landmark foreign policy initiatives.
Politico said the attacks on McGinty have “created a rare moment of unity between Toomey and Sestak, who battled bitterly in a close 2010 election.” Toomey won that race 51 percent to 49 percent.
Prior to last weekend’s North by Northwest Progressive Summit in Erie, Toomey’s campaign sent out an email with four questions for McGinty. The first one was on the Iran nuclear deal.
“With Joe Sestak, what you see is what you get, and it’s very bad for taxpayers, health care, Pennsylvania jobs and national security,” said Toomey spokesman Steve Kelly. “With Katie McGinty, who knows what you get other than endorsements from Washington insiders and political machines.”
“Even liberal Congressman Joe Sestak, who has aligned himself with the far-left side of his party by vocally supporting President Obama’s dangerous deal with Iran, called for McGinty to detail her position on the most prominent national security policy issue facing our country today,” the NRSC said in an email Tuesday.
Sestak told Politico that it is inexcusable for a Senate candidate to not take a stand on the issue. “Those who are running for an office that has anything to do with this should have a position on this by now,” Sestak said.
Besides McGinty, Politico said the NRSC would also target U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, an Iraq War veteran; Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada and Gov. Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire.
To read the entire piece by J.D. Prose, please click here.
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