As the 2020 election grows near, voters in Central Pennsylvania, the 12th Congressional District, voted for new representation in a special election. The district elected former Rep. Tom Marino in the November 2018 midterm elections, but Marino quickly resigned for health reasons, triggering yet another special election in the Commonwealth. The district is solidly red and was not of large concern to the Pennsylvania or National GOP, but the overwhelming margin of victory for Congressman-Elect Fred Keller can be seen as a foreshadowing for the future electorate in Pennsylvania, which will be a huge player in 2020.
After a long process of candidate selection by the party, former State Rep. Fred Keller emerged as the victor among a field of 14 candidates. Keller is in good standing in Harrisburg and holds a pristine Conservative voting record, earning a 90 percent approval from the American Conservative Union. He is solid, mainstream Republican who will be an excellent ally for President Trump in the polarized House of Representatives, as the President said himself on Monday night.
Keller’s opponent, Penn State assistant professor Marc Friedenberg, could not be more staunchly different from the district’s new Congressman-Elect. Friedenberg, who ran against former Rep. Tom Marino in November and lost by over 30 points, aligns himself with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the growing wing of radical leftists within the Democratic Party. He endorsed Medicare-for-All, the Green New Deal, debt-free college, repeal of President Trump’s tax cuts and abortion on demand in his first Congressional bid; even after his landslide defeat by Marino, Friedenberg
hardly altered his platform.
