Published: April 12, 2015 - Updated: April 12, 2015 10:37 pm
By Marc Levy Associated Press
Associated Press
HARRISBURG This month marks six years since Arlen Specter switched parties to become a Democrat, upending Pennsylvanias 2010 U.S. Senate campaign and set off an intraparty fight among Democrats that is now haunting a second campaign.
Party leaders are now searching the ranks for someone who can beat the Republican incumbent, Pat Toomey, and, perhaps as importantly to them, one of their own.
The Democrat who is already running is Joe Sestak, the former U.S. representative from Delaware County and an ex-Navy vice admiral. In 2010, he bucked the wishes of President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and other party leaders to run against Specter in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate.
He beat Specter while emphasizing that he stood up to party leaders before he lost narrowly to Toomey. That and other friction between Sestak and top Democrats he is uncooperative with the party, they complain have not been forgotten now that he is running again to take on Toomey next year.
You win some, you lose some, you move on, said T.J. Rooney, who was chairman of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party when Specter switched parties. But what he continues to do is use that as his rallying cry, Im bucking the establishment. Well, guess what, the establishment is going to buck him back.
The 2016 Senate election in Pennsylvania promises to be expensive and closely watched. The 2010 race cost more than $50 million, including spending by outside groups, and many expect that spending on the 2016 race will pass that mark.
With majority Republicans defending more than twice as many seats as Democrats in 2016, control of the Senate is at stake.
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Democrats intraparty fight haunts second U.S. Senate campaign