Saccone announces his U.S. Senate bid in Capitol

Feb. 27--HARRISBURG -- A conservative Republican state representative from southwestern Pennsylvania, Rick Saccone, announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Monday, promising to be an ally of President Trump in Washington.

Speaking in the state Capitol rotunda, Mr. Saccone, R-Elizabeth Township, called U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat, "a remnant of that liberal philosophy" that Mr. Saccone said has helped create a "mess." He criticized Mr. Casey for opposing Trump cabinet nominees.

"President Trump was elected to go drain the swamp, and I want to go and help him," Mr. Saccone said to applause from supporters. "We will set the country back on the right course, and then I'll come home."

Mr. Saccone has served in the Pennsylvania House since 2011. He is among the legislature's most conservative members, with an 86 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union.

He has previously been backed by groups who oppose abortion rights and is a political ally of state Sen. Scott Wagner, a York Republican who this winter launched his bid to challenge Gov. Tom Wolf's 2018 re-election. He is among the Legislature's leading advocates for firearm ownership: So far this year, he has sponsored at least five bills directed at gun ownership.

Among those are a measure to exempt up to three firearms from collection on a court judgment or bankruptcy, and a bill that would expand the state's Human Relations Act to bar discrimination against those who carry firearms. As an example of such discrimination, a co-sponsorship memo singled out the children's pizza venue Chuck E. Cheese for a policy barring customers from carrying firearms inside.

He has called in the past for requiring schools to display the motto "In God We Trust."

Mr. Saccone was elected to the 39th seat in 2010, a year in which he beat Democratic incumbent David Levdansky by just 151 votes, a margin of 0.7 percent. A 2012 rematch was even closer, but Mr. Saccone has had an easier time since, beating Democrats in 2014 and 2016 by margins of 60-40 and 70-30 respectively.

Karen Langley: klangley@post-gazette.com or 717-787-2141 or on Twitter @karen_langley. Chris Potter: cpotter@post-gazette.com or 412-263-2533.

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