A Pennsylvania Democrat introduced a bid for state treasurer on Tuesday by in search of to tie his Republican opponent to 2 of the nation’s most incendiary points: abortion rights and the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
In his announcement video, Ryan Bizzarro, a member of the state Home of Representatives, accuses the Republican incumbent, Stacy Garrity, of being “Pennsylvania’s highest-ranking extremist workplace holder.” He highlights her previous help for abortion restrictions and her look at a rally in Harrisburg the day earlier than the Capitol riot by which she appeared to endorse former President Donald J. Trump’s false claims that the election was rigged.
Campaigns for a lower-profile workplace like state treasurer — the place the duties embody managing the federal government’s money circulate, not setting coverage — have tended to fly beneath voters’ radars. However in a battleground state like Pennsylvania, the place the presidency and a U.S. Senate seat might be fiercely contested in 2024, down-ballot races, too, can tackle intense partisanship over points with little connection to an official’s duties.
“She’s a type of excessive of us we’ve received to do away with,” Mr. Bizarro mentioned in an interview. His opening salvo takes a web page from the playbook of Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who ran in 2022 towards a hard-right opponent by promising to guard abortion and voting rights. Abortion rights particularly proved a galvanizing difficulty for Democrats within the midterm elections after the Supreme Courtroom overturned Roe v. Wade. However whereas Pennsylvania’s governor has immense sway over these points, its treasurer doesn’t.
A marketing campaign adviser to Ms. Garrity, Dennis Roddy, mentioned that bringing abortion and Jan. 6 into the race was an effort to dodge the truth that Ms. Garrity has been a profitable steward of Pennsylvania’s cash.
“She’s carried out a hell of a job, she’s nicely favored and that is simply the same old ‘let’s nationalize an election we are able to’t win on the deserves,’” he mentioned.
Mr. Bizarro’s announcement video begins with harrowing scenes of the violent assault on the Capitol, then cuts to Ms. Garrity at a Jan. 5, 2021, rally in Harrisburg that was organized to stress Pennsylvania lawmakers to decertify the state’s vote for Joseph R. Biden Jr. After courts in Pennsylvania had already rejected a number of claims of fraud by the Trump marketing campaign and allies, Ms. Garrity insisted to the group, “The election from this November is tarnished eternally.”
Ms. Garrity, an Iraq battle veteran who defeated a Democratic incumbent in 2020, has additionally proven an inclination to lean into nationwide points. Her marketing campaign Fb web page just lately criticized Mr. Biden’s “hasty and spineless retreat” from Afghanistan, equated “Bidenomics=Bideninflation” and joined a refrain of Republican critics of Senator John Fetterman’s shorts-and-sweatshirt wardrobe.
Up to now, Ms. Garrity, 59, has requested folks to “please pray” for the Supreme Courtroom to reverse Roe v. Wade and known as to defund Deliberate Parenthood. In 2020, she boasted of being endorsed by Susan B. Anthony Professional-Life America, a bunch that claims it exists “to finish abortion.”
Mr. Bizzarro, 37, the Home Democratic Coverage Chair, comes from a household {of professional} prizefighters in Erie County, Pa. It’s unclear if he may have a major competitor. He seems in his video inside a boxing ring.
