{"id":13240,"date":"2016-01-30T10:56:20","date_gmt":"2016-01-30T15:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=13240"},"modified":"2016-01-30T10:56:20","modified_gmt":"2016-01-30T15:56:20","slug":"chesco-gop-rivera-gets-nod-in-158th-toomey-offers-praise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/?p=13240","title":{"rendered":"Chesco GOP: Rivera gets nod in 158th; Toomey offers praise"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ChescoGOPLogo\"<\/a>The county\u2019s Republicans gathered Thursday night to endorse a wide slate of candidates \u2014 with little in the way of drama, as the vast majority of candidates were incumbents running without primary opposition.<\/span><\/p>\n

The one in-county race that was contested \u2014 the three-way fight for the 158th State House District endorsement \u2014 went to Kennett Square attorney Lenny Rivera, who seeks to face off against Democrat Susan Rzucidlo for the seat previously held by State Rep. Chris Ross (R) who is retiring. <\/span><\/p>\n

In another closely watched race \u2014 that for the open 16th District U.S. House seat of retiring U.S. Rep. Joe Pitts, the party could not muster the votes for an endorsement. State Sen. Lloyd Smucker edged Lancaster businessman Chet Beiler, 26-23, in the vote, but did not win by enough to earn the endorsement but did get a \u201crecommended\u201d nod \u2014 continuing what appears to be a close primary battle for the nomination.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI am thankful for the support that I received last evening in Chester County, which comprises 12% of the Republican electorate in the 16<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Congressional District. Republican voters should know that I am the only endorsed candidate in this race and I am grateful to be a recommended candidate by the Chester County Republican Committee,\u201d Smucker said in a statement Friday.\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cWith 67% of district-wide committee members casting their vote in support of my campaign and with the endorsement of Lancaster County Republicans, there is strong grassroots support of my message and candidacy.\u00a0 <\/span>I look forward to earning the support of voters from across the 16<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> District and will fight to make the American Dream achievable for all, while defending our conservative values in Washington.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

A highlight of\u00a0 <\/span>Thursday night\u2019s event were brief remarks by U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey \u2014 who faces a reelection battle in November \u2014 including praise for county party chair Val DiGiorgio.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know how crucial Chester County is to winning Pennsylvania and I thank you for the hard work you\u2019ve done, and plan to do, on my behalf,\u201d Toomey said. \u201cI plan to win Chester County and I need your help. Toomey concluded his speech by saying, \u201cVal DiGiorgio is one of the best leaders in the state and we are lucky to have him.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

For his part, DiGiorgio expressed excitement over his party\u2019s slate of endorsed candidates and expects a spirited election season.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOnce again, I am thrilled to present our strong slate of good, qualified Republican candidates to the voters. I appreciate Senator Toomey\u2019s support.\u201d DiGiorgio said. \u201cWe will fight hard for his re-election, as we will the rest of our candidates, and present a united front to defeat the Democrats.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The county\u2019s only other open seat \u2014 the 9th Senate District with the resignation of Dominic Pileggi to take his seat on the Delaware Court of Common Pleas \u2014 was a no-drama affair, with the committee backing State Rep. Tom Killion.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI greatly appreciate the outpouring of support my campaign has received in a few short weeks and the strong backing that I have received from the Republican committee people of both Delaware and Chester Counties,\u201d Killion said. \u00a0\u201cIf elected, I will continue to fight Governor Wolf\u2019s proposed sales tax increase, which would hurt local businesses and jeopardize employment for thousands of retail employees in our region. We need representation in the Senate that will fairly evaluate the impacts of Governor Wolf\u2019s proposals and fight for the best interests of local residents.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

With 354 committee members present in person or by proxy, the Republican Committee voted to endorse the following state house candidates for elective office:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Representative John Lawrence for the 13<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Legislative District <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Representative Tim Hennessey for the 26<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Legislative District <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Representative Harry Lewis for the 74<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Legislative District <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Representative Becky Corbin for the 155<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Legislative District <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Representative Dan Truitt for the 156<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Legislative District<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Representative Warren Kampf for the 157<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Legislative District<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Leonard Rivera for the 158<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Legislative District <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Representative Stephen Barrar for the 160<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Legislative District <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Representative Duane Milne for the 167<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Legislative District <\/span><\/p>\n

The county committee also endorsed the following delegates to Republican National Convention in Cleveland in July:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022\u00a0<\/span>Congressman Ryan Costello and County Commissioner Michelle Kichline for 6<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Congressional Delegates to the National Convention with Doug Hager from Montgomery County <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Gwenne Alexander and Neill Kling as 6<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Congressional Alternate Delegates to the National Convention, and Tom Neafcy from Montgomery County <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Colin Hanna for 7<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Congressional Alternate Delegate, with Michael Puppio, Robert Willer, and Joan Miller from Delaware County as Delegates and Nick DeBenedictis as the Alternate. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Thomas Chiomento for 16<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Congressional Delegate to the National Convention, with Rick Loughery as the 16<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span> Congressional Alternate Delegate, with David Dumeyer and Gordon Denlinger from Lancaster County as Delegates and Dick Shellenberger and Tom Jones as the Alternates.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

All of the candidates will seek to gain the party endorsement nomination on Primary Election Day, Tuesday, April 26<\/span>th<\/sup><\/span>, 2016.\u00a0 Polls are open 7:00am to 8:00pm.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The county\u2019s Republicans gathered Thursday night to endorse a wide slate of candidates \u2014 with little in the way of drama, as the vast majority of candidates were incumbents running without primary opposition. The one in-county race that was contested \u2014 the three-way fight for the 158th State House District endorsement \u2014 went to Kennett […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,7],"tags":[6897,6898,6896,4201],"class_list":["post-13240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-conventions","tag-elections-2016","tag-nominations","tag-republican-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13240"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13240\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chescotimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}