Pennsylvania is going to be one of the most closely watched swing states in the 2024 election. President Joe Biden's reelection campaign views Pennsylvania as a must-win state, and polls have indicated that former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley would be the most difficult for Biden to defeat in the Keystone State if she is the nominee.
GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, however, is way of ahead of Haley in polls — a fact that worries some of the Philadelphia-area Republican leaders who gathered for a debate watch party on Wednesday night, December 6, including Philadelphia Republican Party Chair Vince Fenerty.
The Trumpless debate found Haley up against three other GOP presidential primary candidates: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
Fenerty, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer report published on December 7, fears that if Trump is the nominee, Republicans will suffer badly in down-ballot races in the southeastern part of Pennsylvania — which includes Philly and its suburbs.
Fenerty told the Philadelphia Inquirer, "I pray. If Donald Trump is the candidate, for Republicans in the Southeast, it'll be a blood bath. I think the majority of the Republican Party in Philadelphia realizes in order for it to be possible for us to take the House of Representatives back in Harrisburg, the best candidate is someone other than Donald Trump."
Fenerty and Bill Heeney, a Republican ward leader in Philly, were both impressed by Haley's debate performance and obviously believe she would be quite competitive against Biden if, by some chance, she became the nominee.
Heeney told the Inquirer, "She's a pretty sharp woman. You know she's doing good when they attack her…. Hopefully, as the field gets down to less, people pay more attention."
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Fenerty, meanwhile, told the Inquirer, "I think she's the most qualified, and I think it'll take a woman to clean up the mess Donald Trump and Joe Biden have made."
One of the big down-ballot races in Pennsylvania will be the U.S. Senate race. Three-term Democratic Sen. Bob Casey Jr. is up for reelection, and he has a history of double-digit victories.
The Inquirer's Julia Terruso notes, "There's good reason for Fenerty and a bar of GOP party leaders in heavily Democratic Philadelphia to like alternatives to Trump, who is the frontrunner to become the party's presidential nominee and has declined to debate his opponents. They worry about the other races in Pennsylvania next year, wary of the negative impact they think Trump had in the last two elections."
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The Philadelphia Inquirer's full report is available at this link.