Auditor general aiming for Pennsylvania's 10th Congressional District

Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale hopes his statewide recognition will launch him into federal office for the state’s 10th congressional district in November.

DePasquale’s campaign centers on younger liberal voters in the state’s capital city whom Democrats believe will help him unseat ultraconservative Rep. Scott Perry, first elected to Congress in 2012 when the district skewed more rural and red.

Perry, an Iraq War veteran, holds the most conservative voting record among Pennsylvania’s 18 congressional delegates. He touts his support for the Federal Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 as part of the reason economic opportunities for his constituents have improved under his tenure.

But it was his comments about racism during a campaign forum earlier this month that drew national attention.

"To say the United States falls into that category of systemic racism that belies the fact that we had a war to cleanse our country of that issue," he said. "The propensity of these events is actually going down. It’s the sensationalism of these events that’s changed.”

Critics – including DePasquale himself – accused the congressman of tone deafness amid ongoing nationwide unrest over systemic racism and police brutality.

“Comments like these from Congressman Perry show just how out of touch he is with our community and why he is no longer fit to lead,” DePasquale told the York Daily Record. “Instead of denying racism exists, we need to come together as one nation to stop it.”

DePasquale was first elected to public office in 2008 as a Democrat representing the 95th district in York County. He won the statewide election for auditor general just four years later and has served in the office ever since.

He said his family’s personal and financial struggles – from his father’s drug addiction to his brother’s muscular dystrophy – helped shape his desire to run for public office and prevent “honest people” from getting “screwed” over by rich political insiders.

“I think a lot about the waiters, janitors, seniors on fixed incomes, the garbage collectors, carpenters, teachers, college students, and our most vulnerable, who have too often been victims because the scales are tilted against them,” he said. “They have families like mine. They have struggles like we did. They deserve a level-playing field.”

Although Democrats have targeted the 10th district as an opportunity to strengthen its majority in the House of Representatives, Perry is no stranger to contentious races. He defeated liberal millionaire newcomer George Scott in 2018 by three points and the National Republican Congressional Committee seems unfazed by DePasquale’s candidacy.

“DePasquale enters the general election badly damaged from a messy primary and has been forced to adopt left-wing policies in a solidly Republican district. ... With President Trump at the top of the ticket in a district he won by nearly 10 points in 2016, Democrats’ hopes for flipping this district are nothing but a pipe dream,” the NRCC told PennLive after the June 2 primary.

DePasquale remains confident in his chances and argues that his moderate, down-to-earth views better reflect the voters in his district – something that’s kept him at odds with the elected officials he bumps shoulders with in Harrisburg.

“The political insiders and special interests fought me every day. It never bothered me for a minute,” he said. “I have always had the support and encouragement of the people who matter most, the folks living on a fixed-income, pushing a mop, or getting their kids off to school each day.”