McGinty launches U.S. Senate campaign

WASHINGTON - Democrat Katie McGinty, the former chief of staff for Gov. Wolf, launched her campaign for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, setting the stage for a hard-fought primary against former Rep. Joe Sestak as their party desperately tries to unseat the Republican incumbent, Pat Toomey.

Her entry changes the dynamics of the primary and, potentially, the general election next year, a nationally watched race that could go a long way toward deciding control of the Senate.

McGinty's candidacy - along with Hillary Rodham Clinton's for president - raises the prospect of having two women vying to make history atop the Democratic ticket, an idea sure to thrill some of the party's base.

McGinty, who seemed certain to join the race after resigning her state post in July, is expected to garner heavy support from the Democratic establishment, which had been searching for an alternative to Sestak.

"The stakes are so high for our country and especially for working families, I think I can make a difference being a voice for good jobs and good wages and affordable health care," McGinty, 52, said. "I'd like to lend that energy and that effort at the national level."

She is seeking to become Pennsylvania's first female senator as Clinton tries to become the first woman president. Pennsylvania has no women in its 20-strong delegation to Congress.

But McGinty faces a tough road to the nomination against Sestak, a former Navy admiral and a relentless campaigner who has outfought party leaders before and exceeded expectations at the polls. By most accounts, he begins the primary as the favorite.

McGinty has never held elective office and finished fourth out of four in last year's Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Perhaps tellingly, Republican comments Tuesday first focused on bashing Sestak.

"Pennsylvania Democrats are so dissatisfied with Congressman Joe Sestak's candidacy that they are now placing their bets on someone who finished dead last" a year ago, said Andrea Bozek, a spokeswoman for Republicans' national Senate campaign arm.

Bozek tied McGinty to Wolf's proposed tax hikes, and criticized her for leaving the governor's office in the middle of a state budget fight. The move, Bozek said, shows that McGinty "values her own self-interest" above Pennsylvania's.

A Toomey spokesman called McGinty "a capable person" and said the campaign would "welcome her to the competition of ideas."

Sestak embraced the idea that the political elite would prefer someone else, saying he would be accountable to Pennsylvanians, "not party insiders."

"Too much is at stake for another six years of an establishment politician," Sestak, of Delaware County, said in a release.

Democrats see Toomey as one of the top targets in the country, expecting the presidential race to bring out a left-leaning electorate.

McGinty, a Philadelphia native who lives in Wayne, has a resumé that includes stints in environmental protection roles with the Clinton White House and Gov. Ed Rendell's administration. She had been encouraged to run by Democratic leaders and at least one powerful group that backs women Democratic candidates.

"I have been very gratified by the outreach from across Pennsylvania and at the national level as well," she said. As for pending endorsements, "stay tuned."

She made her announcement in a Web video touting her backstory as the daughter of a Philadelphia police officer and a restaurant hostess.

She did not mention Sestak in the video, instead taking aim at Toomey as "part of a Washington mess that has middle-class families left out and left behind."

Asked why she would make a superior nominee to Sestak, McGinty said, "I'm running on my record and my ideas."

She pointed, for example, to her role in bringing solar and wind jobs to the state when she was environmental secretary and her role in Wolf's push to freeze tuition at public colleges, an effort that has yielded mixed results.

National Democrats have long been wary of Sestak's independent streak and unorthodox ways. They first tried to push Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro into the race.

Now, "we've got two candidates that can beat Toomey," said Sen. Jon Tester of Montana, chairman of Democrats' national Senate campaign arm.

But some operatives in both parties expressed puzzlement that Democrats have encouraged a potentially harmful primary. Instead of taking aim at Toomey for the next several months, Democrats will instead fire on each other. The race could leave the nominee with depleted campaign coffers against a well-funded incumbent.

Analysts warned not to underestimate Sestak. He came within two percentage points of Toomey in 2010 despite the party establishment lining up against him.

"He doesn't follow the traditional playbook, but one can't argue with his success and nobody - nobody - should ever second-guess him or take him lightly," said Larry Ceisler, a Democratic analyst based in Philadelphia.

For the last five years, Sestak has crossed the state to cement his support with the kind of activists likely to vote in a primary, Ceisler said.

Sestak begins with a fund-raising edge - he had $2.2 million on hand as of June 30 - but support from powerful Democrats could help McGinty make up ground.

EMILY's List, an influential group that backs Democratic women who support abortion rights, has been encouraging her to run, and McGinty announced her campaign a day after the organization put Toomey "on notice" for joining most Republicans in voting to eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

"There's a yearning and a hunger, particularly among Democrats, for a woman" in Pennsylvania, said G. Terry Madonna, the Franklin and Marshall College pollster.

Sestak defied his party in upsetting Sen. Arlen Specter in the 2010 Democratic primary. But that year, he was competing for Democratic votes against Specter, a longtime Republican.

McGinty has deep party ties, having been Rendell's secretary of environmental protection and the chair of the Council on Environmental Quality in the Clinton administration. She worked closely with Vice President Al Gore.

Though the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee encouraged McGinty to run, it is likely to wait to see if she can build an efficient campaign and raise money before making an endorsement.

McGinty plans to speak at a steelworkers' conference in Hershey on Wednesday and at a Democratic picnic in Allegheny County on Sunday.

Another Democrat, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, previously joined the primary but suspended his campaign after a July FBI raid on City Hall. The search was part of a corruption investigation believed to center on city contracting, though it's not clear if Pawlowski is a target.

@JonathanTamari

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