HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) - Pennsylvania’s hottest congressional primary contest is generating millions of dollars in campaign spending and the personal involvement of Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Four Democrats are vying for the nomination to succeed U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz in the 13th District, which straddles parts of Philadelphia and Montgomery County. Schwartz is running for governor and plans to step down after this term, leaving the seat open in January.
Her would-be successors in the heavily Democratic district are former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies, who is Chelsea Clinton’s mother-in-law; state Sen. Daylin Leach, a champion of liberal causes; state Rep. Brendan Boyle, the only Philadelphia resident in the race; and Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, an obstetric anesthesiologist and political newcomer who has raised more money than any of her competitors.
Their final debate was scheduled for Wednesday night - five days before Tuesday’s primary.
“I don’t think anyone has a clear edge,” said G. Terry Madonna, a professor and pollster at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster.
Margolies held the seat from 1993 to 1995, before two rounds of redistricting made the district more solidly Democratic. She lost her bid for a second term after casting a key vote for President Clinton’s budget plan that increased taxes on the wealthy.
A longtime NBC news reporter, Margolies is the founder and president of Women’s Campaign International. Her son, Marc Mezvinsky, married the Clintons’ only child in 2010.
Former President Clinton was a special guest at a Philadelphia fundraiser for Margolies in April. And former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is scheduled to headline a similar event Thursday in New York City, at which suggested contributions start at $1,000.
Margolies raised $938,000 through April 30 - less than Arkoosh, whose contributions totaled more than $1.9 million, and Leach’s $1.1 million, according to the Federal Election Commission. Boyle raised $695,000.
Leach has built a reputation at the Capitol as a forceful advocate for progressive change, including the legalization of marijuana, the elimination of Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage and legislative redistricting reform.
Leach served three terms in the House before he was elected to the Senate in 2008.
Boyle and his brother Kevin are incumbent state representatives whose legislative districts lie within the 13th District, providing a unique power base in northeast Philadelphia that could boost Brendan’s prospects in the primary.
A super PAC comprising building-trades unions has run TV ads supporting Boyle, branding his opponents as millionaires and calling him a defender of abortion rights, a claim disputed by some abortion-rights groups.
A political-action committee of the American Society of Anesthesiologists spent more than $200,000 to air radio ads on behalf of Arkoosh, a prominent advocate of President Barack Obama’s signature 2010 health care law, in addition to her own TV advertising.
Schwartz’s seat is one of two seats that will be open next year in Pennsylvania’s 18-member delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives.
The other seat is being vacated by sixth-term Republican Rep. Jim Gerlach in the 6th District, which takes in parts of four counties in southeastern Pennsylvania. Neither the Republican nor Democratic nomination is contested.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.