President Trump has recorded a robo-call endorsement for Republican Rep. Lou Barletta in Pennsylvania’s Senate primary race, telling voters in Tuesday’s race that the lawmaker is “tough on immigration.”
“Lou is my guy, and I need him in the U.S. Senate,” Mr. Trump tells voters, according to a script released Sunday by Mr. Barletta’s campaign. “Like me, Lou Barletta is strong on the wall, tough on immigration, and has already cut your taxes.”
The four-term House lawmaker from Hazleton is seeking the GOP nomination to square off in November against Sen. Bob Casey, a Democrat running for his third term.
In the robo-call, the president refers to Mr. Casey as “a disaster” in the Senate.
“Liberal Democrat Bob Casey is Chuck Schumer’s and Nancy Pelosi’s hand-picked guy,” Mr. Trump says.
“Bob Casey voted against tax cuts, health care, and border security. And he’s weak on the military.”
Two polls taken more than one month ago with relatively small samples showed Mr. Casey leading Mr. Barletta by about 17 percentage points. But Republicans and the White House are hoping that they can pick up the Senate seat in the state that Mr. Trump won narrowly in 2016.
The president already endorsed Mr. Barletta on Twitter in February.
In the GOP primary, Mr. Barletta, 62, first must defeat state Rep. Jim Christiana, 34, of Beaver County. Mr. Christiana has criticized Mr. Barletta for voting for a $1.3 trillion spending bill this spring, a measure that Mr. Trump signed despite his own objections, because it fully funded the military and other White House priorities.
The president refers to Mr. Barletta as “my good friend,” and notes in the robo-call that Mr. Barletta was among the first to endorse him in 2016.
“He was with me early on before everyone else started jumping on board,” the president tells voters. “It took courage for Lou to do that, and I will never forget it … he’s helped me all the way down the line. You need a strong conservative leader who is going to fight for you in the Senate.”
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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