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LEFTOVERS: Tea Party for Dent, Manchin for Critz, UNITEPA for Rohrer

Primary day is just over two weeks away, and the endorsements are still in full swing.

Congressman Charlie Dent (R-15) won the backing of a Philadelphia Tea Party group. Republican Mat Benol, who’s challenging Dent from the right, was surprised when the Independence Hall Tea Party Political Action Committee endorsed the incumbent over him. Benol seemed to chalk it up to the fact that the group is an hour south of the Lehigh Valley district.

“I think it is just in poor taste that they didn’t reach out to talk to me and they are just too far south to be sticking their noses into it,” Benol told The Morning Call. The endorsement bolsters Dent’s conservative bona fides ahead of the May 18 primary—but it could very well prove to be less than helpful come November in a district where the Democratic registration edge is far more formidable than when Dent took in 2005.

Meanwhile, West Virgina Gov. Joe Manchin is set to campaign Tuesday for 12th District Democratic hopeful Mark Critz on Tuesday. The coal-state governor will join the party’s special election candidate for an afternoon event in Washington, at which his campaign said Critz will “highlight his commitment to the Western Pennsylvania coal industry which drives the economy in the region.”

And a grassroots group is backing Republican gubernatorial underdog Sam Rohrer. UNITEPA, which bills itself as a nonpartisan grassroots organizing group and is aligned with the Tea Party movement, announced its endorsement of Rohrer on Monday.

“It has become crystal clear to UNITEPA, that Representative Sam Rohrer, a true Constitutional Conservative, is the only Gubernatorial Candidate that reflects our Principles and Values,” the organization said in a statement. “He is the epitome of what our Founding Fathers and William Penn envisioned when they passed the baton onto the next generation of statesmen. This is an opportunity for Pennsylvania to finally see the return of a ‘culture of honor and integrity.’”

Correction: This blog post originally misstated the given name of the Republican primary challenger to incumbent Congressman Charlie Dent. He is Mat Benol, not Sam.

May 3, 2010 at 4:31 pm

--Dan Hirschhorn

Tags: Charlie Dent, Mark Critz, PA-12, PA-15, Sam Rohrer, Tea Party

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