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Burns campaign chief won’t stay for Round 2

With a rematch looming in November, Republican Tim Burns will soon be getting a new campaign manager. Tadd Rupp, who ran Burns’ unsuccessful special election bid against Democrat Mark Critz last month, has left the campaign, according to a Republican insider familiar with the campaign.

Rupp himself would not discuss his departure on the record, and a campaign spokesman wouldn’t comment specifically on the staffing change. The Republican insider signaled that Rupp had planned earlier to work only on the special election. Critz campaign manager Mike Mikus says he’s staying on to make sure the newly-elected congressman wins a full, two-year term in November.

The Republican insider said a new campaign manager hasn’t yet been selected. The GOP heavily targeted western Pennsylvania’s 12th District for the special election to replace John Murtha, but Critz won by almost nine points. It’s unlikely that national Republicans will make such a big play for the seat in November, but Burns, a millionaire businessman, can keep the seat in play by spending heavily from his own wallet.

“We’ve built a solid operation over the past few months, and we are going to continue with that,” Burns campaign spokesman Kent Gates told pa2010.com in a recent interview. “The special [election] didn’t turn out the way we had hoped, but November will see a much better turnout for our side. Until then we’ll be out knocking on doors and bulking up our base with the same message.”

June 8, 2010 at 4:30 pm

--John Manganaro

Tags: Mark Critz, PA-12, Tim Burns

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