Apr 18, 2015 3 min read

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania’s Democratic Party received its surest sign yet Friday that it will have a contested primary in next year’s U.S. Senate race, and that’s even before the general election contest against the potentially formidable incumbent, Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, a Democrat, unveiled his U.S. Senate candidacy with a website and an announcement online. The Democrat already running is Joe Sestak, a former congressman and Navy vice admiral from suburban Philadelphia who narrowly lost to Toomey in 2010.

Pawlowski, 49, is poised to run on his record steering Pennsylvania’s third most-populous city since 2006.

“We didn’t wait on others to solve the problems for us,” Pawlowski said in a statement. “We rolled up our sleeves and made things happen.”

Pawlowski has never been a candidate on a statewide ballot in Pennsylvania, and his candidacy comes 14 months after he dropped out of a big Democratic field in the governor’s race because he was lagging badly in fundraising.

Neither he nor Sestak has the backing of party leaders. The party’s Washington establishment, meanwhile, is trying to recruit Josh Shapiro, who runs Montgomery County, Pennsylvania’s third most populous county. Shapiro declined comment Friday.

The 2016 Senate election in Pennsylvania promises to be expensive and closely watched, with control of the Senate on the line. Democrats have a right to be optimistic about beating Toomey in Pennsylvania, where they outnumber registered Republicans by a four-to-three margin.

Toomey, 53, narrowly beat Sestak in 2010, a midterm election during a strong Republican wave. With next year a presidential election year, Democrats expect more of their voters to emerge.

Still, the former businessman and investment banker is popular with free market and anti-tax groups that have a lot of money to spend to influence elections. Toomey’s campaign spent nearly $17 million to win the 2010 campaign and is already reporting more than $7 million in its account.

Interviewed at a conference of Pennsylvania’s conservatives Friday in suburban Harrisburg, Toomey said his best opportunity to be productive is ahead of him, now that the Senate is under Republican control.

“I am all about trying to get as much accomplished as I can for as long as I can until probably that time when presidential politics starts to eclipse everything else,” Toomey said. “That’s my focus.”

His aides tout Toomey’s willingness to work on legislation with Democrats, and Toomey said he believes he has won over some who voted against him in 2010.

“I think I’ve been a pretty productive and constructive guy and people have probably seen that,” Toomey said.

Meanwhile, Democrats are not entirely sure whether a primary battle will be helpful.

Lackawanna County’s Democratic chairman, Christopher Patrick, worried that his party’s candidates will spend millions of dollars in a contested primary, and then have to raise millions more to take on Toomey.

“I would hope that we could come together and agree on a candidate before that as a party,” Patrick said.

Greg Stewart, chairman of the Centre County Democratic Party, said he is comfortable with a contested primary because it tests candidates early on, before the general election campaign. He also said he expects more people to enter the race.

“I don’t view that as a negative,” he said.