9th Congressional race: Halvorson wants to debate Shuster
The opponent of U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster wants to debate the eight-term Republican incumbent at several locations in the sprawling 9th Congressional District, which includes eastern Washington and Greene counties.
Art Halvorson, who narrowly lost the Republican primary to Shuster but resurrected his candidacy by securing a Democratic write-in nomination, Friday called on Shuster to participate in a series of five town hall debates.
A news release from Halvorson noted the dozen counties in the district stretch across five media markets: Altoona, Johnstown, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, plus Hagerstown, Md.
Both candidates live in Bedford County, and they engaged in a single face-to-face forum at Penn State’s Fayette Campus in advance of the April primary.
Halvorson, in a news release, noted Congress is on summer recess, and he said he will adjust his schedule and travel anywhere at any time for televised debates with Shuster. The challenger also hopes any debates will be carried on radio and the internet.
A retired Coast Guard captain, Halvorson is a farmer and the owner of four companies that manage real estate. He also ran against Shuster in the Republican primary of 2014, and he can retain his Republican voter registration while running as a Democratic nominee. If elected, he promised to caucus with House Republicans. He described himself as a Christian conservative Tea Party candidate, and several prominent Democrats, including Ron Sicchitano, Washington County Democratic Committee chairman, repudiated his candidacy.
Halvorson raised debate fodder, attacking Shuster’s votes in favor of the Wall Street bailout as what became known as the Great Recession hit in 2008; increasing the debt ceiling five times; and funding bills that avoided by mere hours a federal government shutdown in 2014. He also questioned Shuster’s receipt of political contributions from companies that could benefit from the privatization of air-traffic control, a move Shuster proposed.
No Democrat filed in the 9th Congressional District last winter, and in the April 26 primary, Halvorson received more votes than another write-in candidate, Democrat Adam Sedlock of Chalk Hill, Fayette County. Both men crossed the 1,000-vote write-in threshold. In a primary, write-in congressional candidates must garner at least as many votes as are required on a nominating petition, and in this case, the top vote-getter prevailed. Halvorson notified the state Bureau of Elections he would accept the Democratic nomination, and Sedlock, who could have filed nomination papers to run as an independent because his name had not appeared on a 2016 primary ballot, said earlier this month he plans to again pursue write-in votes in the Nov. 8 general election.
Casey Contres, responding Friday afternoon on behalf of Bill Shuster for Congress, wrote in an email, ” Congressman Shuster just debated Art Halvorson for the fifth time in April, but we will consider debate requests from third-party organizations interested in hosting them, as we always have.”
According to Contres, Shuster is focused “on working to unify the Republican Party in order to stop Hillary Clinton from getting in the White House, something Art Halvorson has no interest in doing.”
Halvorson did not propose any particular sponsor or moderator for an appearance with Shuster, but in Washington County, the League of Women Voters, a nonpartisan “third-party organization,” sponsored many a candidates’ forum.
There was discussion about a possible race in the 9th Congressional District at a July board meeting, which took place before Halvorson chose to run on the Democratic ticket. “So we left it open,” said Judy Hughes, president of the local league. “I’ve got a board meeting this Tuesday evening. I’ll put it on my agenda for Tuesday night. We will be discussing it again.”
She said of much of the sprawling district, “We don’t we have any members out there.” Regardless, the candidates in the 9th District will have the opportunity to be included in the League’s Voters Guide published in advance of the general election.