Nov 11, 2017 6 min read

CANONSBURG – On Veterans Day, the choice came down to two veterans when a mini-convention of Republican Party conferees met to pick a candidate to run for the unexpectedly-open seat in the 18th Congressional District.

Rick Saccone, 59, who served in the U.S. Air Force, won the battle for delegates Saturday at Southpointe Golf Club over State Sen. Guy Reschenthaler, 34, a U.S. Army vet who was part of the Judge Advocate General Corps during the Iraq War.

Reschenthaler, a Jefferson Hills resident, called for unanimity among the 215 delegates and asked that they all endorse Saccone in a voice vote.

Once the closed meeting was opened to the public, Saccone thanked his opponents and those who worked on his behalf.

“You all know the message. You voted it in last November. Our president is down there trying to implement it. It’s being undermined every day by the media, by academia, by Hollywood, by the Democrats. They’re all working against our president.

“You know that agenda: It’s lowering taxes, reducing government spending, reducing government regulation, repealing and replacing Obamacare. It’s finding conservative Supreme Court justices, it’s rebuilding our military and taking care of our veterans. It’s protecting unborn children.

“We’ve got to sell that message, but it’s an easy message to sell. Our opposition has no product.”

Republican Donald Trump trounced Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election in the 18th Congressional District.

As name-calling between “Rocketman” Kim Jong Un and “Dotard” President Donald Trump flies back and forth over the backdrop of threatened thermonuclear war, Saccone, if elected, would likely be the only Congressman who has spent time in North Korea beyond the demilitarized zone. He lived there as a private citizen from December 2000 to December 2001 while representing an international organization building nuclear power plants as part of the Agreed Framework negotiated under the Bill Clinton presidential administration.

Saccone, who speaks Korean, has authored “Negotiating with North Korea” and “Living with the Enemy: Inside North Korea.”

Dr. Joe DiSarro of Green Tree, chairman of the political science department at Washington & Jefferson College, declined to reveal for whom he voted on the two secret ballots but said, “I think we had three very strong candidates” all of whom support President Donald Trump.

Asked to comment about Saccone’s road ahead, DiSarro said,”Generally, off-year elections are not very good for the party in control. The Republican Party is going to lose votes in the House as well as in the Senate.

“Is it going to be a wave that Republicans could lose both chambers? No. The districts in the House are so gerrymandered, including the 18th District that we’re in, it’s very, very difficult for someone from the opposition to carry the 18th District. I think it’s pretty much drawn to favor a Republican.”

Saccone, who was first elected to the state House in 2010, has a doctorate degree in international relations and teaches political science at St. Vincent College, Latrobe. Both he and DiSarro serve on the Republican State Committee.

“As a fellow professor, I couldn’t be happier to have him in the race,” he said.

Along with academia, Saccone also has a news background as an English-language anchorman on a Korean television station.

Washington County Commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan, a delegate from Nottingham Township and resident of the 39th Legislative District, noted that she has been a long-time Saccone supporter.

“I know he’s going to do a tremendous job in this election and when we send him to Congress,” she said.

The delegates were meeting because U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy of Upper St. Clair resigned in the wake of a scandal last month, leaving a district that includes all or part of Washington, Greene, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties bereft of representation in Congress.

Murphy’s extramarital affair came to light in a court deposition, and, under the impression that his paramour was pregnant, the anti-abortion Congressman asked her to abort.

A special election March 13 will decide who will serve the remaining 8 1/2 months of Murphy’s term. Candidates will also have the opportunity to file for the May 2018 primary, from which the winner will take an oath of office in early January 2019. Eighteenth District Democrats will convene next Sunday at Washington High School.

Among Republicans, the first ballot at mid-morning bounced State Sen. Kim Ward of Westmoreland County who finished with 66 votes to Reschenthaler’s 75 and Saccone’s 74.

The majority of the votes then went to Saccone on the second ballot when the 39th District State Representative who represents four municipalities in Washington County and several in Allegheny prevailed over Reschenthaler, whose 37th District includes Peters Township.

After she was eliminated, Ward said she had not thrown her support to a particular candidate.

State Rep. Jason Ortitay of Cecil Township in the 46th Legislative District bowed out just as the morning’s closed session was getting under way.

“I was the last one to get in the race and truthfully, I probably got in a little too late,” Ortitay said in an interview.

Delegates from his district encouraged him to remain in the General Assembly, Ortitay said, but he did not make up his mind until late Friday and, even then, spent a sleepless night.

“It was a great opportunity,” Ortitay said Saturday morning at the golf club, which is situated in the district he represents. “My colleagues are great challengers. I think whoever wins at the end of the day, we’re going to have a great candidate.”

A fifth announced candidate, postal worker George Karpacs of Castle Shannon, did not appear before the delegates Saturday. An attempt to contact him was unsuccessful.

Brandon Cwalina, press secretary for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, alluded to Saccone’s declared U.S. Senate candidacy, of which Saccone said Saturday, “It’s over.”

“Desperate to get to D.C. and implement draconian policies on behalf of President Trump, like giving tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of teachers and first responders, Saccone now wants to run for Congress,” Cwalina continued.

“Democrats are looking forward to nominating a candidate who will… stand up and fight for jobs, health care and education for every person in the district.”