Trump talks tax bill, draws attention to 18th District ahead of special election
President Donald J. Trump gives a fist pump to the crowd as he exits the stage after speaking Thursday at H&K Equipment, Inc. in North Fayette Township.
Ivanka Trump joins her father President Donald J. Trump at the podium Thursday at H&K Equipment, Inc. in North Fayette Township.
President Donald J. Trump calls Ken Wilson a worker at H&K Equipment up on stage Thursday during his speech at H&K Equipment, Inc. in North Fayette Township.
President Donald J. Trump speaks about his tax cut Thursday at H&K Equipment, Inc. in North Fayette Township.
Supporters hold up their smart phones Thursday to take a picture of President Donald J. Trump has he speaks at H&K Equipment, Inc. in North Fayette Township.
A supporter of President Donald Trump holds up a sign Thursday at H&K Equipment, Inc. in North Fayette Township.
Ivanka Trump joins her father President Donald J. Trump at the podium Thursday at H&K Equipment, Inc. in North Fayette Township.
President Donald J. Trump speaks Thursday at H&K Equipment, Inc. in North Fayette Township.
Ivanka Trump joins her father President Donald J. Trump at the podiumThursday at H&K Equipment, Inc. in North Fayette Township.
President Trump touted the tax bill he signed last month and aimed to give some added heft to a fellow Republican’s bid to keep the local congressional district in the party during a visit Thursday to a North Fayette Township equipment company.
“I come to the great city of Pittsburgh to stand with people – and those people are incredible workers – and to show the world that America is back, and that we’re coming back bigger and better and stronger than ever before,” he said in his speech to the crowd assembled inside H&K Equipment Inc. “And we’re making our own product again.”
The president focused on economic growth and other benefits he attributed to the legislation and his administration’s economic policies.
He called the plan – which critics claim disproportionately benefits wealthy Americans and contradicts previous GOP rhetoric regarding concerns over the federal deficit – the “most significant tax cut, the most significant reform in American history.”
One state lawmaker from the Mon Valley echoed Trump’s view as she left the event.
“It’s great to hear the same message again and again, we can’t say it enough times: that this tax cut, this tax reform, has already taken effect and has helped just regular families out there,” said Sen. Camera Bartolotta, R-Monongahela. “To hear the examples of the folks that he pulled up on stage, there’s one gentleman who works at this facility who’s going to get $2,500 back.”
The March 13 special election to replace former congressman Tim Murphy – who resigned in October from the seat he held since 2003 amid scandals involving an adulterous affair and alleged problems with treatment of staff in his office – set a backdrop to Trump’s visit even if it was absent from his official remarks.
In the morning, Trump tweeted he’d “be going to Pennsylvania today in order to give my total support to RICK SACCONE.”
Saccone of Elizabeth has been in the state House since 2011. He faces Democratic nominee Conor Lamb of Mt. Lebanon, a former federal prosecutor and U.S. Marine veteran.
Professor Joseph DiSarro, chair of the political science department at Washington & Jefferson College, said over the phone Wednesday the Saccone-Lamb contest is one with two “very competent candidates” for a district that tends to lean conservative.
“I just don’t think the president, vice president or others are going to have a major impact. They might have a slight impact,” DiSarro said.
He added a visit from a luminary like a president or governor mostly “is important with respect to fundraising.”
The race attracted national attention as the GOP reels from a loss in December’s Senate race in Alabama and both parties prepare for the Congressional midterms.
A Washington Post headline earlier this week called it a “test of Trump in Western Pennsylvania.” The paper reported two political action committees funded by Republican billionaire Joe Ricketts – who recently was in the news for firing employees of his news websites he owns after they voted to unionize – are spending a total of at least $1.5 million on ads supportive of Saccone or critical of Lamb.
Paul D’Andries, 71, of Mt. Lebanon, a Republican who described himself as a “very large” former Murphy supporter, said there was “no question” he’d vote for Saccone.
The self-described “longtime fan” of Trump saw the president in person for the first time Thursday at the invitation of GOP U.S. Rep. Keith Rothfus, R-12.
“He tells the truth, no matter how bad it hurts – him, or anyone else,” D’Andries said of the president.