Democrats shouldn’t fret over Casey getting a progressive primary challenger
Salena Zito
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SCOTT TOWNSHIP, Pennsylvania — On Tuesday, a suburban Pittsburgh Democrat announced he was challenging Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), a Scranton Democrat and three-term incumbent, for the party’s nomination in next year’s U.S. Senate primary.
Reported by Penn Live’s J.D. Prose on Tuesday, Blaine Forkner, 43, described himself as an engineer and “two-time cancer survivor” who plans on running on a progressive platform of universal healthcare, gun reform, affordable education, and free tuition for college students.
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Forkner says on his website he is not a career politician but “an engineer, husband and father who is tired of career politicians and the status quo of Washington politics,” a reference to Casey’s longevity in office.
Calls to several Allegheny County Democratic leaders said to date they had never heard of Forkner, nor were they concerned about his ability to influence Casey’s positions, pushing him either further right or left on policies.
Casey, who announced his reelection campaign this past spring, has handily won every general election campaign he has competed in, in 2006, 2012, and 2018, all very good years for Democrats in both Pennsylvania and around the country.
In his 27-year career in seeking elected office, Casey has only faced two primaries of consequence. In his first race in 1996 at the age of 36, he prevailed in a crowded primary over three other noted Democrats for state auditor general. He has only lost one primary, in 2002, when he and Ed Rendell, who had served as both the chairman of the national party as well as the mayor of Philadelphia, both sought their party’s nomination for governor in Pennsylvania that year. Casey went down in defeat by double digits and it marked the first and last time he ever lost an election.
Millersville University political science professor G. Terry Madonna called Forkner’s bid a quixotic one that stands little chance of gaining any momentum in the coming months.
“If he is running as a progressive there is a chance, a slim chance, he might push Casey to the right, but honestly, it is hard to put a dent in a legacy candidate like Casey in a Democratic primary,” he said.
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Last week, Republican businessman David McCormick announced he was seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate. Unlike last year’s chaotic primary contest, to date, McCormick is the only Republican to announce he is seeking the Pennsylvania U.S. Senate seat in 2024.
Sen. John Fetterman’s (D-PA) win in last year’s midterm elections marked the first time since 1947 that elected Democrats have held both U.S. Senate seats from Pennsylvania. McCormick’s Republican opponent, Dr. Mehmet Oz, was the first Republican to lose Pennsylvania’s Class 3 Senate seat since 1962.