Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district election, 2006

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Defeated GOP incumbent, Curt Weldon

The Pennsylvania 7th congressional district election, 2006 was an election for the United States House of Representatives that took place on November 7, 2006 between long-time incumbent Republican Curt Weldon and his Democratic opponent former Navy 3-star admiral Joe Sestak. Sestak was elected with 56% of the vote. ^[1]

1 Results
2 Candidates
- 2.1 Republican incumbent
- 2.2 Democratic challenger
3 The primary
4 The general campaign
5 Fundraising
6 Polls
- 6.1 Polling
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Results

2006 U.S. House election, 7th district of Pennsylvania
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Joe Sestak	147,347	56.4	+16.1
	Republican	Curt Weldon (incumbent)	114,056	43.6	-15.2
Majority			33,291	12.7
Turnout			261,403
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing	15.7

[edit] Candidates

[edit] Republican incumbent

Weldon first ran for U.S. Congress Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district in 1984 on the Republican ticket but lost to incumbent Democrat Rep. Robert W. Edgar. Two years later, however, instead of running for re-election, Edgar unsuccessfully ran for the U.S. Senate, losing to Arlen Specter. Weldon ran again for Edgar's seat in 1986 and won with a comfortable margin.

[edit] Democratic challenger

Democratic Challenger, Vice Admiral Joe Sestak

The Democratic challenger was retired Vice Admiral Joe Sestak, who holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University in political economy and government.

[edit] The primary

In February, Iraq war veteran Bryan Lentz agreed to drop his bid for the seat held by Weldon, instead running for a Pennsylvania state legislature seat, a move brokered by Governor Ed Rendell. Lentz had raised about $125,000 for his congressional campaign. Haverford Democrat Paul Scoles, who ran poorly funded race against Weldon in 2004, also backed out in early February, throwing his support behind Sestak.^[2] As a result, Sestak avoided a contentious primary.

[edit] The general campaign

Pennsylvania's 7th congressional district, covering the suburbs west of Philadelphia, was one of the districts where John Kerry outpolled Bush in the 2004 election, which nonetheless elected a Republican to the House. As such, it became the target of Democratic strategists; in 2006 the Democrats this year fielded a much stronger and vastly better-funded challenger ^[3] Further helping Democratic prospects is that Gov. Ed Rendell is running for re-election as governor. As he is a former Philadelphia mayor who is well-known and popular across the metropolitan area, Sestak may have some coattails to ride.

On the other hand, Weldon does have some bipartisan appeal. According to an unofficial tally of House votes in 2006 compiled by CQPolitics.com, "Weldon voted 76 percent of the time with his party on votes that divided the two parties: That is the 15th lowest score among House Republicans." ^[3]

In April, treatment of Sestak's daughter for cancer in a Washington area hospital became an issue. The Hill reported that "Weldon attacked Sestak's decision to continue owning a home in Virginia while only renting in Pennsylvania and questioned why Sestak did not move back to Pennsylvania when he was working at the Pentagon. Weldon commutes from Pennsylvania each day. Weldon also suggested Sestak should have sent his daughter to a hospital in Philadelphia or Delaware, rather than the Washington hospital. Sestak said that as soon as doctors give his daughter the all-clear, he'll buy in Pennsylvania." ^[4] The next day, The Washington Post reported that "A campaign spokesman who talked with Weldon said the congressman denied having made 'the girl's sickness an issue,' but that Weldon 'confirmed that while talking to The Hill, he had made a reference to the quality of hospitals in the Philadelphia area.'" ^[5] Sestak angrily denounced Weldon's attack as "beyond the pale." [1]

In July, the Republicans attacked Sestak for wearing a three-star Navy uniform at the Memorial Day parade in Springfield, Pennsylvania. Sestak retired as a two-star admiral; the U.S. Code permits retired military officers to display only their retired grade and prohibits wearing any service uniform while politicking. The Sestak campaign, in response, cited Navy regulations that permit retired members to wear the uniform of their highest grade when attending memorial services. Sestak had been invited to the parade by the head of the Springfield American Legion, a Republican. ^[6]

On October 13, the media reported that Weldon and his daughter were being investigated by the FBI^[7]^[8] for their involvement with two Russian energy companies and a Serbian company connected with Slobodan Milosevic. The investigation focuses on the lobbying firm Solutions North America owned and run by daughter Karen Weldon and local Republican operative Charlie Sexton, which was hired for $1 million, and whether Weldon was involved in obtaining the contracts or was lobbied by his daughter's firm. Three days later, FBI agents raided the home of Weldon's daughter, Karen, as well as five other locations of Weldon associates in Pennsylvania and Florida as part of the investigation.^[9]^[10] On October 17, 2006, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Weldon "acknowledged yesterday that he was under investigation."[2]

[edit] Fundraising

Sestak has raised more money than Weldon for two consecutive quarters. Sestak raised $704,000 in the second quarter of 2006, while Weldon reported raising $692,000. In the third quarter, Sestak's $1.14 million bested the $912,000 raised by Weldon. As of September 30, 2006, Sestak had $1.53 million cash on hand, while Weldon had $1.12 million in the bank after making a $500,000 TV ad buy that had not started as of the close of the third quarter. [3]. In 2004, by contrast, challenger Paul Scoles had just $24,000 for his campaign to Weldon's $895,000.^[3]

[edit] Polls

On October 13, 2006, CQPolitics changed their rating on the race, from "Leans Republican" to the highly competitive "No Clear Favorite."^[11] This was the second time CQPolitics changed its rating in the match-up; in July, it reclassified the race from "Republican Favored" to the more competitive "Leans Republican." They subsequently noted, however, that this change was made the day before the media reported that the FBI was investigating Weldon and his daughter. Shortly after the raid, CQPolitics.com changed their rating on this race for a third time, this time from "No Clear Favorite" to "Leans Democratic".^[12]

A Majority Watch poll conducted on October 8-10, 2006, shows Sestak leading Weldon among likely voters 52 percent to 44 percent with a margin of error at +/- 3 percent. ^[13] "Poll scores"

On October 6, 2006, the non-partisan Cook Political Report re-rated the race from "Lean Republican" to the more competitive "Toss Up."^[14]

A poll released in late September 2006 showed Sestak and Weldon locked in a statistical dead heat. Sestak lead Weldon 44-43 amongst likely voters in a Franklin & Marshall College Keystone Poll released September 29. The poll also found that 49 percent of registered voters in the district felt it was time for change in the district and only 37 percent said Weldon deserved re-election.^[15]

Larry Sabato's Center for Politics, in late June, rated as one of the top thirty most competitive House races in the nation. Sabato has said that "Weldon has deep roots in this district, but his persistence on the issue of finding weapons of mass destruction in Iraq has struck more than several observers as unusual." ^[16]