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‘Foaming at the mouth for impeachment’

  • Emily Previti/PA Post
Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., won her House seat by a razor-thin margin in 2018. Her support for an impeachment inquiry risks alienating voters in a closely divided swing district.

 Jacqueline Larma / AP Photo

Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., won her House seat by a razor-thin margin in 2018. Her support for an impeachment inquiry risks alienating voters in a closely divided swing district.

The deadline to register to vote in Pennsylvania or change your party affiliation is today. You can take care of it all here, or take your questions to 1.877.VOTESPA (1.877.868.3772) -Emily Previti, Newsletter Producer/Reporter

‘Dems in swing districts must walk a fine line’

Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., won her House seat by a razor-thin margin in 2018. Her support for an impeachment inquiry risks alienating voters in a closely divided swing district.

Jacqueline Larma / AP Photo

Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., won her House seat by a razor-thin margin in 2018. Her support for an impeachment inquiry risks alienating voters in a closely divided swing district. (Jacqueline Larma/AP Photo)

  • U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, Pa.-6, is one of the House Democrats who must “proceed cautiously” when it comes to talking to their moderate constituencies about the House’s impeachment probe of President Trump, reports NPR congressional reporter Claudia Grisales in a story focused on Wild. At a recent appearance in the Lehigh Valley, Wild assured union workers that the perception that lawmakers are “living, breathing and foaming at the mouth for impeachment” isn’t accurate (at least in her case).

  • Another is Rep. Conor Lamb, Pa.-7. We included Lamb’s line-walking in our rundown of the entire Pennsylvania delegation’s positions. (Also, a potential challenger to Lamb has a criminal record, The Beaver County Times reports).

  • Lamb and Wild are “majority makers” — elected as part of the 2018 wave that gave Democrats the House of Representatives and made Nancy Pelosi speaker. The Republican line for the past week is that impeachment will backfire, especially for Democrats representing swing districts and places that President Trump carried in 2016. RNC Chair Rona McDaniel made that point on Fox News on Friday as she boasted of her party’s fundraising success in the week since impeachment began in earnest. “What this dollar figure shows is the energy with our base is strong. They recognize that Democrats are trying to nullify their votes. And, it is just bringing in so much enthusiasm, but also financial support for the president, which is allowing us right now to attack Democrats in their home districts,” McDaniel said.

  • Meanwhile, the majority of the delegation’s Republican members backs a formal censure of California Democrat Adam Schiff, who heads one of the House committees leading the investigation into the president. Capitol Bureau Chief Katie Meyer has details on the resolution and where Pa. Republicans stand on it in this story.

Best of the rest

Brett Sholtis / Transforming Health

Health Department Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine speaks to reporters Oct. 4, 2019. (Brett Sholtis / Transforming Health)

  • Pa. health officials say they don’t have a full picture of circumstances surrounding the state’s first vaping-related death. Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine says the exact cause of the illness is unknown, but described it as a “chemical injury of the lungs” during a press conference just before the weekend. Transforming Health’s Brett Sholtis was there. His story is here.

  • Legalizing pot for recreational use has proved a popular editorial subject of late, in the wake of Gov. Tom Wolf stating his support for doing so. Positions vary among Pa.’s newspapers of record. LNP’s editorial board came out against it last week and re-upped that opposition on Sunday. In the lead editorial on Sunday, The Philadelphia Inquirer came out in support.  Bobby Harr of conservative Pittsburgh outlet TribLive thinks we’re overdue for legal pot, while Sunbury’s The Daily Item says now isn’t the time. The York Daily-Record took that stance when it last addressed the issue two years ago, but hadn’t tackled as of Sunday.

  • Kayden Mancuso was killed at age 7 by her father in a murder-suicide last year. Ever since, her family’s been lobbying to change the law to better prevent similar tragedies in the future. And now, lawmakers have crafted legislation that would automatically require supervised visits between parents and children in certain situations. Kayden’s Law also address training of judges and other court perosnoell on the impact of child abuse and domestic violence on children.

  • Reminder: This Thursday night WITF and PA Post are hosting “news & brews” at the Millworks in Harrisburg. Join us that night from 5-7 p.m. Details are online here. See you there!


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