For voters in the Philly suburbs, it's the perfect Trifecta.
Unless you happen to be a Republican.
Perfect, that is, if you were not satisfied with your representative in Congress and were looking for a new face to send to Washington.
The region will have three new faces sitting in Congress after the November mid-term elections.
And that is regardless if a Democrat or Republican wins.
That's because three incumbent congressmen are bowing out.
Pat Meehan: Gone.
Bob Brady: Gone.
Ryan Costello: Gone.
All three have decided not to seek re-election.
Meehan, whose 7th District seat was redrawn into the newly minted 5th District by the state Supreme Court, hit the exit door after becoming mired in the details of using taxpayer funds to settle a sex harassment suit filed against him.
Brady, whose 1st District fiefdom also included a slice of Delaware County, including the city of Chester, decided to retire, even as several aides were charged in connection with a payoff to a one-time primary opponent. Brady was not charged and says the probe had no effect on his decision.
The 5th District now includes all of Delaware County, as well as a sliver of Montco on the Main Line, and a portion of Southwest and South Philly.
Finally, there is Ryan Costello. The Sixth District congressman from Chester County has been fuming ever since the Supreme Court came out with their new congressional map.
And with good reason.
Costello's district did not change. He's still the 6th District. But his voters did. And Costello was not the least bit happy about it.
He joined a group of Republican congressmen in believing the court had overstepped its bounds, in effect usurping the role of the Legislature in drawing up the maps.
He was not thrilled with the new makeup of the 6th either. He lost a lot of loyal GOP voters, and gained a whole bunch of Democrats in the city of Reading.
But Costello also seemed increasingly to be disenchanted with being a congressman, under nearly constant attack from the left, including weekly protests outside his office. He had concerns about safety, and the effect on his family. And finally, he said being a Republican congressman these days - with the current occupant of the White House - was not exactly a walk in the park.
So instead, Costello simply walked.
He announced over the weekend he would not seek re-election.
But he also had one more decision to make, one that did not exactly thrill his fellow Republicans.
Costello informed state officials that he wanted his name removed from the primary ballot.
The result is that there likely will be only one Republican's name on the ballot. That would be little-known and underfinanced Chadds Ford tax attorney Greg McCauley.
There is a chance Republicans could still try to get a more high-profile candidate to take on likely Democratic nominee Chrissy Houlahan, but it would involve some unpleasantries for the party.
They could rally around a write-in. They could go to court and challenge some of the signatures on McCauley's nominating petitions in an attempt to get him knocked off the ballot. That would leave no name on the GOP side, and also open the possibility that Houlahan could mount a GOP write-in campaign of her own. If she were to win on both tickets, in effect she could lock up the seat months before the November general election.
Right now, GOP Chairman Val DiGeorgio says the party has not plans to seek a new candidate and instead will work with McCauley.
We'll see how that sits with the rank-and-file.
Probably about the same way some in the Delco GOP feel about the process that saw their party's endorsement process in the 5th District race, which gave the party's nod to former county assistant district attorney and deputy state attorney general Pearl Kim. Some are saying the party, and in particular the national GOP, is already writing off the race as a loss to Democrats.
Republicans now could be looking at a similar prospects for a win in Chester County, with McCauley going up against a well-financed Houlahan, who is getting strong support from the national party as Democrats look to retake the House.
One thing is certain.
The old gang that represented the region in Congress is going away.
It was expected that Republicans would face much tougher races in the light of the anti-Trump sentiment that has been evident in several recent elections.
The redistricting process did not help, making it even more likely that two local seats could be flipped and wind up in Democrats' hands.
Now both Meehan and Costello have bailed on the race. Brady's seat basically has now been merged into the 5th.
Republicans expected a tougher slog this time around.
But that rock they've been pushing up the hill just tumbled back to the bottom again.
Comments