Politics

‘A F*cking Disaster’: Pennsylvania Dems Fret Over State Party Ahead Of Key Elections

[Screenshot/YouTube/SharifStreet/FOX29Philadelphia]

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Mary Lou Masters Contributor
Font Size:

Pennsylvania Democrats voiced concern over their state party’s stability ahead of the 2024 election, Politico reported Friday.

Along with being a battleground in presidential races, a competitive Senate race will also be on the ballot, and Pennsylvania has a state Supreme Court election this November. Several Democratic strategists, elected officials, former party employees and other operatives across the state told Politico they fear the state party isn’t well-equipped for the upcoming cycles, citing financial struggles and mistrust.

“It’s amateur hour,” a state committee member, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the state party, told Politico. “It’s a f—ing disaster,” said a former state party staffer. (RELATED: ‘It Is So Bad’: State Democratic Party Implodes Amid GOP Surge)

Ahead of a recent meeting with Pennsylvania activists, the party made thousands of flyers reading “Vote at Polls: Election Day Tuesday November 8,” according to Politico, but Election Day is actually Nov. 7. This mishap spurred speculation about the state party’s stability among Pennsylvania Democrats ahead of key elections.

The state party experienced mass layoffs in July, and an affiliated political action committee (PAC) had only $7,500 cash on hand in early June, according to Politico.

“It’s concerning that the state party is laying people off as we’re heading into a really important Supreme Court race, which then leads into the presidential year,” Mike Mikus, Democratic consultant based in Pennsylvania, told Politico. “They’re going to have to figure out a path forward to build their own fundraising operation, and it sounds like there’s a lot of building to be done right now.”

An open seat on the state Supreme Court is on the ballot this November, with Republican Carolyn Carluccio and Democrat Daniel McCaffery vying for more of their party’s control on the bench. With the death of Justice Matt Baer last year, the Court went from having a 5 -2 Democratic majority to a 4-2 majority.

Democratic Sen. Bob Casey is up for reelection, and his seat is characterized in the “Lean D” category along with races in Michigan, Montana, Nevada and Wisconsin, according to The Cook Political Report’s ratings. Casey has held the seat since 2007, and no prominent Republican has yet challenged him for 2024.

Because of these recent headwinds, Democrats are questioning the leadership of Chairman Sharif Street, who has been serving in the Pennsylvania Senate since 2016, according to Politico.

“Pennsylvania is the single biggest battleground state in the country in the presidential election, and we have a total incompetent, lazy guy who has no clue what he’s doing running the state party,” a top Pennsylvania Democratic elected official told Politico.

Street emphasized that the party isn’t facing financial woes, and told Politico they received a $700,000 grant earlier this year from democracyFIRST, and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party’s federal PAC most recently reported it had $200,000 in the bank. The chairman attributed the mass layoffs to requests of donors who voiced concern over the state party’s overhead.

Street emphasized that the party isn’t facing financial woes, and attributed the mass layoffs to requests of donors who voiced concern over the state party’s overhead, he told Politico. The party received a $700,000 grant earlier this year from democracyFIRST, and the committee’s federal PAC most recently reported it had $200,000 in the bank, said Street.

“I really should have done some of that trimming back last December,” Street told Politico. “But they were people who had won so many elections. We have done things no other party did. And I couldn’t look at any of them in the face and say I wanted to let them go.”

The Pennsylvania Democratic Party, Street, Casey and McCaffery did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel