Attorney Matt Cartwright of Moosic is ready to go and expects to spend $700,000 in his attempt to unseat ten term incumbent Congressman Tim Holden in Pennsylvania's 17th Congressional district. With about 80 days to the April 24th primary election, Cartwright has his work cut out for him, then again, so does Holden.
The new 17th district now includes Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, areas previously held by freshman Congressman Lou Barletta (R-Hazleton.) It also stretches all the way to Easton and Stroudsburg and back to Schuylkill County, Holden's home turf.
Cartwright sat down with the Examiner on Monday at the Starbucks in Moosic. He talked about the race and explained why he's running. He also answered the NEPA Examiner's Fast Five. Check out video of the interview here.
"I'm a Democrat from the Democratic wing of the Democratic party," said Cartwright over a cup of coffee. He said Holden votes with the Republicans on key issues, including health care and bank regulations.
Cartwright said that when he found out that the many of the large population centers of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre had been moved due to reapportionment from the 11th to the 17th, he was initially happy that he would now be represented by a Democrat. That was Cartwright said, until "I looked at Holden's voting record. On most of the major issues, he breaks rank with the Democrat and votes with the Republicans."
Cartwright promises an energetic and well funded campaign. He has already begun traveling the new 17th, laying the groundwork for his campaign.
Whereas the old 17th had a Republican plurality, the new 17th has a majority of Democratic registered voters. In addition to the registration difference, much of the new 17th district was not part of the old 17th district.
Many of the Republican areas of the old 17th is now part of Barletta's new 11th district. This change of landscape is expected to help Barletta in his re-election bid. Holden did maintain his Schuylkill County base, but a large portion of the new 17th was not part of the old 17th.
Holden has also been reaching out to his new constituents in preparation for his re-election bid.
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