Moosic Attorney Matt Cartwright came out swinging in his announcement to seek the Democratic nomination for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District. His verbal punches were thrown at incumbent Democratic Congressman Tim Holden and focused on Holden’s defection from the Democratic Party on major issues.
“I’m Matt Cartwright, and I’m from the Democratic wing of the Democratic party,” Cartwright told a crowd of about 150 supporters in the Scranton Hilton and Conference Center.
“Working families in the new 17th Congressional District do not need a representative who thinks it’s going too far to grant affordable health care and medicine to seniors, young adults, those with pre-existing conditions and to women seeking preventative healthcare services,” Cartwright said in his 15 minute speech to supporters.
Holden, the former Schuylkill County Sheriff, has represented the 17th District for ten terms. The 17th, which was centered around Schuylkill County, now encompasses both the Cities of Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.
These heavily Democratic areas were represented for the past ten years by Democrat Paul Kanjorski and now by Lou Barletta. Barletta, a Republican, beat long time Democratic incumbent Kanjorski in 2010. The GOP controlled state legislature, to whom Barletta is a favorite, was given a far more favorable Republican district for 2012.
Pledging to fight for working families, Cartwright said the problem with Congress is that “incumbent Congressman continue to support policies and cast votes that put corporate profits over people. For too long, their priority has just been to get reelected, to protect their own jobs, so they wind up representing the deep pockets of the special interests instead of the people. It is wrong and it has to stop.”
“And so together, let’s seize this new beginning, this chance for working families,” Cartwright concluded. “Let’s seize this moment to begin changing the balance of power in Congress. Let’s elect a Democratic representative who will vote the voice of the people who live in this district, and not the voice of lobbyists speaking for HMOs, big banks, big business, and Wall Street.
Cartwright is a magna cum laude graduate of Hamilton College. He also holds a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He is a partner in Munley, Munley, and Cartwright, a Scranton based personal injury law firm. Cartwright is married to Marion Munley Cartwright, and the couple has two children
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