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U.S. NEWS Friday 19 January 2018
Trump wades into PA race seen as test of GOP strength

By JILL COLVIN his mental health and com- White House press sec-
BILL BARROW ments about immigration retary Sarah Huckabee
Associated Press that some considered rac- Sanders quickly sought to
CORAOPOLIS, Pa. (AP) — ist. Saccone’s name would correct the record, insisting
The White House insisted it not appear in Trump’s pre- in a statement that Trump
was not a political event. pared remarks, officials was going to Pennsylvania
But that didn’t stop Presi- said, although he greeted to talk about tax cuts, not
dent Donald Trump from Trump at the airport and to campaign.
throwing his support Thurs- attended the speech A campaign event would
day behind a Pennsylva- Hours before leaving require that taxpayers be
nia Republican in a House the White House, Trump reimbursed for some of
race that is widely viewed pledged “total support” for Trump’s travel expenses.
as a test of whether the Saccone, who is trying to Trump’s re-election cam-
party can stave off Demo- keep that House seat in Re- paign reimbursed the Trea-
cratic gains. publican hands in the first sury $68,000 for political
Speaking at a Pittsburgh-ar- President Donald Trump takes tour of H&K Equipment Company congressional race of the travel last year.
ea factory, Trump praised with owners Peter Cicero and George Koch, right, during a year. Saccone, a 59-year-old
state lawmaker Rick Sac- visit to promote his tax and economic plan, Thursday, Jan. 18, “We will be going to Penn- state representative, faces
cone as “a real friend and 2018, in Coraopolis, Pa. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and sylvania today in order to Conor Lamb, a 33-year-old
a spectacular man.” Ear- Ivanka Trump listen in the back left. give my total support to lawyer and former Marine,
lier, Trump told reporters (AP Photo/Evan Vucci) RICK SACCONE,” Trump in the March 13 special
he planned to come back for Rick. I look forward to it,” and trying to turn the con- tweeted. “Rick is a great election to replace Re-
to Pennsylvania — where Trump said. versation back to his ac- guy. We need more Re- publican Tim Murphy, who
he won in 2016 — to cam- The White House had insist- complishments after weeks publicans to continue our resigned last year after ac-
paign for Saccone. ed the event had nothing dominated by distractions, already successful agen- knowledging an extramari-
“I’ll be back for Rick. And to do with politics. Trump including questions about da!” tal affair.q
we’re going to fill up a sta- would be talking about
dium and we’re going to the tax cuts he signed into
do something really special law just before Christmas,

Year-old ‘resistance’ sets

it sights on the ballot box

Continued from Front for women on the left, she
says: “The kind of focus, at-
More than 26,000 women tention, activism — I can’t
have done so since the remember a moment quite
women’s march, com- like this.”
pared to only 920 in the One woman who’s already
two years before, says taken the plunge is Lisa
its president, Stephanie Mandelblatt, a former at-
Schriock. The group has torney in Westfield, New
been buoyed by recent Jersey who’s running for
state legislative victories in U.S. Congress, trying to un-
Virginia — where it focused seat a Republican incum-
on 16 races, and its candi- bent in November. Like so
dates won 13 of them — many, she made her de-
and by this week’s victories cision to run at last year’s
of two Wisconsin candi- women’s march — “truly a
dates. life-changing event.”
“We’re still recruiting hun- The post-inauguration
dreds of candidates, until marches and this year’s
the last filing deadline,” encores — not just the
Schriock says. “There’s a main event in Las Vegas,
decade of candidates but in gatherings of vary-
coming.” ing sizes across the country
Debbie Walsh of Rutgers and overseas — bookend
University, who’s been a year of activism that
studying women in politics has helped deliver elec-
for 35 years, says she had toral victories for liberals.
initially feared that wom- They’ve won local offices,
en would be discouraged made huge gains in the
from seeking office by Virginia General Assembly,
Clinton’s defeat. Instead, and even claimed a U.S.
she says, “there was this in- Senate seat in conserva-
stantaneous response that tive Alabama.
stemmed from this visceral Plenty of self-identified pro-
need to take back some gressives have lost, too. Still,
control, assert some pow- the resistance sees itself as
er.” It’s a unique moment a big success.q