Holden (D) vs. Wertz (R)

PA District 17 Race

The Pa District 17 race began with Democratic incumbent, Tim Holden, campaigning against the Republican candidate, Matthew Arlington Wertz for a seat in Congress. District 17 was considered a safe Democratic district prior to the 2006 campaign and remains so today because of gerrymandering. It is comprised of Dauphin, Lebanon, Schuylkill, and parts of Berks and Perry Counties. The 17th District includes the city of Harrisburg as well as rural farmlands and coal rich mountains.

Representative Holden sought his eight consecutive term as a member of Congress this election having been the choice of voters since his first term in 1992. He ran unopposed in the primary and is considered a very conservative Democrat. Representative Holden's official website displayed his dedication to agriculture, rural development, and conservation. The website highlighted his memberships in the Committee on Agriculture, the Department Operations Oversight on Dairy Nutrition and Forestry Subcommittee, and the Conservation Credit and Rural Development Research Subcommittee. As of October 5, he raised $804,265 for his campaign. He spent only $349,799 and is currently reported to have $584,312 cash on hand. PACs were responsible for funding most of his campaign providing $515,486. Individuals gave $278,117 for campaign expenses. Holden used no money of his own for his campaign.

Contrary to Holden, Republican Matthew Wertz sought his first term as a member of Congress and faced an uphill battle from the start against his heavily favored opponent. Wertz, a war vet, also ran unopposed in the primary and was quoted saying that he was quite happy about coming home to run for office. Wertz campaigned on three main issues: keeping the middle-class tax cuts permanent, ending our dependency on foreign oil, and supporting the President on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He offered a statement saying, "…and this war on terrorism will be ended on our terms…" Yet, Wertz struggled with financial issues while campaigning. He only raised $12,400 for his campaign. Wertz spent $12,463 and was reported as having $1,231 cash on hand. He received no money from PACs, and only brought in $2,400 from individuals. Wertz used $10,000 of his own money to fund his campaign. This lack of funding may have been due to the fact that District 17 is a safe democratic district with Tim Holden as the favorite choice of voters.

On September 20, Wertz announced his decision to stop actively campaigning for a seat in Congress thus essentially giving the election once again to Tim Holden. Because Wertz did not withdraw before the specified time, his name will remain on the ballot come Election Day. More on Wertz's decision to stop actively campaigning will be presented in the next web log…

Aaron Warchal