Former Republican Representative Lou Barletta is officially running to become the next governor of Pennsylvania. Barletta was the mayor of Hazleton, PA before serving four consecutive terms in Congress. Last year, Barletta mounted a Senate campaign but despite gaining former President Trump’s endorsement lost to Democrat Bob Casey Jr.
[jwplayer H19VR5Ya-lzmB6GEw]
According to The Washington Examiner:
In his announcement video, Barletta rebuked Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, for his handling of the coronavirus. Wolf is not eligible to run for reelection again due to a two-term limit.
The Pennsylvania we all grew up with, the one we all knew just a few years ago, is slipping away from us. Our way of life changed dramatically during the pandemic,” Barletta said. “Look, everyone’s did. But here in Pennsylvania, it was made so much worse by politicians, politicians who weren’t just looking to stop a virus, but politicians hell-bent on trying to change who we are and how we live.”
“These politicians, and I’m talking about Gov. Wolf and the Harrisburg insiders, they had a disastrous response to the pandemic,” he added, before accusing him of having “blood on his hands for sentencing our seniors to die in nursing homes.”
…
The former congressman echoed Trump’s dubious claims about the outcome of the 2020 election, telling theoutlet in December that “there’s no question there was fraud” and, as a result, “no one knows” for sure who the legitimate winner is.
Former President Trump hasn’t officially endorsed Barletta’s gubernatorial campaign yet but the Republican has revealed he is vying for the golden ticket from Trump. So far, only one other Republican has announced his campaign for governor, Joe Gale, a Montgomery County commissioner.