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March 16, 2023       Political Note #547 Matt Cartwright Pennsylvania 08

2024                           General Election

Matt Cartwright

He is not so old; only 61.  If he wins in 2024, it will be his seventh victory.  His elections have not gotten easier:

2012 – By 20 points

2014 – By 13 points

2016 – By 8 points

2018 – By 9 points

2020 – By 4 points

2022 – By 2 points

Matt Carwright represents the part of Pennsylvania that moved from being Democratic to becoming Trump country:

2012   Democrat Barack Obama carried PA 17 by 12 points

2016   Republican Donald Trump carried PA 17 by 10 points

2020   Republican Donald Trump carried PA 08 by 5 points

2024   Let’s see what happens

Redistricting created Matt Cartwright’s initial run for Congress.  What was then Pennsylvania’s 17thCongressional District was shifted east to include Scranton, Wikes-Barre, and the Poconos.  A bunch of Democrats were added by the Republican legislature to a district where a deeply conservative Democrat, Tim Holden, kept winning.  Holden was not a figure in Scranton or Wilkes-Barre.  Matt Cartwright, who was a figure in Scranton, ousted the incumbent in the Democratic primary by 14 points.

Matt Cartwright ran ahead of the winning Democratic presidential ticket in his Congressional District by 8 points in 2012.  In 2018 and 2022 he ran ahead of the losing Democratic ticket by 18 points and 7 points respectively.  If this district, which Joe Biden considers home when he is not considering Delaware his home, is to return to the Democratic party, the party need candidates like Matt Cartwright.

Matt Cartwright was born in Erie, Pennsylvania’s far west.  In 1960, the year before Matt Cartwright was born, Erie had a population of 138,000, the largest that it would ever record.  In 2020, this city which has been declining gradually for sixty years, dropped to 94,000 people.  In 1960, Matt Cartwright’s parents were among Erie’s prosperous.  His father had worked for General Electric around the world.  Formerly the CEO of Canada GE, he sent his son to high school at Upper Canada College, a Toronto Boarding School.  Matt Cartwright went south to Upstate New York’s Hamilton College (south to Upstate New York is not a phrase you will hear often) where he was a Phi Beta Kappa graduate.

Law School was next – the University of Pennsylvania.  While in law school, he met Marion Munley, a law student at another Philadelphia law school — Temple University.  Matt Cartwright married into a Scranton family law firm.  A personal injury firm, their website lists their five partners – Munley, Munley, Munley, Munley, and Munley. Marion Munley is at the lop of the list.  The firm describes itself as “The Nation’s Leading Personal Injury Team.”   They have five associates – not a Munley among them.

The firm’s founder, Marion’s father Robert Munley, had set the tone.  Matt Cartwright and Marion Munley initially resisted the pull of the firm by going to London.  Not for long. In Scranton, Matt Cartwright prospered in the firm and distinguished himself from his in-laws by going on television.  From 2005 to 2011, he did a nightly show on local television called the Law and You.  Lucid and persuasive, he answered viewers questions and explained legal issues in a way that earned public trust. By 2012, after redistricting, he was better known and better liked in the newly formed PA 17 than the long-time very conservative incumbent Democratic Congressman.  It was as if Matt Cartwright had been invited to run for Congress.

Matt Cartwright had built other relationships as well.  He was Rotary International’s District Governor, an award winning volunteer with the Boy Scouts, and a delegate to the national Democratic convention that nominated Bill Clinton for President.  He stands out among people who are good at building relationships. Elected to Congress in 2012, he was chosen by fellow freshmen as the “class president.”

Matt Cartwright’s approach to the Affordable Care Act characterizes his interaction with constituents.  He spent the year after the ACA passed helping constituents find ways to access it.  As health care remained a political issue, he created a panel of more than twenty leading local figures to identify the law’s weaknesses.   Some of the panelists were donors to his campaign, for which he received criticism. Some were Republicans for which he was not criticized, though they were not his most virulent political opponents. He figured out how not to be all or nothing, how to listen to his constituents about important issues while making sure that the group he was listening to was loyal enough to be helpful rather than destructive.

A little more progressive than his constituents, perhaps, Matt Cartwright has supported some gun safety policies – opposing the sale of assault rifles and opposing legal immunity for gun manufacturers.  He found middle ground by opposing discrimination against members of the LGBT community so long as clergy could refuse to perform same sex marriages.  He supported the DREAMers and opposed a bill that would have withdrawn funds from municipalities that refused to detain undocumented immigrants.  He was willing to limit access to some municipal grants to cities that did not detain immigrants.  He has been unwilling to lift Covid-19 vaccination mandates for health care workers.

There is no reason to think that 2024 will be easier for Matt Cartwright than 2022 was.  Help him to his seventh election to Congress.  Help him win in a Congressional District that is Biden country and Trump country.

 

Wisconsin

April 4 is coming.  Donate to achieve important Democratic wins. 

 Wisconsin Supreme Court

Liberal-leaning County Judge Janet Protasiewicz was the highest vote getter on February 21 in the non-partisan primary for a seat on Wisconsin’s Supreme Court.  She received 46% of the vote.  Criticized for indicating how she was likely to vote on issues like women’s reproductive rights and redistricting, the voters appeared to be glad to have the information.  Former Supreme Court member Daniel Kelly, who lost his seat in the 2020 election, was the second highest vote getter with 24% of the vote.  A conservative activist, Kelly leaves no doubt about where he would vote on controversial social and cultural issues.

Currently, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court has 3 members whose lean can be identified as progressive, 2 members whose lean can be identified as conservative, and one member who usually votes with the conservatives.  A victory for Janet Protasiewicz on April 4 would likely transform the Wisconsin political landscape – affecting decisions on abortion, on redistricting the state legislature which is overwhelmingly Republican despite the state’s even divide.  People who spend more money on elections than most of the readers of this newsletter will spend a lot of money on this campaign.  Smaller donors count.  Support Janet Protasiewicz. For more information, see Len’s Political Note #528.

Blogger Robert Hubbell, who writes Today’s Edition, has urged his readers to join Postcard to Voters to remind Wisconsin Democrats to vote for Judge Janet Protasiewicz in the Supreme Court Election.  He asked those with social media followers to urge their followers to join in this election which he, like others, has described as the most important election of 2023.

To join PostcardsToVoters.org, text “join” to 484-275-2229 or email “Hello” to join@tonythedemocrat.org.  If you are already a member, text “hello” to Abby the bot at the same phone number.

Wisconsin State Senate District 08

Environmental attorney Jodi Habush Sinykin was the only serious Democratic candidate in the February 21 primary.  The Republicans had a choice of three.  They chose State Rep Dan Knodl.  In the primary, he defeated a Trump acolyte so extreme and so problematic for House Speaker Robin Vos that Wisconsin Republicans banned her from their caucus.  Knodl emphasizes reducing spending, cutting taxes, and public safety.  He would be a reliable conservative vote against abortion and on other cultural issues.  Wisconsin Republicans are talking about their ability, with a two-thirds supermajority in each body of the legislature, to impeach and remove any state official. The Republicans in the state House of Representatives are two seats away from gaining a two-thirds supermajority.  Jodi Habush Sinykin’s election would flip a Republican seat and prevent the State Senate from having a two-thirds supermajority. See Len’s Political Note #529 for more information about Jodi Habush Sinykin.