In 2015, when the Montgomery County Republican Committee chose a former board member of Planned Parenthood and a tax delinquent as their endorsed candidates for County Commissioner, I was outraged and decided to run unendorsed on the core values of moral character and fiscal responsibility to give Republicans a true pro-life conservative choice in the primary.
Despite being smeared by the GOP establishment for daring to challenge their handpicked puppets, the Republican primary voters of Montgomery County elected me to be their nominee for County Commissioner.
Opposition from party bosses and GOP insiders carried over into the general election, along with predictable resistance from the Democrat Party who wanted a rubber-stamp Republican who would ‘go along to get along’ on the three-member Board of Commissioners.
Yet, by the grace of God and an unprecedented grassroots campaign, I garnered enough support from Republicans, Independents and conservative Democrats to earn a position on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners at the age of 26. In doing so, I not only became the youngest Montgomery County Commissioner in history, but the first elected without the support of either major party establishment.
In 2016, I was honored to be the first elected official in Pennsylvania to endorse Donald Trump for President. Like me, I knew Donald Trump was a genuine conservative outsider who could win and shake up the system by disrupting the status quo. Beyond his many accomplishments in the White House, Donald Trump’s greatest contribution to our nation was his ability to defeat the GOP swamp and rebuild the Republican Party on the fertile soil of patriotic populism.
Sadly, in the final days of Donald Trump’s sabotaged presidency and the bogus impeachment that followed, we have witnessed the beginning of a concerted effort by entrenched politicians and party bosses to return the Republican Party to the failed policies and platforms of the Bush, McCain and Romney era. However, the Republican Party cannot go backward to move forward. To continue advancing the Trump movement, we must remain committed to draining the swamp within the GOP, which is best accomplished by winning Republican primaries.
The mid-term elections of 2022 offer frustrated Pennsylvania Republican voters a unique opportunity. Democrat Governor Tom Wolf, whose gross negligence and totalitarian overreach has destroyed the lives and livelihoods of countless families and small businesses, will be termed out.
We cannot afford to replace Governor Wolf with an establishment puppet or fake conservative who makes big speeches and peddles false hope instead of delivering real results. We need an independent conservative outsider who has the proven ability to win and the fortitude to lead.
That is why I am announcing my bid for Pennsylvania Governor.
For too long, the state government has been dominated by a pathetic Republican-controlled legislature who has given us little more than the nation’s highest gasoline tax (Act 89) and the nation’s longest universal mail-in voting period (Act 77). As Governor, I will hold bad Republicans accountable not just by naming names, but by supporting primary challenges against those who undermine a common-sense conservative agenda – which must begin with election reform. This means eliminating Pennsylvania’s 50 days of no-excuse mail-in voting and mandating that photo-identification be shown at the polls on Election Day.
In the weeks and months ahead, I will continue outlining and articulating my plans to restore common-sense and end politics-as-usual in Harrisburg.
Despite well-documented problems and concerns with mail-in voting dating back decades, Republicans in the Pennsylvania State House and State Senate joined forces with Democrat Governor Tom Wolf in 2019 to pass Act 77, Pennsylvania’s universal mail-in voting law, which allows for 50 days of no excuse mail-in voting. This is the longest vote-by-mail period in the entire nation and, frankly, nobody should be voting nearly two months before Election Day. It is called Election Day for a reason.
Unlike traditional absentee voting, Act 77 eliminates the requirement that a voter have a valid reason for requesting a mail-in ballot such as an illness, disability, work commitment or travel obligation that otherwise prevents said voter from casting a ballot in-person.
