A Republican’s Fight for a Suburban Philly Congressional Seat
As Election Day nears, the crashing of a red wave over the U.S. House of Representatives seems imminent. FiveThirtyEight’s analysis predicts an 81 in 100 chance that Republicans take back the House. While the statistical probability of the House majority is clear, battles are still being waged for congressional seats across the nation. In Pennsylvania, where a Senate race remains hotly contested, many are looking to the suburbs as a gauge.
Pennsylvania’s Sixth Congressional District provides insight into a potential Republican playbook for suburban areas of the Commonwealth, specifically the collar counties of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. I sat down with GOP candidate Guy Ciarrocchi to talk about how the constituents in Chester County, the city of Reading, and Reading’s southeastern suburbs in Berks County are feeling. Spoiler alert: they, and their wallets, aren’t feeling great these days regarding the trajectory of their community and the country. In discussions with people across the district, Ciarrocchi finds that they echo the worries of their neighbors, often centered around the state of the economy and rising crime.
The district that Ciarrocchi is campaigning for is one of contrast. The median household income of Chester County is $100,214, the highest in Pennsylvania, while Reading has the highest concentrated poverty rate in the state. Yet the struggles remain the same: inflation is the highest in decades, hovering around 8.2%. “We got here because of a series of bad decisions,” Ciarrocchi said. “At every decision point, Washington, Harrisburg, and [Gov.] Tom Wolf always took the wrong fork in the road.” The federal and state government followed suit, and “when problems arose, they said, spend more money.”
Indeed, the Biden administration supported out-of-control spending, as exemplified in the $1.9 trillion Coronavirus relief package and a $1.2 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. As government spending sent inflation soaring, Democrats turned around to vote for the $668 billion Inflation Reduction Act, which many argue will do little to curb inflation. A UPenn Wharton study estimates that the Act would reduce annual inflation by around 0.1 percentage points in about five years, a number statistically indistinguishable from 0. Ciarrocchi’s Democratic opponent, Chrissy Houlahan, voted for all three bills.
Ciarrocchi understands what inflation does to families and businesses in his district. For many years, he led the Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry as its president & CEO. Democrats have put Main Street in a terrible position, he said. “Family-run businesses have cashed in on everything they can do. They’ve taken second mortgages on their home and have called in favors from family to get the necessary workforce.”
Recently, he met the owner of a local pizza shop who was tossing dough despite a dislocated shoulder – he can’t find workers at the wages he can afford to pay. While people look for higher wages to fight rising inflation, their pizza might get more expensive, too. The pizza proprietor noted a 250% price increase in the cost of flour, along with increases in every other staple ingredient. Ciarrocchi believes that many small business owners across the Commonwealth are calling for representatives in Washington who understand the struggles people are facing.
Ciarrocchi himself understands that energy costs are a core issue. “In our district, people heat their homes in every conceivable way,” he said. “But there has been upwards of a 200% increase in the cost of electric heating, upwards of a 200-300% increase in the cost of home heating oil, up to a 300% increase in the cost of coal-based heating, and upwards of a 200% increase in the cost to propane heating.” He has seen an 81% increase in the cost of his own natural gas-fueled energy bill; it was the cheapest contract he could negotiate. His plan is to recommit to American domestic energy production by paring back regulations, which will not only reduce energy costs but also bring high-paying jobs into the Commonwealth to work the Marcellus Shale.
Ciarrocchi feels that the Democrats in Washington don’t understand the struggles of the American people. “They are out of touch.” He said that in almost every discussion, people reference the Biden administration’s move to add more than 87,000 IRS officers – adding insult to injury for those already weary of excessive government oversight. Ciarrocchi sees Biden’s use of the Strategic Oil Reserve to reduce gas prices ahead of the midterms as political malpractice. “It’s called the SOR for a reason, it is for wartime and natural disasters. It’s not there because there is an election in 20 days.”
Alongside concerns regarding the economy, many people worry about rising crime. Ciarrocchi echoed their concerns. “Across the district, there are families with two working people. It’s very common that one works in Philadelphia and one of the many reasons they don’t want to go into the office is because of the crime.” Further, as crime rates in the city rise, many workers are increasing the number of days they work from home to avoid the risk that the commute can bring. Ciarrocchi noted that this is putting financial pressure on the people in his district who own small businesses in the city and rely on the commuting population. But as a former prosecutor, he doesn’t see crime as just a city issue. “The crime has come here, just a stone’s throw from the Main Line. Carjackings in Devon, a robbery in a Whole Foods parking lot, a stabbing outside of a Bertucci’s; This isn’t just about Kensington.”
Ciarrocchi believes that the progressive Democratic message of Defunding the Police has clearly failed in Reading. “I’ve never met a mom who says she’ll let the kids play outside once the cops are gone.” He believes in a tough-on-crime policy across the board, whether it’s shoplifting at big-box stores or ending the practice of giving juveniles a pass when they commit severe crimes. He said that because police have become demoralized, many counties face law enforcement shortages.
The dye in Pennsylvania’s Sixth Congressional District has not yet been cast. Former President Donald Trump lost here by 17 points in 2020 and by 9 points in 2016. But in 2016, Republican Senator Pat Toomey beat Katie McGinty by 2.25 points; in 2012, Mitt Romney narrowly beat President Obama by 0.2 points. “I’m not running to get back at Biden,” Ciarrocchi says. “That’s irrelevant to me. I’m running because the economy is sinking, illegal drugs like fentanyl have hit every part of the district, energy prices are rising, and children are being experimented on in our schools.” Guy Ciarrocchi, a common-sense Republican and softball coach, believes he has the playbook to win.
