PoliticsPA reports this week that the “gloves [are] off” in Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District after an internal memo surfaced from one of the campaigns detailing how it plans to attack other Republicans in the race.
This new salvo in the state’s “most competitive primary” comes after the National Journal unearthed Earl Granville’s 2019 anti-Trump social media posts, noting that “failing to embrace Trump often translates to failure to win the party nomination.”
PoliticsPA: PA8: Gloves Come Off in GOP Primary
“Several [GOP] frontrunners are now taking aim at one another starting with the release of an internal memo.
Jim Bognet, a former Trump administration appointee and one of the six Republicans seeking his party’s nomination, released a “State of the Race” campaign memo boasting about his 1st quarter fundraising, while delivering direct shots to a few of the other perceived frontrunners in the race.
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The memo cites an old social media post from Earl Granville… where he claimed he was “not a super Trump-Tard” and that he didn’t vote for Trump, while blasting the media. Granville is also criticized in the memo for trailing Bognet in the most recent fundraising report.
Former Hazleton Mayor Mike Marsicano is also in the crosshairs of the Bognet memo… Most notably, it attempts to tie him to the infamous “Kids for Cash” scandal because he worked as a pilot for Robert Powell, who owned the juvenile facilities (Marsicano has never been accused of wrongdoing in the case).
Both the Granville and Marsicano campaign fired back, noting Bognet’s years of campaign work outside PA, including work for Mitt Romney, who has become a persona non grata in Trumpworld since the Senator’s vote to impeach.
“We welcome Mr. Bognet back to northeast Pennsylvania and congratulate him on tapping his DC network of fellow Mitt Romney alumni to fund his campaign,” said Matt Beynon, advisor to the Granville campaign.
Marsicano’s campaign addresses multiple claims made in the memo […] “It looks like Jim Bognet needs to resort to misrepresenting the facts in an attempt to gain traction,” Marsicano added. “Bognet used to work for Mitt Romney, one of the biggest sources of resistance to President Trump. Bognet moved back to the 8th District after a 20-year hiatus to run as an opportunist, yet he claims that he can represent the people of the 8th Congressional District? Jim Bognet should focus on how he is going to represent the people of the 8th Congressional District and his record as a RINO, not how much cash he has on hand.”
Bognet’s campaign dismissed the criticism from the other two candidates and claimed he’s the true Trump Republican in the race.
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In a political environment where a presidential tweet can make or break a candidacy, PA8 hopefuls are leaving no stone unturned in their efforts to play on Trump’s personal loyalty. To wit, Bognet critics have circulated a June 2012 blog post from Katrina Pierson, a former national spokesperson for Trump’s 2016 campaign who remains a leading Trump ally and surrogate. In it, she recounts an interaction during the 2012 Texas U.S. Senate primary.
“Jim Bognet, Lt. Governor David Dewhurst political consultant from California, confronted me immediately following the interview and in public at the RPT Convention with a failed attempt to bully me into silence. It’s a shame this is guy was also on the Romney team. Surprised?” she wrote.
The Bognet campaign did not comment on the Pierson blog post.”
“Republicans can swipe at each other all they want, but while they’re busy sniping about who is the most loyal to one political party, Rep. Matt Cartwright is putting politics aside and working to make sure his community has the resources it needs to get through this pandemic,” said DCCC Spokesperson Courtney Rice.
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