CeaseFire Pennsylvania, the advocacy arm of CeaseFirePA, has made the following endorsements for the 2014 elections. Endorsement decisions were based on an assessment of candidate surveys, voting records of incumbents, and the priority ascribed to the gun violence agenda by the candidates in their public statements and actions.
Governor:
In the race for governor, CeaseFire Pennsylvania endorses Tom Wolf. In his answers to the CeaseFire Pennsylvania candidate survey during the primary, Mr. Wolf demonstrated support for key initiatives that will help keep guns out of the hands of those who should not have them and reduce the flow of illegal guns into our streets. These measures, like expanding background checks and mandatory reporting of lost and stolen guns, help to accomplish this and do not burden the rights of law abiding gun owners. Governor Corbett declined to answer the candidate survey.
Governor Corbett has not prioritized making our families safer from gun violence. Pennsylvania needs someone in the Governor’s mansion who puts safety first, and we believe Tom Wolf is the right person for the job.
Senate:
In the races for State Senate, CeaseFire Pennsylvania endorses:
| 2nd District Christine Tartaglione 4th District Arthur Haywood 6th District Kimberly Yeager-Rose 8th District Anthony Hardy Williams 10th District Stephen Cikay 22nd District John Blake 24th District Jack Hansen 26th District John Kane 28th District Linda Small 40th District Mark Aurand 42nd District Wayne Fontana 44th District Kathie Cozzone |
The race in the 12th Senatorial District features two candidates with promising positions on the gun violence prevention issue. In both his response to our questionnaire and in a recent vote in the Senate, incumbent Republican Senator Stewart Greenleaf expressed support for key initiatives including expanding background checks to cover the private sale of long guns and opposing proposals to grant special legal standing to individuals and groups like the NRA to sue towns that take measures to protect their communities. However, in the days leading up to the Senate vote, Greenleaf did not clearly stand up in support of these positions. While he voted the right way, we hope that if reelected, he will be less coy in his actions and become a courageous leader on the issue of gun violence prevention. Challenger Democrat Ruth Damsker scored 100% on our survey, supporting additional measures including lost and stolen reporting, background checks for ammunition and limits on magazine capacity. Damsker has also made gun violence prevention a key issue in her campaign.
We recognize that the voters of the 12th District have two good candidates to choose from. CeaseFire Pennsylvania is not endorsing one over the other.
House:
In the races for the State House, CeaseFire Pennsylvania endorses:
| District 6 Juanita Shutsa District 19 Jake Wheatley, Jr. District 20 Adam Ravenstahl District 23 Dan Frankel District 24 Ed Gainey District 31 Steve Santarsiero District 42 Dan Miller District 53 Dorothy Miller District 61 Kate Harper District 70 Matthew Bradford District 74 Josh Maxwell District 94 David Colon District 95 Kevin Schreiber District 96 Mike Sturla District 103 Patty Kim District 127 Thomas Caltagirone District 132 Mike Schlossberg District 135 Steve Samuelson District 136 Robert Freeman District 140 Robert Galloway District 141 Tina Davis District 146 Mark Painter District 148 Mary Jo Daley District 149 Tim Briggs District 153 Madeleine Dean District 154 Steve McCarter District 156 Sandra Snyder District 157 Warren Kampf |
District 158 Chris Ross District 159 Thaddeus Kirkland District 160 Whitney Hoffman District 163 Vince Rongione District 164 Margo Davidson District 165 Bill Adolph District 166 Greg Vitali District 167 Anne Crowley District 168 Tom Killion District 170 Brendan Boyle District 172 Kevin Boyle District 174 John Sabatina District 175 Michael O’Brien District 180 Angel Cruz District 181 Curtis Thomas District 182 Brian Sims District 183 Terri L. Powell District 184 William Keller District 185 Maria Donatucci District 186 Jordan Harris District 188 James Roebuck District 194 Pamela DeLissio District 198 Rosita Youngblood District 200 Cherelle Parker District 201 Stephen Kinsey District 202 Mark Cohen District 203 Dwight Evans |
There are several districts where challengers who have scored extremely well on our questionnaire and expressed support for key gun violence prevention initiatives are facing incumbents who recently have taken important votes in favor of expanding the Pennsylvania background check system and against favored standing for groups like the NRA to sue towns and cities that have taken action to protect their communities. In these races, we faced tough decisions, but have determined to endorse incumbents whose recent votes demonstrated alignment with expressed policy priorities of CeaseFire Pennsylvania.
In District 157, this leads us to endorse incumbent Republican Warren Kampf, who is being challenged by Democrat Marianne Moskowitz. Similarly, in District 158, we endorse incumbent Republican Chris Ross, who is being challenged by Democrat Susan Ruzcidlo.
In District 161, the race features two strong candidates who have expressed support for many of the policies we favor to reduce gun violence: but we are not endorsing either. Incumbent Republican Joe Hackett has been an important leader on expanding background checks; unfortunately he recently voted in favor of giving the NRA special standing to sue local municipalities. Challenger Democrat Leanne Krueger-Braneky is a strong advocate for gun violence prevention and received a 100% score on our questionnaire. In short, we believe the voters of District 161 have two good choices, and we are not endorsing one over the other.