U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter switched sides, becoming a Democrat in the wake of opposition from Republicans in the spring. But U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Delaware County, has all but promised a challenge from Specter’s new party, without actually declaring his candidacy.
Stopping by Mercer County in a 15-day journey to visit every county in Pennsylvania, Sestak told the Herald Friday that he plans to run and that the assumption by some Democratic leaders that Specter would go unchallenged has put “the fire in my belly.”
Sestak, who served 31 years in the Navy before his election to the House of Representatives in 2007, said he has plans to announce a campaign against Specter in September.
Sestak has said Specter is “a flight risk after 2010.” He cited Specter’s votes both for and against the privatization of Social Security and for some of President George Bush’s economic policies. He said Specter is prone to flipping on key Democratic issues.
He also criticized Specter for opposing health care reform in the 1990s without producing any alternatives. Sestak has said health care is one of his foremost issues, and he is a supporter of the efforts taking place now in Congress.
Sestak said it was health care reform that drove him into Congress. He favors a universal system, though not one that is single-payer and purely provided by the government.
Sestak’s positions are to the left of Specter’s. On foreign policy, the retired admiral said he opposed the war in Iraq.
For his part, Sestak said he’s not into labels, and that he opposes the “Hatfields and McCoys” infighting of Republicans and Democrats. He uses the stimulus as an example.
Sestak argued that in spite of having the votes needed to pass a stimulus bill, Democrats should have cooperated with Republicans when they asked for a significant chunk of the bill to provide tax breaks for small businesses.
He said while Republicans’ tax-cutting measure wouldn’t have had very much “kick,” according to models, it would have made the stimulus a bipartisan bill that wouldn’t have gotten hung up in the Senate, where he said Specter and two other Republicans were able to hold it “hostage.”
He said because those Republican votes were necessary in the Senate, Specter forced $80 billion in cuts that would have gone toward the construction industry. Sestak said that could cost 900,000 jobs by 2010.
Before his congressional career, Sestak served as a director for defense policy in President Bill Clinton’s National Security Council. He oversaw the Navy’s warfare budget and commanded an aircraft carrier battle group with 30 ships, his biography said.
Sestak said he ran on a national security platform, emphasizing that security begins at home by insuring the well-being of citizens.
He said in his biography that his priorities are the “economic, health, education, and environment/energy security of our country.”
Sestak also holds a doctorate in political economy.
