Arlen Specter, D-Pa.
Sen. Arlen Specter, Democrat
The Pennsylvania senator is a Republican no more; he's switching parties and running as a Democrat in 2010.
In a move that will rock the political world, Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter has announced that he’s switching parties, and will run for reelection in 2010 as a Democrat. That gives the Democrats 59 seats in the Senate, and assuming Al Franken is eventually officially declared the winner of his race in Minnesota against former Sen. Norm Coleman, it will give them a theoretically filibuster-proof majority.
To some extent, Specter was pushed in to his decision by his fellow Republicans and by former Rep. Pat Toomey’s decision to mount a primary challenge against him. If he wanted to continue his political career, Specter had little choice but to bolt the GOP. There seemed to be little chance he could survive an attack on his right flank, and if he did make it to the general election, the positions he’d have to have taken to get that far might very well have doomed him.
Here’s Specter’s full statement on his decision, in which he essentially says — to borrow an old cliché typically used on the other side of the aisle — that the Republican Party left him, and not the other way around:
I have been a Republican since 1966. I have been working extremely hard for the Party, for its candidates and for the ideals of a Republican Party whose tent is big enough to welcome diverse points of view. While I have been comfortable being a Republican, my Party has not defined who I am. I have taken each issue one at a time and have exercised independent judgment to do what I thought was best for Pennsylvania and the nation.
Since my election in 1980, as part of the Reagan Big Tent, the Republican Party has moved far to the right. Last year, more than 200,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania changed their registration to become Democrats. I now find my political philosophy more in line with Democrats than Republicans.
When I supported the stimulus package, I knew that it would not be popular with the Republican Party. But, I saw the stimulus as necessary to lessen the risk of a far more serious recession than we are now experiencing.
Since then, I have traveled the State, talked to Republican leaders and office-holders and my supporters and I have carefully examined public opinion. It has become clear to me that the stimulus vote caused a schism which makes our differences irreconcilable. On this state of the record, I am unwilling to have my twenty-nine year Senate record judged by the Pennsylvania Republican primary electorate. I have not represented the Republican Party. I have represented the people of Pennsylvania.
I have decided to run for re-election in 2010 in the Democratic primary.
I am ready, willing and anxious to take on all comers and have my candidacy for re-election determined in a general election.
I deeply regret that I will be disappointing many friends and supporters. I can understand their disappointment. I am also disappointed that so many in the Party I have worked for for more than four decades do not want me to be their candidate. It is very painful on both sides. I thank specially Senators McConnell and Cornyn for their forbearance.
I am not making this decision because there are no important and interesting opportunities outside the Senate. I take on this complicated run for re-election because I am deeply concerned about the future of our country and I believe I have a significant contribution to make on many of the key issues of the day, especially medical research. NIH funding has saved or lengthened thousands of lives, including mine, and much more needs to be done. And my seniority is very important to continue to bring important projects vital to Pennsylvania’s economy.
I am taking this action now because there are fewer than thirteen months to the 2010 Pennsylvania Primary and there is much to be done in preparation for that election. Upon request, I will return campaign contributions contributed during this cycle.
While each member of the Senate caucuses with his Party, what each of us hopes to accomplish is distinct from his party affiliation. The American people do not care which Party solves the problems confronting our nation. And no Senator, no matter how loyal he is to his Party, should or would put party loyalty above his duty to the state and nation.
My change in party affiliation does not mean that I will be a party-line voter any more for the Democrats that I have been for the Republicans. Unlike Senator Jeffords’ switch which changed party control, I will not be an automatic 60th vote for cloture. For example, my position on Employees Free Choice (Card Check) will not change.
Whatever my party affiliation, I will continue to be guided by President Kennedy’s statement that sometimes Party asks too much. When it does, I will continue my independent voting and follow my conscience on what I think is best for Pennsylvania and America.
Alex Koppelman is a staff writer for Salon. More Alex Koppelman.
2010: Not the year for party-switchers
Parker Griffith and Arlen Specter both learned that establishment support won't help you avoid voters' fury
Rep. Parker Griffith (R-Ala.) and Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) It should have been obvious all along that party-switching Rep. Parker Griffith was heading to defeat in Tuesday’s Alabama GOP primary. (And actually, to many Democrats hoping for Griffith to fall, it was.) Politicians have been getting away with jumping from one side of the aisle to the other for a long time — but 2010 is clearly not the year for it.
Griffith quit the Democratic Party in December, citing healthcare reform — and a generalized dislike for, oh, pretty much everything the party stands for — as his reason. The Republican establishment welcomed him with open arms, trumpeting the leap as another good omen for the GOP’s November 2010. (Mostly open arms, that is, except when they accidentally attacked him in party-funded mailings.) At the time, Griffith seemed to be making the right move — Democrats had stalled in their push for the healthcare bill, President Obama (never particularly popular in Griffith’s district) was watching his approval ratings plunge and elections the month before had mostly gone well for the GOP. But on the ground back home, activists weren’t so quick to get on board. In Madison County, Alabama, the local party endorsed anyone but Griffith in a three-way race. The Tea Party blasted Griffith, calling him a Republican in name only — which was hard to refute, since he’d only been a Republican for a few months.
Continue Reading CloseMike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter here. More Mike Madden.
Tea Party could cost GOP nine Senate races this fall
Uprisings by the GOP base could produce weak Republican candidates in some of this year's biggest races
Don’t get me wrong: Republicans are still on course to perform well in November’s midterm elections. But it’s starting to look like they’ll leave some money on the table — maybe a lot of it.
The reason is simple: The Tea Party movement — also known as the GOP base — isn’t that interested in working with the Republican Party establishment. In one key race after another, this could result in the GOP fielding candidates in the fall who are ideologically pure but electorally deficient.
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Steve Kornacki writes about politics for Salon. Reach him by email at SKornacki@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @SteveKornacki More Steve Kornacki.
Halter only one of the “replacements” who could save Dems
In a handful of races, the party has replaced doomed incumbents on the ballot. And the results are encouraging
Joe Sestak, Andrew Cuomo and Bill Halter Here’s one simple way for Democrats to enjoy a better-than-expected November: throw out their own incumbents before the voters get the chance to. In some of this year’s marquee races, the party has done just that, and the early results are encouraging.
Take the crucial Pennsylvania Senate contest, where Republican Pat Toomey essentially spent the last year running ahead of Arlen Specter, who had been the presumed Democratic nominee. The Democrats who were propping up Specter insisted he would be the party’s best general election bet, even though his 30 years in the Senate seemed to clash with the public’s anti-incumbent mood. Specter, of course, lost last week’s Democratic primary to Joe Sestak — and Sestak has, at least in the initial post-primary polling, opened a small lead over Toomey.
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Steve Kornacki writes about politics for Salon. Reach him by email at SKornacki@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @SteveKornacki More Steve Kornacki.
What Tuesday’s results mean (and what they don’t)
Arlen Specter is done, Rand Paul is a step closer to the Senate, and Blanche Lincoln is in trouble. What it means
Rand Paul, Senator Arlen Specter and President Barack Obama This wasn’t about the White House: Sure, President Obama endorsed Arlen Specter and (though you heard a lot less about it in Arkansas than in Pennsylvania) Blanche Lincoln. And no, it didn’t help.
But don’t read Tuesday night’s results as a rebuke to the White House. In Arkansas, where Obama won only 38 percent of the vote in the 2008 elections, he never figured into the race. And in Pennsylvania, Specter — who spent his career as a Republican — was a flawed vehicle for the White House’s message. A primary election in which only the most dedicated Democrats turned out hardly means a rejection of Obama.
Continue Reading CloseMike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter here. More Mike Madden.
Small crowd gathering at Specter party
Soul music blared and a TV had to be switched from Fox News to MSNBC. Early returns showed Specter up narrowly
Sen. Arlen Specter (D-PA) fields media questions during a news conference at his campaign reception hall during his U.S. Senate democratic primary re-election event in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 18, 2010. REUTERS/Bradley Bower (United States - Tags: POLITICS ELECTIONS)(Credit: Reuters) Some old habits die hard. So the TV in the corner of the hotel ballroom in Center City where Arlen Specter’s supporters were gathering Tuesday night to watch election returns lingered on Fox News Channel for a while — until someone finally remembered that at Democratic events, you’re supposed to watch something else.
Early returns started to trickle in not long after the polls closed at 8 p.m. Eastern, and they didn’t look great for Specter. Turnout was, as everyone had been saying all day, pretty low; Philadelphia was on pace to deliver only about 160,000 total votes — which doesn’t seem like it’s anywhere near enough for Specter, who was counting on a big margin here. A DJ spun soul music — Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder — as people picked at bacon-wrapped scallops and hit the bar.
Check back here for more updates throughout the night.
Mike Madden is Salon's Washington correspondent. A complete listing of his articles is here. Follow him on Twitter here. More Mike Madden.
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