English runs from anti-incumbent environment

WASHINGTON - It would be difficult to think that U.S. Rep. Phil English’s constituents already don’t know all there is to know about their congressman. After all, the Erie Republican has held his northwest Pennsylvania-area seat for 14 years.

But in a recent interview in his Capitol Hill office, English stressed that he was prepared to take significant steps in his re-election campaign to reach out to voters who, he said, weren’t fully aware of his independent-minded record.

“The way we look at it is, we will be taking some unusual tactics to be adapting to this unusual environment and that’s going to include messaging to a lot of independent voters to convey to them my track record which is very different than many perhaps have expected,” he said.

English’s campaign would only speak generally about which unusual tactics the campaign would be embracing in their general election fight against Lake Erie arboretum director Kathy Dahlkemper. English campaign manager Adam Beebe said the effort would be focused on exposing voters to English and would consist of a heavy grassroots push and outreach to coalitions like minorities and seniors.

The strategy shows just how far incumbents are willing to go this cycle to separate themselves from an anti-incumbent sentiment that threatens to wash aside members – especially Republicans – who have had a place in the institution for years.

“I can campaign as a change agent also as a person who is in a position within the institution to make change happen, and we think that’s going to be a very persuasive argument,” said English.

English entered office as Erie comptroller in the mid 1980s and later worked as a staffer to then-state Sen. Melissa Hart before waging a successful 1994 campaign for the northwest Pennsylvania U.S. House seat of incoming governor Tom Ridge. In the House, English became known for his focus on small business and working class issues.

But English indicated that Democrats targeting him this fall would aim to brand him as a cog in the partisan Washington machine, and he made a point of distancing himself from the GOP label.

“It’s going to be in the other person’s court to try to argue, I think unsuccessfully, that this represents an attempt to rebrand or reposition me,” he said. “This year our challenge is going to be to chase down the critics and confront their arguments. I feel good about that.”

“I’ve never strongly embraced a Republican label in my district,” he said. “I never stress my partisan identity.”

English’s 3rd Congressional District spans Erie, Butler, Mercer, and Crawford Counties. The district is almost entirely white and industrial, and the median household income is short of $36,000. As the nonpartisan Almanac of American Politics notes, the district has historically trended slightly more conservative than the state as a whole, with George Bush carrying the district with 51 percent and 53 percent in 2000 and 2004, respectively.

English enters his re-election race with the built-in advantage of an incumbency status. He has raised over $1.5 million during the course of the cycle, whereas Dahlkemper has taken in just over $400,000.

But National Democrats argue the race is competitive, this week circulating a Dahlkemper-sponsored poll showing English narrowly trailing. But English’s pushed back on the survey, telling PolitickerPA.com’s Alex Roarty that Dahlkemper was trying to distract from her fundraising performance.

English, sitting in his high-ceilinged office in the Rayburn building, called Dahlkemper a “formidable foe” and said she has the advantage of having a “fresh face.”

But he argued that his fight this cycle was not against the Democrat per se, but rather the anti-incumbent mood.

“In this environment, I think there is a strong burden of proof an incumbents – especially 14-year incumbents who are relatively senior within the institution, to try to distinguish themselves from what people don’t like about Congress,” he said.