Dan Meuser

Congressional candidate Chris HackettOver the last weekend before the primary election, questions arose regarding Republican Chris Hackett’s stance on abortion. Hackett maintained he was pro-life while supporters for Dan Meuser claimed Hackett had stated early he was pro-choice.

The National Right to Life PAC has no questions about Hackett’s stance as today they endorsed the Republican in his campaign to unseat Chris Carney in PA-10.

Press release

Republican congressional candidate Chris HackettAt the end of a fiercely contested race, businessman Chris Hackett narrowly topped his primary opponent in yesterday’s primary.

Now the 10th Congressional District Republican nominee, Hackett is focusing on a win in the November primary against incumbent freshmen Chris Carney (D-Dimock).

“We celebrate big with pizzas,” Hackett joked. “We run our campaign like we run a small business. We are frugal. We are very focused on the small things. And I think that is something that really gives us an edge because we focus on detail.”

After months of working to secure the Republican nomination in the 10th Congressional District seat, Chris Hackett won last night’s primary by a narrow margin. Hackett won 33,604 votes, or 52.3 percent of the vote to Dan Meuser’s 30,636 votes, or 47.7 percent.

“We are disappointed,” said Meuser, “Our many supporters throughout the district expected us to win and effectively represent them in the general election and in Congress.”  

“Dan called Chris Hackett this morning and wished him luck,” a campaign statement said.

With 98% of the vote in Republican businessmen Chris Hackett and Dan Meuser are separated by 7 votes. Hacket has 31,628 and Meuser has 31.621. The winner will take on freshman congressman Chris Carney. Any election that is separated by less than one half of one percent qualifies for an automatic recount. It is very possible this race could be heading that direction. View updated results here.

UPDATE: The election results posted have been changed and Hackett appears to have won. 

More Inside Edge

With less than 24 hours until voters head to the polls for the primary, 10th Congressional district candidate Dan Meuser (R- Harvey’s Lake) is trying to show that his rival, Chris Hackett (R-Shavertown), hasn’t been honest about his position on abortion rights.

Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, who supports Meuser, told radio station WILK that Hackett, who is campaigning on a pro-life platform, told a group of Republican leaders that he was in favor of abortion rights.

On the final day before the Primary, 10th Congressional district candidates Chris Hackett (R-Shavertown) and Dan Meuser (R-Harvey’s Lake) canvassed across the district with their final push to get their message out and encourage residents to vote.

Stuart Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Reports has the latest House ratings.  Of the races that are up for grabs, Pennsylvania has six that are Rothenberg’s watch list.  read more »

Stuart Rothenberg of the Rothenberg Political Report has the latest House ratings. Of the races that are up for grabs, Pennsylvania has six that are Rothenberg’s watch list.  read more »

The 10th Congressional district campaign of Republican Dan Meuser is circulating a Capitolwire article today reporting that fellow GOP candidate Chris Hackett told party power brokers last May that he supported abortion rights.

Four respected business leaders from PA-10 have told Capitolwire that during a meeting last year, congressional candidate Chris Hackett stated to them he was pro-choice.

Hackett, who is in a tight and bitter primary campaign against Dan Meuser for the right to challenge Democrat Chris Carney now campaigns as a pro-life candidate.