Torsella says he'll run for U.S. Senate
Joseph M. Torsella, the politically wired founding chief executive of the National Constitution Center, yesterday said he would seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate next year.
Joseph M. Torsella, the politically wired founding chief executive of the National Constitution Center, yesterday said he would seek the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate next year.
He is the first candidate to announce the intention to run against five-term Republican incumbent Sen. Arlen Specter, who has raised $6 million and recently hired a campaign manager for what is expected to be a tough race.
Torsella, 45, of Flourtown, said he filed paperwork yesterday to establish a campaign committee, enabling him to begin raising and spending money for the spring 2010 primary.
"Our country is in a crucial and challenging time, and every new piece of economic news confirms that we need a new direction in Washington," Torsella said. "Republican leadership has failed."
While he casts himself as a Washington outsider, Torsella is a close ally of Gov. Rendell, who appointed him last August to the State Board of Education. Torsella served as deputy Philadelphia mayor of policy and planning when Rendell was mayor.
Best known for his work with the Constitution Center, Torsella got the institution off the ground as its CEO from 1997 until it opened in 2003. He returned as chief executive in 2006, stepping down last month; when his imminent departure was announced in December, Torsella said he was interested in exploring a run for elected office.
In his first such foray, in 2004, Torsella ran and lost in an open Democratic primary for the 13th Congressional District, which encompasses parts of Montgomery County and Northeast Philadelphia. U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, then a state senator, beat Torsella by 4 percentage points.
Between that contest and his second tour of duty as Constitution Center CEO, he also worked as a consultant and as unpaid chairman of the group that sought the 2016 Olympics for Philadelphia.
"I don't bring elected political credentials, and in normal times that might be a weakness," Torsella said. "Now, I think it's a strength. I have a proven record of creating jobs and getting results."
Other Democrats considering Senate candidacies include Schwartz; U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy of Bucks County; State Rep. Josh Shapiro of Montgomery County; and state Auditor General Jack Wagner, who is from Allegheny County.
MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews, a native of Philadelphia, flirted with a Senate campaign but decided last month to stick with his TV career.
A moderate who emerged last week as part of a crucial group of senators negotiating a compromise on President Obama's economic-stimulus legislation, Specter is the longest-serving senator in Pennsylvania's history. He turns 79 on Thursday, has survived several bouts with cancer, and maintains a punishing schedule.
Specter narrowly survived a GOP primary challenge from the right in 2004. U.S. Rep. Pat Toomey of the Lehigh Valley, now head of the conservative Club for Growth in Washington, was the challenger then. He is exploring a run for governor next year and has said he would likely not run against Specter.
