Western Pa. legislator launches run for U.S. Senate

HARRISBURG — A conservative Republican state representative from Allegheny County announced his candidacy for the U.S. Senate on Monday, promising to be an ally of President Trump in Washington.

Speaking in the state Capitol rotunda, Rep. Rick Saccone called the Democratic incumbent, Sen. Bob Casey, "a remnant of that liberal philosophy" that helped create a mess in Washington and has since opposed Trump cabinet nominees.

"President Trump was elected to go drain the swamp, and I want to go and help him," Saccone, a Pennsylvania House member since 2011, told supporters. He is among the legislature's most conservative members, with an 86 percent lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union.

He has previously been backed by groups that oppose abortion rights and is a political ally of State Sen. Scott Wagner, a York County Republican who this winter launched his bid to challenge Gov. Wolf in 2018. He is among the legislature's leading advocates for firearms ownership. He has sponsored at least five bills directed at the matter in the past year.