With the retirement of Congressman Jim Gerlach, in the 6th District of Pennsylvania, a seat is up for grabs in the November mid-term elections.
Democrat Manan Trivedi, despite losing the election for Pennsylvania's 6th District in 2010 and 2012, is back to give it a third attempt.
In 2010, Trivedi lost to Jim Gerlach by 33,277
votes. In 2012, Trivedi lost by a wider margin of 47,922
votes.
Trivedi is back to take on Ryan Costello, who under his leadership as County Commissioner, maintained one of the lowest tax rates in southeastern Pennsylvania.
Trivedi's deep roots in Obamacare:
What Pennsylvania voters should remember is that Trivedi not only supported Obamacare, but had deep roots in the legislation. In a video from 2010, Trivedi stated "I was an advisor to President Obama for his health policy advisors during the elections." In the video, Trivedi continued, "We helped plant the seed that became his healthcare reform." Trivedi stated "I am proud with the bill that we passed" — the bill that found many Americans facing healthcare policy cancellations. Travedi closed the healthcare portion of the discussion with a warning that healthcare "doesn't end with this legislation."
In addition to his support of government-run health care, Trivedi can be heard on another video stating "I would fight for single-payer" — a system opposed by an overwhelming majority of Americans. In the video, Trivedi says "Single payer would be the way to go."
Vanish:
But since the well-known unpopularity of Obamacare, and with Trivedi in the running once again, his campaign website was scrubbed of his positive stance on Obamacare. The page, seen here, is now empty. As other Democrats run from Obamacare with the election approaching, Trivedi's stance on Obamacare, that he planted the seed for, simply vanishes. The new tack is to fix Obamacare. Democrats who once doubled down in support for Obamacare, after running for the hills amid public anger, have re-emerged under the new strategy that they will fix it.
Trivedi cannot hide from his past remarks such as "the recent passage of significant healthcare legislation that I supported."
Trouble within own party:
Some see Trivedi's views as radical. To no surprise, The Daily Kos, a political blog with a liberal base and progressive views, endorsed Trivedi. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, Chair of the Democratic National Committee, campaigned for Trivedi. It is important to note that Democrats have been turning on Wasserman-Schultz. Was Trivedi's views too extreme even for Democrats? It was published in February, that National Democrats have been quietly supporting Trivedi's Democrat opponent, Mike Parrish, seeing him as their best chance of winning. But since Parrish switched parties, National Democrats — with no other option — shifted back to support of Trivedi. But the support for Trivedi was short-lived as the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has started to pull back its advertising in Pennsylvania's 6th District.
Outlook:
With Obama's approval rating at a record low of 39 percent, Democrats fear losing control of the Senate — putting Republicans in control of both chambers. The current strategy is to distance themselves from the President in a damage control scenario.
With trust in Government at an all time low, just 13 percent of Americans say the government can be trusted to do what is right. Despite this view among Americans, Trivedi has complained government isn't big enough. Similar to 2010, the 2014 mid-term election favors Republicans among many polls. The coming mid-term election will be a test of voter's memory spans — and for those affected by the healthcare law, the decision should be simple.
