Drucker Launches Campaign for Kampf Re-Match

Paul Drucker is counting on buyer’s remorse to win the State House seat he lost in 2010.

After losing the 157^th district seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to Warren Kampf by shy of 1,000 votes in 2010, the attorney-turned-Tredyffrin-supervisor-turned-state legislator is officially campaigning to win the seat back.

And the Democrat thinks a reversal of fortunes might be in order.

“[Kampf] has a record now that he didn’t have then,” Drucker told Patch on Wednesday afternoon, a few hours before a campaign kickoff event he hosted that night at his Bridge Street headquarters in Phoenixville.

“I’ll be able to contrast to the voters what I represent from what he represents.”

History of Narrow Vote Margins

Drucker held the seat for one term after beating Republican Guy Ciarrocchi in the 2008 election, widely regarded as one of the most expensive races ever for a seat in the Pennsylvania state house. He beat Ciarrochhi by a 1.8% margin (50.9-41.1%).

In the 2010 election the vote margin was close but much wider than 2008. In 2010 Warren Kampf won the seat by 951 votes (52% to 48%).

Drucker told Phoenixville Patch he plans to contrast his positions with Kampf’s record on education, women’s health, the environment, and infrastructure.

“These are issues where there are major differences between me and my opponent. These aren’t shades of gray—these are black and white issues,” Drucker said, emphatically.

Drucker's Talking Points

“[Kampf] talks about jobs,” he went on, “’Jobs, jobs jobs.’ But he didn’t support the transportation bill. And to me the greatest job program that we have is education, but he supports a budget with draconian education cuts.”

Drucker also chided his opponent for his votes in support of natural gas extraction from the Marcellus Shale—a position he called “intellectually bankrupt.” He charged Kampf and fellow state Republicans with under-taxing the extraction and not going to sufficient lengths to ensure it produced local jobs.

“It’s the lowest [natural gas extraction] tax in the country,” he said.

Putting his election forecaster cap back on—albeit one with a large “D” on it—Drucker said the dynamics of this election figure to favor him in a way 2010’s didn’t.

“Because it’s a presidential election, there should be a better turnout,” Drucker surmised. “And that better turnout should be to my advantage.”

Do Drucker's positions on the issues resonate with you?

Tell us in the comments section at the bottom of this article.