Trump gets endorsements from more than half of Pa.’s GOP congressional delegation

Five of Pennsylvania’s eight Republican representatives in Congress have endorsed former President Donald Trump in his 2024 bid for the White House.

U.S. Reps. Mike Kelly, Dan Meuser, Guy Reschenthaler, John Joyce, and Scott Perry officially backed Trump on Friday and now constitute the “Pennsylvania Federal Leadership Team,” as Trump’s campaign has dubbed his Pennsylvania GOP supporters.

The five representatives are longtime allies of Trump who supported him in previous elections and ran with Trump’s endorsement in the midterms. Their backing comes as Trump faces two indictments, one in New York and one in Miami. In New York, he is facing state charges stemming from payments made during the 2016 presidential campaign to bury allegations that he had extramarital sexual encounters.

In the Miami case, the former president is accused of mishandling classified documents he kept after leaving office and obstructing the government’s efforts to retrieve them. Trump has pleaded not guilty in both cases.

The former president’s legal problems have done little to dissuade his backers. According to FiveThirtyEight’s tracker of congressional endorsements, Trump has the support of 56 of the 63 House Republicans who have endorsed a candidate. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has the support of five House Republicans.

Trump carried all 67 Pennsylvania counties in the 2016 presidential primary. He was the first Republican in 28 years to win the state and he’s remained focused on its 19 electoral votes, making frequent trips here for rallies and events. He’ll be in Philadelphia Friday for a convention held by Moms For Liberty, a self-described parental rights group that has become a prominent voice in the conservative movement accusing schools of ideological overreach, including teaching about race, gender, and sexuality.

The spotlight now shifts to the three other Republicans in the Pennsylvania delegation — Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R., Bucks), Lloyd Smucker (R., Lancaster), and Glenn Thompson (R., Centre) — who have not endorsed a candidate.

Fitzpatrick, a moderate who represents a swing district based in Bucks County, said he couldn’t vote for Trump in 2016 after video surfaced of Trump using vulgar, aggressive language to describe women. Fitzpatrick initially dodged questions about whether he would back Trump in 2020 and then ultimately said he didn’t vote for Trump in 2020. He sought to censure Trump but voted against impeaching him for inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

Both Meuser, who represents the east central part of the state and Reschenthaler, who represents part of the Southwest, came to Trump’s immediate defense after his indictments this year, calling the prosecution politically motivated. In a call with reporters earlier this month, Meuser said he thought five or six of the GOP nominees could do the job but liked Trump because he’d proven himself.

“A plan is one thing. An execution is another and I’m gonna go with the proven executor of plans to correct the United States’ ship if you will in the shortest amount of time possible,” Meuser said.

Perry, who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, has also been a longtime Trump ally. He was a major player in Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election results and last year was referred to the House Ethics Committee for possible sanction over refusals to comply with Jan. 6 subpoenas.

In addition to the congressional support, Trump’s campaign also announced endorsements from former U.S. Rep. Fred Keller and Carla Sands, Trump’s former ambassador to Denmark.

While Trump has strong GOP congressional support, he’s so far gotten less enthusiasm out of GOP lawmakers in Harrisburg, who have been quiet about his candidacy and legal troubles and have so far abstained from endorsements in the GOP primary, which officially kicks off in January 2024.