It may be an uphill battle, but Northampton County Councilman Glenn A. Geissinger said that he can defeat incumbent U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-17, with the support of Schuylkill County.
Geissinger, 50, of Plainfield Township, is seeking the Republican nomination to represent the 17th Congressional District, which includes all of Schuylkill County and parts of Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Northampton counties. He will go against Matt Connolly for the Republican nomination in the April 26 primary election.
“When you make the decision to run for an office like the U.S. House of Representatives and look at a gerrymandered district like the 17th District, you realize very quickly that regardless of what you may have done in your home counties, that you are going to need a lot of support,” Geissinger said at a fundraiser Wednesday at The Greystone Restaurant, Pottsville. “You are going to need a lot of help and you are going to need people to step up and make that difference that you can never possibly do alone and it is truly humbling to stand in a room of people who are dedicated to their community, dedicated to their country, dedicated to improving the lives of people around them.”
Growing up in a blue-collar home, Geissinger said he has worked a variety of jobs and taken many risks. He worked installing floor tiles and was a paratrooper in the Army before working in advertising and eventually starting his own advertising firm in Northampton County.
“I know what it means to sign a paycheck on the front. I also know what it means to haul concrete, lay tile and work as a night security guard. Government regulation is destroying us. It is killing small business,” Geissinger said.
Geissinger said Obamacare has doubled the health care premiums of his employees while decreasing the coverage.
“We need to appeal that law,” Geissinger said.
Geissinger said national security is a main priority.
“If we do not secure our borders, if we do not do the things that are necessary to stop illegal immigration, if we do not support our military and give them the absolute best equipment and absolute best training and give them the moral support they need, then we are going to end up just like Rome. We are going to end up with absolutely nothing,” Geissinger said. “We are a target and we need to realize it and we need to eliminate radical Islam.”
Geissinger also said that by reigning regulations in the Environmental Protection Agency, the district can use its energy resources and manufacturing to build real and lasting jobs.
“We sit on some of the biggest energy reserves in the United States,” Geissinger said. “We have coal and we have natural gas in this district and in the neighboring counties. Why is it we have allowed the president to destroy the ability to allow us to use our own energy sources in order to develop our industry? That is insane.”
“Matt Cartwright voted against coal. I will vote for coal. I will vote for energy,” he said.
To create jobs and cut the cost for taxpayers, Geissinger said public-private partnerships should be used at all levels of government. He said Northampton County is piloting a program to bundle 33 bridge projects together to cut costs and create 800 to 1,000 jobs.
“The right candidate with the right message, and I have the right message, and right amount of money, we will defeat Matt Cartwright in the fall,” Geissinger said.