On his second try, Northampton County businessman Matt Connolly won the Republican nomination for the 17th Congressional District in Tuesday’s primary election, handily defeating Northampton County Councilman Glenn A. Geissinger.
“I’m feeling good,” Connolly said after learning he had beaten Geissinger. “I have a fantastic team of volunteers who really believe in me.”
Connolly, who lost his race for the GOP nomination in 2014 to Schuylkill County Coroner Dr. David J. Moylan III, won the Republican vote in all of the district’s six counties to win the nomination 30,328 to 18,013, according to unofficial totals late Tuesday from the Department of State.
As a result, Connolly will take on incumbent U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-17, Moosic, a Lackawanna County lawyer who ran unopposed in his party’s primary, and is seeking a third term in the Nov. 8 General Election. Cartwright faced no opponent in the Democratic primary, getting 67,185 votes.
The Democratic-leaning 17th District includes all of Schuylkill County and parts of Carbon, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Monroe and Northampton counties.
In Schuylkill County, Connolly bested Geissinger 12,030 to 7,146.
Connolly, 50, of Bethlehem Township, is a real-estate investor and a former race car driver who still does freelance work in the automobile racing business.
“My campaign message is, renew the American dream,” Connolly said.
The way to do that, he said, is to reduce the role and size of the federal government. Freeing people and limiting government is the best way to do that, and the precise opposite of what has occurred in Washington during the Obama administration, according to Connolly.
“This country became so full of government regulations and taxes,” Connolly said. “We need to get government out of people’s lives.”
He said his race two years ago helped him this time.
“The prior race was definitely an advantage,” Connolly said. “I didn’t have Schuylkill County to fight against.”
This time, Connolly said, Moylan supported him, as did Lackawanna County Commissioner Laureen Cummings, the 2012 GOP candidate.
He said that if elected, he will pay a lot of attention to Schuylkill County, which he said Cartwright has ignored in his four years in office.
“Schuylkill County is the heart and soul of the district,” according to Connolly.
Furthermore, Connolly said, Cartwright’s record does not match the district.
“He’s a San Francisco liberal trying to represent a blue-collar district,” Connolly said. “He’s anti-coal. He anti-family. He’s anti-worker. He says he’s pro-life, He’s not.”
Geissinger, 50, of Plainfield Township, shares that goal with Connolly.
“I got into this race with one thing ... to defeat Matt Cartwright,” Geissinger said after learning he had lost the primary. “I wish (Connolly) the very best in that effort.”
However, he also said he believes Connolly made some misleading statements about him near the end of the campaign, and that he will analyze these before deciding to endorse him in the race.
Geissinger, who will remain on the county council until at least 2017, said Connolly’s race in 2014 gave him advantages.
“He built somewhat of a network in that time,” Geissinger said. “Some of the things he did ... obviously worked with voters.”