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Steve Welch on Principles & Values
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Voted Democratic in 2008; but renounced support of Obama
The state Democratic Party issued a news release before the debate at the Union League, noting that Tom Smith is a former Democrat. Smith, who was a Democrat for four decades while serving as a township supervisor in the 1970s and 1980s, said he joined
the Democratic Party to honor his parents. He was a Democratic committeeman as late as 2010. "It's true I was a Democrat but I was conservative, so I really wasn't a Democrat," Smith explained, adding that he chaired a county Tea Party organization.
Source: Philadelphia Daily News on 2012 PA Senate debate
, Apr 4, 2012
Switched party from Democrat to GOP in 2005
Candidate Tim Burns used a discussion about Obama as an opening to bash Welch's 2005 switch to the Democratic party and his vote for Obama during the 2008 primary, as well as his financial support for Joe Sestak in 2006.
Welch offered a mea culpa on the party switch, and reiterated his support for John McCain in the 2008 general election, saying he thought Obama was the lesser of two evils compared to Hillary Clinton. For the first time, he answered the
Sestak charge by bringing up the record of then Rep. Curt Weldon, the man Sestak defeated in 2006. Weldon was an establishment Republican who ran into ethics troubles near the end of his term, culminating in an FBI raid of his office.
In perhaps his strongest response yet to the party-switching charge, Welch said, "Tim Burns' Republican party means Ronald Reagan could never have been President."
Source: PoliticsPA.com coverage of 2012 PA Senate debate
, Jan 21, 2012
Page last updated: May 27, 2012