Rendell to chair McGinty Senate campaign
Former Gov. Ed Rendell (D) will be chairman of the U.S. Senate campaign of Katie McGinty, who served in his administration as environmental protection secretary.
Former Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell appointed Katie McGinty to his cabinet. Now, he hopes to help get her elected to the U.S. Senate as her campaign chairman.
"I encouraged Katie to run because she's a problem solver who knows how to get things done," Rendell said in a statement released by the campaign. "Middle class Pennsylvanians will have a Senator who will fight for good schools, good jobs, and affordable health care."
McGinty, a chemist and lawyer, was secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection in the Rendell administration and also was an adviser on environmental issues for former Vice President Al Gore and in the Clinton White House.
She had been chief of staff to Gov. Wolf and stepped down to answer the entreaties of party leaders who were looking for an alternative to retired Admiral Joe Sestak in the Democratic primary for the nomination to face Sen. Pat Toomey (R.,Pa.).
McGinty ran for governor in 2014 but finished back in the pack. Rendell, the party's elder statesman in Pennsylvania, was neutral in that race – eventual winner Wolf and another candidate were also former cabinet members – but he has been the party's elder statesman since leaving office in 2011. In that role, he frequently gives advice to candidates, but Rendell has not been deeply involved in a single campaign since he led Hillary Clinton's effort in the 2008 Pennsylvania primary.