Rendell joins McGinty's Senate campaign as chairman

Democrat Katie McGinty rolled out some heavy artillery in her Senate bid Monday, announcing that former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell would serve as campaign chairman.

Rendell, who also was mayor of Philadelphia and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, could provide needed firepower, particularly in fund-raising, as McGinty takes on former U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, a retired Navy rear admiral, in the 2016 primary.

"I encouraged Katie to run because she's a problem-solver who knows how to get things done," Rendell said in a statement. "Middle-class Pennsylvanians will have a senator who will fight for good schools, good jobs, and affordable health care."

McGinty served in Rendell's Harrisburg cabinet as secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. Before that, she headed the Council on Environmental Quality in the Clinton administration. She worked with then-Vice President Al Gore.

McGinty had been chief of staff to Gov. Wolf and stepped down last month to run for Senate, in response to entreaties from party leaders looking for an alternative to Sestak for the nomination to take on Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.).

Sestak was the Democratic nominee for Senate in 2010, knocking off former Republican Sen. Arlen Specter, who was supported by most party leaders, in the primary. Sestak narrowly lost to Toomey.

National and state Democrats have long been annoyed with Sestak's lone-wolf ways, such as his reliance on a small inner circle of close advisers.

Democrats see Toomey as one of the top targets in the country, expecting the presidential race to bring out a left-leaning electorate. McGinty's effort to become Pennsylvania's first female senator would provide symmetry to Hillary Rodham Clinton's battle to be the first female president, they say.

McGinty has never held elective office and finished fourth out of four in last year's Democratic gubernatorial primary.

Yet she stayed positive, refusing to attack her Democratic opponents, winning good reviews in the campaign, and making connections across the state.

Sestak, who has spent five years traveling across Pennsylvania to meet with Democratic activists, will be difficult to defeat, according to no less an authority than Rendell.

The former governor has praised Sestak's campaigning skill and grassroots connections.

Since leaving office in 2011, Rendell has been the party's eminence grise, frequently giving advice to candidates, in private and in the news media.

Rendell, however, has not been deeply involved in a single campaign since he was the chairman of Clinton's effort in the 2008 Pennsylvania presidential primary. She won the state, but lost the nomination to President Obama.

Sestak embraces the enmity of party bigwigs; indeed, the notion that he is an outsider is central to his message.

"If party leaders in DC & the machine in Philly want an establishment candidate, I'm not their guy," Sestak tweeted Monday in reaction to the Rendell announcement. "I'm for people, above party or type."