In 6th District, Rep. Gerlach a tough foe for Trivedi

Manan Trivedi seemed to come out of nowhere.

Last September, the 36-year-old doctor and Iraq War veteran burst onto the political scene in Philadelphia's western suburbs and went on to win the Democratic nomination this spring in the 6th Congressional District.

By 672 votes, Trivedi edged out Doug Pike, a former Inquirer editorial writer who had a five-month head start in the Democratic primary and a bottomless warchest - including the $1 million of Pike's own money that he contributed to his campaign.

Defeating Pike, who had previously been considered the presumptive nominee, was impressive. But that was the easy part. Trivedi now faces Republican U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, who most analysts believe is well-positioned to win a fifth term next month in the sprawling district that includes portions of Chester, Montgomery, Berks and Lehigh counties.

Gerlach, 55, of Chester Springs, knows how to win tough elections. He was first elected to the state House in 1990 – by a 23-vote margin – and served as a state senator before his election to Congress in 2002. National Democrats have repeatedly targeted Gerlach, only to fall a couple points short each time.

"I have one of the most competitive districts in the country," Gerlach said after a recent debate. There wasn't much concern in his voice. Maybe even a hint of pride.

In fact, the misshapen 6th District is the nation's most competitive when ranked by vote margins, according to a University of Minnesota analysis. Gerlach has won by an average of only 2.6 percentage points in the last four elections.

He survived 2006, when his Republican colleagues in the neighboring 7th and 8th Congressional Districts lost their jobs, and Democrats won control of Congress for the first time in 12 years. And he expanded on his margin of victory in 2008, even though 58 percent of the district's voters supported President Obama.

Trivedi, of Birdsboro, near Reading, is hoping that living in Berks County will enable him to chip away at Gerlach's strong support there.

"He's gone 'Washington' and we need a new breed of leaders, people who understand this community, who have real-world experience and unique insights," Trivedi said. "Not Beltway insiders."

The son of Indian immigrants who worked at the Red Cheek apple-juice factory, Trivedi served as a battalion surgeon with one of the first Marine Corps units to enter Iraq in 2003. He later earned his master's degree in health policy and was a health-care adviser for the Obama campaign.

"It just makes you proud to be a Democrat when you have someone running with his background," Democratic National Committee chairman Tim Kaine said after attending a Trivedi fundraiser last month.

At a debate last week, Trivedi held his own against Gerlach, a battle-tested debater, as they wrangled over the economy, health-care reform, stimulus spending, energy policy, Iran's nuclear capabilities and the tea-party movement.

Gerlach and Trivedi differed on the best way to create jobs, with the Democrat saying that extending the Bush tax cuts to those making more than $250,000 a year is "not going to help the economy at all."

"My opponent and his buddies down in Washington are holding tax cuts for the middle class hostage to get their cronies an average of a $100,000 check per person," Trivedi said.

Gerlach said raising taxes on the wealthy would hurt small businesses.

"If you really want jobs created, putting a $900 billion tax on them in this recession, with 9.7 percent unemployment is goofy, frankly, and totally irresponsible," he said.

For a first-time candidate, Trivedi is a solid fundraiser, bringing in $1.26 million this cycle, mostly from individuals. Gerlach has raised $1.88 million, with more than $1 million of that coming from political-action committees. Gerlach had $630,000 cash on hand through September, while Trivedi had $390,000, according to campaign-finance reports filed Friday.

The 6th District seat had been considered a prime pickup opportunity for Democrats when Gerlach was expected to run for governor, but the race fell off the radar of most analysts when he decided in January to seek re-election. The national political environment strongly favors Republicans this year.

Gerlach's ultraconfident campaign, which has dismissed Trivedi as a "left-wing candidate," says its internal polls show the congressman ahead by as many as 30 points.

In 2008, however, Gerlach released polls that showed him leading Democratic businessman Bob Roggio by a similar margin. He ended up defeating Roggio by only 4 percentage points.