Candidates defining their differences

WASHINGTON - On policy, the three Pennsylvania Democrats running for U.S. Senate have shown few differences.

With only subtle distinctions, Joe Sestak, Katie McGinty, and John Fetterman all broadly support key party planks: higher wages for the working class, the Affordable Care Act, tougher gun laws, abortion rights, same-sex marriage, the Iran nuclear deal, and the idea that the government should combat climate change. Their only major policy disagreement is on trade deals.

But as their race enters its final stretch before the April 26 primary, they have staked out competing personal stories and points of emphasis to pitch to voters.

Sestak, a retired admiral, highlights national security and trust in leaders. McGinty, who grew up in a blue-collar Philadelphia family, touts the importance of middle-class wages and women's issues. And Fetterman, the Braddock mayor, says his leadership of a borough ravaged by job losses makes him the only one with real experience combating economic hardship.

"The biggest difference between all three of us is biographical, and what we are really committed to," Fetterman said during a meeting last week with the Inquirer's editorial board.

The three are vying for the right to challenge a staunch fiscal conservative, Sen. Pat Toomey, in one of the most closely watched races in the country.

Though Sestak, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Delaware County who leads in early polling, has spread his focus far and wide - writing a policy book - he most often talks about his Navy career.

Trust in leaders, he said, is the country's most critical issue.

"The captain of the ship is given more authority, responsibility than any other person," he said. With that, he added, "goes accountability to the troops, to the people."

He has aggressively advocated for the Iran nuclear weapons deal, saying it had pushed back Tehran's access to a nuke.

"I think national security will come to dominate the debates across this nation," he told reporters in a conference call. Sestak has said he would bring experience in that area "wide in breadth, deep in scope and that is sorely needed in Washington."

Unlike his rivals, Sestak supports some international trade deals,arguing that a pact with Pacific Rim countries would improve national security by linking those nations to the U.S. economy, rather than China's. But he said he would oppose the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership because it offers too few protections for U.S. workers.

McGinty points to her upbringing as the daughter of a police officer and a restaurant hostess.

"What this whole election is about is a deep conviction I have that, Number One, the middle class can't afford to be squeezed anymore," said McGinty, a resident of Wayne and Gov. Wolf's former chief of staff.

A former environmental protection aide in the Clinton White House and Gov. Ed Rendell's administration in Harrisburg, she also has held top jobs with several energy and environmental firms.

McGinty said that gave her a "keen sensibility" - unique, in this primary - about what it takes to run a business. She argued against trade deals such as the pending Pacific pact and said she would fight for an infrastructure program to create jobs.

Aiming to become Pennsylvania's first female senator, McGinty declares in one ad that "for my daughters and yours, I'll fight for equal pay for women."

Fetterman points to his work in a small, largely African American borough struggling with economic change and poverty.

"I'm actually coming from the very, very bottom of the socioeconomic landscape of the state," he told the Inquirer. "That's a perspective that really doesn't exist in most Democratic circles."

By contrast, he said, his opponents "live in leafy, prosperous suburbs."

(Fetterman himself grew up in comfortable circumstances - his family owns a York insurance company - but has said he moved to Braddock after witnessing deep inequality.)

Standing a hulking 6-foot-8, with a goatee and with tattoos up his forearm, Fetterman has cast himself as an authentic alternative, free of poll-tested mantras or corny ads.

He has few details about how he might work with Republicans in the deeply divided Senate, but says his street-level perspective would guide him and help him elevate the issues that communities like Braddock face.

"I would put people in my pickup truck and drive them down to McKeesport," he said, "and ask them: 'Would you like to live here?' "

jtamari@phillynews.com

@JonathanTamari

www.philly.com/capitolinq