Rendell to Chair McGinty Senate Campaign

Not that Joe Sestak needed additional clues he is not the favored candidate of the Democratic Party establishment in Pennsylvania, but: Former Gov. Ed Rendell just signed on to chair Katie McGinty‘s campaign for U.S. Senate.

McGinty was Pennsylvania’s Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection in the Rendell Administration.

“I am glad that Katie McGinty answered the calls from across Pennsylvania for her to enter the race for U.S. Senate,” Rendell said in a statement released by her campaign. “I encouraged Katie to run because she’s a problem solver who knows how to get things done. Middle class Pennsylvanians will have a Senator who will fight for good schools, good jobs, and affordable health care in Katie McGinty.”

McGinty and Sestak are facing off for the Democratic nomination to the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Pat Toomey. Sestak and Toomey both ran for the seat in 2010; Democratic leaders have never been very fond of Sestak, because he ran that race against incumbent (erstwhile) Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter.

There had already been widespread reports that McGinty, who spent the winter and summer as Gov. Tom Wolf’s chief of staff, had been wooed into running by party leadership. She resigned in late July and announced her Senate candidacy shortly thereafter. Rendell’s move to chair her campaign is a further sign of her establishment cred.

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