Scott Wagner, left, Republican candidate for Pennsylvania Governor, and lieutenant governor candidate Jeff Bartos, right, campaign at a diner in Imperial, Pa. Monday, May 14, 2018 , the day before the Pennsylvania primary where he faces two other Republicans, Paul Mango and Laura Ellsworth.
Katie Meyer is WHYY’s political reporter. Prior to coming to Philadelphia, Katie was WITF’s Capitol bureau chief, and covered all things state politics for public radio stations throughout Pennsylvania.
Katie came to Harrisburg by way of New York City, where she worked at Fordham University’s public radio station, WFUV, as an anchor, general assignment reporter, and co-host of an original podcast. A 2016 graduate of Fordham, she won several awards for her work at WFUV, including four 2016 Gracies.
Katie is a native New Yorker, though she originally hails from Troy, a little farther up the Hudson River. She can attest that the bagels are still pretty good there.
Keith Srakocic / AP Photo
Scott Wagner, left, Republican candidate for Pennsylvania Governor, and lieutenant governor candidate Jeff Bartos, right, campaign at a diner in Imperial, Pa. Monday, May 14, 2018 , the day before the Pennsylvania primary where he faces two other Republicans, Paul Mango and Laura Ellsworth.
(Philadelphia) — Montgomery County real estate developer and GOP fundraiser Jeff Bartos, 48, is the latest candidate to join the race for Pennsylvania’s open 2022 U.S. Senate election.
Bartos, a Republican, ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor in 2018, hitching his wagon to former State Sen. Scott Wagner, a York County waste management millionaire who pitched himself as a Donald Trump-like figure. The Wagner-Bartos ticket lost badly to incumbent Democrat Tom Wolf.
In a video announcing his campaign, Bartos didn’t mention Wagner — instead stressing his appreciation for small businesses and talking about the nonprofit he co-founded in the midst of the pandemic, the Pennsylvania 30 Day Fund, which raises money to extend forgivable grants to businesses.
“When people look around and see their elected officials spending more time attacking each other than attacking the problems that are crippling the community, they get fed up,” he said in the video. “I looked at that and said I have to do something about it. And you know what, I did.”
Scott Applewhite / AP Photo
The Capitol is seen at dusk as work in the Senate is stalled on the Democrats’ $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief bill, in Washington, Friday, March 5, 2021. Senators plan to continue to vote on amendments through the night. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Bartos also said he’s skeptical of the pandemic aid the federal government handed down, saying it “continues to step in, time and again, in a way that favors the big companies at the expense of the little companies.”
A September 2020 Brookings study also found that aid to businesses had been unequal in other ways. Researchers reported that small businesses in majority-white neighborhoods got federal Paycheck Protection Program loans “more quickly than small businesses in majority-Black and majority-Latino or Hispanic neighborhoods.”
Despite his issues with the way federal aid was disbursed under President Trump’s administration, Bartos also sought to avoid alienating the former president’s formidable group of supporters.
“Donald Trump represented someone listening to millions of Pennsylvanians who felt like no one was fighting for them,” he said in the video.
Bartos did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
After two-term Republican Sen. Pat Toomey announced he wasn’t running for reelection, the field for Pennsylvania’s junior U.S. Senate seat began getting crowded, quickly.
Pa. Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman speaks to the press after Sheppard’s hearing.
Bartos is so far the highest-profile candidate to jump in on the Republican side. But several others are considering joining him, including former Chester County GOP Congressman Ryan Costello, who is expected to launch an exploratory committee soon, as well as several current members of congress.
Going into the race, Bartos does have something the other GOP hopefuls likely don’t: an apparently genuine friendship with one of his Democratic opponents, Fetterman.
The two met during the 2018 gubernatorial race, as they crisscrossed the commonwealth with their running mates — and they got along.
“Jeff is a good guy and a good friend,” Fetterman commented on Twitter. “I welcome him to the race.”
WHYY is the leading public media station serving the Philadelphia region, including Delaware, South Jersey and Pennsylvania. This story originally appeared on WHYY.org.