State Sen. Daylin Leach ends congressional bid, cites ‘attacks’ on his family – By David Gambacorta (philly.com) / Feb 25 2018
In a lengthy late-night Facebook post that name-dropped Robert Frost, Robert Kennedy and President Trump, State Sen. Daylin Leach made it official: his stalled congressional campaign is finished.
Leach’s statement, which was posted online shortly after 10:30 p.m. Saturday, came a little more than two months after the Inquirer and Daily News first reported that eight women who had either worked for Leach or the state Democratic party had accused the three-term senator of subjecting them to unwanted physical contact or sexually charged conversations.
Some fellow Democrats, including Gov. Wolf, immediately called on Leach to resign and abandon his attempt to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Pat Meehan in what was then the Seventh Congressional District. Leach initially demurred, opting instead to announce that he was simply “taking a step back” from his campaign as he assessed the fallout from the allegations.
Meehan, meanwhile, dropped his reelection bid in January, after it was reported that he’d spent nearly $40,000 in taxpayer money to settle a former aide’s sexual harassment complaint.
“I believe the people who have spent the most time with me the past few months would say that I am making a dedicated effort to listen and learn,” Leach wrote on Saturday.
“Some people, most of whom I have never met and don’t know anything about me personally, seem unwilling to accept that. I typically do not back down from a challenge, but the more these individuals direct attacks at my family – including my children – the more we, as a family asked, ‘is this worth it?’ and ‘what’s the big payoff?’”
https://www.facebook.com/VoteDaylin/posts/1707222486003137
Leach said he will instead remain in the state senate. His decision will undoubtedly have reverberations in Montgomery County’s newly redrawn Fourth Congressional District, which has already attracted a crowded pool of Democratic candidates.
The lingering uncertainty over Leach’s plans had presented complications for the state Democratic party. Thanks to his liberal bonafides and outsized social media presence, Leach had plenty of name recognition and money, with a reported $180,000 on hand as of Dec. 31. But he also had baggage: Running for higher office in the #MeToo era after having been accused of inappropriate behavior by multiple women seemed like a dicey proposition.
In his statement, Leach said that he’d been encouraged to run for Congress at resistance forums he organized in the wake of Trump’s election. “I made a commitment to run as an unabashed progressive. I’m proud to say that’s what I did,” he said. “I expected Republicans would spend millions attacking me for it, but I was ready for that, and so was my family.”
Leach’s statement didn’t directly address the allegations that were leveled against him by former staffers; his public responses have ranged from lashing out at one accuser on Facebook to writing a letter that expressed remorse for having ever made anyone uncomfortable.
He indicated that his decision to drop his congressional bid was rooted in consideration for his children, Brennan and Justin.
“I find myself looping back to how unappealing Congress has become, and I think about the life experience I want our 17 and 15 year-old children to have as they go through the stress of adolescence and applying for college,” Leach said. “I don’t want to spend their last years of childhood at a Quality Inn in DC, or making four hours of fundraising calls a day. I’ve decided it is just not worth it.”
PB/TK – Um, ok you lay down on the Party sword and dropped out but then stated you’re keeping your comfy Harrisburg seat. How long before the calls for your ouster begin… tick tock tick tock…
