U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy jumped into a local congressional race Monday, endorsing decorated war veteran Earl Granville for the 8th Congressional District seat.
McCarthy, a Republican from California, called Granville “exactly the type of leader” the district needs in Congress.
“Earl has committed his life to service and he has proven himself not just on the battlefield, but in his home community of Northeastern Pennsylvania,” McCarthy said in a statement released by the Granville campaign. “When he returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, Earl devoted himself to advocating for veterans, to improving his community, and giving back to all those who stood by him during his recovery. Earl is someone who has always put the needs of his community ahead of his own.”
An endorsement by a major national Republican leader like McCarthy is relatively rare in a contested Republican congressional primary, though not entirely unheard of.
By endorsing this early, McCarthy is signaling Republicans to rally around Granville instead of three other Republican candidates. Granville, who lost a leg fighting during the Afghanistan War, faces Teddy Daniels of West Wyoming, a former police officer and also a decorated veteran of the Afghanistan War; former Hazleton Mayor Michael Marsicano, who now lives in Hazle Twp.; and Mikel Cammisa of Hazleton, who plans to formally announce his candidacy today but has had a website up for at least a couple of weeks.
Granville, thankful for the endorsement, praised McCarthy for standing “against the radical agenda that Nancy Pelosi has tried to push through the House.”
“Leader McCarthy is a source of strength for our Republic as the Left continues its obsession with overturning the 2016 election,” Granville said, according to the statement.
The Republican primary election is April 28. The winner will likely face four-term Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright of Moosic in the Nov. 3 election. So far, Cartwright is unopposed for his party’s nomination.
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