Typically Democrat-Friendly Unions, Groups Back Montco GOP Incumbent Lawmaker

HORSHAM, PA — First, there was the endorsement of the Pennsylvania teachers' union.

Then came the backing of two gun control organizations and a labor union.

Now this week, there was public support from a leading environmental advocacy group.

No, the political candidate receiving all this praise is not a Pennsylvania Democrat, as might have been expected.

He is Todd Stephens, a Republican member of the state House representing parts of suburban Philadelphia.

Stephens, an incumbent legislator, and one who is considered by many to be one of the few remaining moderate Republicans, represents the 151st Legislative District, which includes communities in eastern Montgomery County.

The groups getting behind Stephens' reelection campaign might typically be looked at as backers of Democratic politicians, but in this race, they have skipped over the Democratic challenger, political newcomer Melissa Cerrato, and instead lent their support to Stephens, a former prosecutor who was first elected to the state House in 2010.

"We take our endorsements seriously and only back those candidates that share the priorities of our organization and its members to protect our environment and safeguard our public health," Clean Water Action Pennsylvania said in a statement about why it is supporting Stephens. "Your past positions and actions in the General Assembly demonstrate your ongoing shared commitment to those priorities."

The group noted that Stephens was one of the first public officials to demand the federal government fulfill its obligations to Horsham Township when the municipality learned that the United States military had contaminated the public water system with dangerous PFAS chemicals in the area surrounding the former Willow Grove Naval Air Station.

"When the federal government refused to eliminate all detectable levels of the contaminants, Todd worked with Governor Wolf in 2016 to secure $10 million in the state budget to install filters to clean the water in Horsham," reads a news release from Stephens' office. "Thereafter, Todd introduced legislation to create the first dedicated and recurring funding streams for PFAS remediation in the country."

In mid-September, the Stephens campaign issued a press release saying that it won the endorsement of CeaseFirePA, a gun safety advocacy group.

Gun control groups do not often seem to support Republican politicians, so their endorsement of a member of the GOP in gun-friendly Pennsylvania seemed somewhat odd.

But to Stephens, the endorsement makes sense — he was a gun crimes prosecutor before becoming a legislator and he says he had championed "common-sense" reforms with regard to firearms legislation for more than two decades.

Stephens' office also pointed out that earlier this year the lawmaker was designated as a "Gun Sense Candidate" by another gun control group, Moms Demand Action.

Cerrato, however, said she is also a "Gun Sense Candidate" by Moms Demand Action, noting that that group doesn't offer "endorsements," per se, but rather offers supports for multiple individuals.

Patch reached out to Cerrato to get her take on the atypical support Stephens' seems to have earned recently.

"I am running against a 12-year incumbent," Cerrato wrote to Patch in an email. "With incumbency comes the benefit of friendly incumbent protection from unions and other organizations.

"While I am disappointed in not being given the opportunity to earn the endorsement of unions such as PSEA, I understand why they make the choices they do," she continued. "I understand the desire of these groups to remain bipartisan in an increasingly polarized nation."

Cerrato did point out that she has earned the support of Pennsylvania Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro, Planned Parenthood, the American Federation of Teachers, Moms Demand Action and the Sierra Club.

"I look forward to working with the organizations that have endorsed me to create the informed and effective legislation we need in this state, but the same goes for the ones who have not," Cerrato wrote. "I look forward to learning and growing with all community partners, unions, and advocacy organizations as their representative. I will never stop working to build strong relationships with those who can help me improve the lives of those in my district and across the commonwealth."

The race for the 151st Legislative District is particularly competitive, since it is one of only three seats left in all of Montgomery County currently held by Republicans.

While Montgomery County used to be as red as they came, it is now majority blue, with the increase in Democratic Party registrants reflecting changing demographics in the suburban Philly region.

As such, most of the state representatives who represent Montco districts are now Democrats.

Aside from Stephens, the only other Republican state representatives left in Montgomery County are Tracy Pennycuick, of the 147th House District in the western part of the county, and Milou Mackenzie, who represents the 131st Legislative District.

Mackenzie's district only includes a few Montgomery County communities, with the rest of her district made up of Lehigh Valley municipalities.

Pennycuick, of the 147th, however, is vacating her seat to run for the 24th Senatorial District currently held by Bob Mensch, who announced he is not running for reelection and instead retiring from public office, so that race is also deemed to be competitive.