MARGIE SWOBODA

Julian

The U.S. House of Representatives is in the unusual situation of having two vacancies out of 435 seats. One seat, from North Carolina, stems from the Nov. 18 result being overturned because of fraud perpetrated by the Republican Party. The other vacancy lies in Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District. Here, Republican Tom Marino resigned his seat just two weeks into his term, withdrawing, he said at the time, to search for a job in the private sector. This open seat will be go to the winner of the May 21 special election, which is primary election day here in Pennsylvania. Competing for this seat are Democrat Marc Friedenberg and Republican Fred Keller. Friedenberg is a Penn State faculty member specializing in cyber security and healthcare. As thoroughly documented in the Mueller Report, Russian intrusion in the 2016 election helped to support Trump’s election. Congress needs expertise like Marc’s to help prevent such interventions. Healthcare is cited in most polls as the most important issue to voters, with the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) surviving Republican challenge thanks to the heroic vote of the late John McCain; every vote is needed to ensure and improve such health protection. The specific problem of opioid addiction is another focus of the Friedenberg campaign, advocating protection from predatory medical practitioners and pharmaceutical industries. A third focus is increased access to high-speed internet, without which rural communities and small towns cannot play a role in the high-tech economy necessary for our nation’s future. So many reasons to vote for Marc Friedenberg.