Daily Local News: Trivedi, Gerlach to Battle for the 6th District

Thursday, May 20, 2010
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Trivedi, Gerlach to battle for 6th District

Reading physician beat out Doug Pike in primary by fewer than 700 votes

By ERIC S. SMITH, Staff Writer

After prevailing in a very tight primary race, Reading physician Manan Trivedi will now square off against four-term Republican incumbent Jim Gerlach, of West Pikeland, for the 6th Congressional District seat.

Trivedi defeated Philadelphia newspaperman Doug Pike, of Paoli, by fewer than 700 votes in the Democratic primary. Trivedi's win was anchored by his solid showing in his home county of Berks. But Trivedi did not fare well in Chester County, losing by just over 5,000 votes to Pike.

About 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, more than 20 hours after polls had closed on Tuesday, Pike conceded the race. His campaign said early Wednesday that it was waiting for provisional and absentee ballots to be counted, but by the late afternoon they realized there were not enough cast to overcome that deficit.

"Today I spoke by phone with Dr. Manan Trivedi and congratulated him on winning the Democratic nomination for Congress in the 6th District of Pennsylvania," Pike said in a written statement.

"Manan would be a much better member of Congress than Republican Jim Gerlach, a career politician who has let working families down again and again. I endorse Manan Trivedi — a doctor and veteran who served on the front lines in Iraq — and I urge my supporters to unite behind him."

For both Trivedi and Gerlach, who defeated Patrick Sellers by nearly 27,000 votes, the campaign for the general election began Wednesday.

Gerlach said that Trivedi is is too far left ideologically to win over the district that includes portions of Chester, Berks and Montgomery counties as well as a few precincts in Lehigh County.

"The Democrats have put a lot of money and effort into this district during the last two election cycles, but they always put up very liberal candidates that don't match the mainstream of the district," Gerlach said on Wednesday. "And I think they've done that once again."

Trivedi said that he doesn't consider himself an ideologue, but rather that he disagrees with both parties at times.

"(Gerlach) votes with blinders on and in lockstep with the Republican party," Trivedi said in an interview Wednesday.

In the past, Gerlach has faced opponents from the Main Line, but he dismissed that geography would play any pivotal role in November. He even called Berks County a "more conservative" part of the district.

Trivedi campaigned during the primary that he was the more electable candidate in November because of his Berks County background.

"Berks County has not had a representative in this district since 1992," Trivedi said. "Tuesday showed that Berks County is with me and I think that gives me a big boost."

He added that he believes he can overcome the large deficit in Chester County that he faced in the primary, because the county has become more Democratic in recent years and he has the endorsements of some of the party leaders in the county. He also said that Pike's endorsement will help.

Gerlach said he plans to focus on increasing jobs, reforming energy legislation, reducing spending and cutting taxes during his campaign. He added that if Republicans gain control in Congress in November their first issue should be to create programs to increase jobs.

"We need to give our small businesses more freedom, because that's how we tackle this economic downturn," Gerlach said.

Trivedi said that job creation is also his most important issue. He added that his focuses are on further reforming health care, helping small businesses and holding Wall Street accountable. He said that his history of leadership as a Navy lieutenant commander will also be pivotal in the race.

Both campaigns also threw plenty of dirt on Wednesday in the form of statements from press releases. Gerlach's campaign struck first.

"During the liberal love fest over the last eight months known as the Democratic primary, Trivedi embraced the (Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi agenda at every turn," Gerlach campaign spokesman Mark Campbell said in a written statement. "Maybe Trivedi's platform of pushing bigger government, more debt, government-run health care and killing American jobs plays well in San Francisco, but it doesn't sit well with working families and seniors in southeastern Pennsylvania."

Trivedi, who served in the Iraq war as a Navy physician, fired back with a written statement himself as the mud-slinging has begun early in the campaign.

"Jim, on March 20, 2003, while you were comfortably sitting at home after you supported the lies George W. Bush told about why we needed to take our eye off the ball in our fight against Al Qaeda, my boots were some of the first on the ground in Iraq," Trivedi's release said. "I was working to save the lives of the Marines you sent into a needless war.

"Well, I didn't back away then and I am not going to back down now in my commitment to improving the lives of the people I grew up with. This is my home. This is where my family lives. And this is going to be an election about changing our future and building a better Pennsylvania."

To contact staff writer Eric S. Smith, send an e-mail to esmith@dailylocal.com.

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