LANSDALE -- The Conservative Party in POG will be led by Evangelicals heading into this election season.
The party's nominees for POG's most prominent races - governor and two Senate seats - are Evangelicals.
Nick Karen is the party's pick for governor. At age 39, he is a rising star in the CNS; he's also a prominent Evangelical assemblyman from the western suburbs of Lansdale.
He'll be joined on the ballot by Assemblywoman Julie Dennings, another prominent Evangelical from the suburban Dinsmore Hills area west of Lansdale who is the party's nominee for the Senate seat currently held by Nationalist Diane Coke.
Dennings has previously ran unsuccessfully for the Senate twice, she's hoping to unseat the first-term Coke.
And Mike Holloway, a businessman and political newcomer from Londonderry County in northern POG, is the CNS' nominee for the Senate seat being vacated by outgoing Senator Max Kiesling (N).
He'll face centrist Nationalist real estate financier John Paul Liffrey of Kingham.
Of the three leading Evangelicals - Karen, Dennings and Holloway - Holloway is the most conservative.
He won his four-way race against moderate former Senator Charlie Quince, Lt. Governor Fletcher Grisman (also a moderate), and the more conservative but little-known state Senator Debbie Siegler of DePonce, a suburb northeast of Lansdale.
Holloway has called for tax cuts, an increase in military spending, and an overhaul of how universities handle sexual assault cases.
Karen and Dennings are also solidly conservative, but their status as assembly members allied with party leaders has caused some far-right activists to label them part of the much-derided "establishment," or the group of party insiders who critics claim are less committed to the conservative cause.
Both Karen and Dennings faced daunting primary races. Karen defeated hardline entrepreneur Mike Indano and businessman Terry Silvi in his primary, while Dennings narrowly held off Tommy Maddox, a hardline conservative state representative from northern POG.
The influx of Evangelicals in POG's Conservative Party has some more moderate members of the party wondering feeling sidelined.
Outgoing Governor Donna Almone is a celebrated moderate in the Conservative Party, as are Lt. Governor Fletcher Grisman and Senator Dick Trau.
But in the 2018 election, the Conservative Party will be led by Evangelicals appealing to the more socially-conservative wing of the party.
Even so, Almone, Grisman and Trau have endorsed Nick Karen for governor, and all three are campaigning with him.
Almone, the matriarch of the state's Conservative Party and the most prominent politician in POG in recent memory, has also endorsed Dennings for Senate, though she has so far refrained from endorsing Mike Holloway.
The state has an unusual third Senate race on the ballot for the seat held by Nationalist incumbent George Mercott.
However, Mercott, the dean of POG's Senate delegation, is facing only token opposition from the CNS in his race, with Conservative activist Paul Ashley, largely unknown and under-funded, running against him.
This year's elections mark a pivotal moment in POG politics, as outgoing Governor Donna Almone leaves power after ten years in office and both parties clamor to secure power and fill the void after Almone leaves.
The party's nominees for POG's most prominent races - governor and two Senate seats - are Evangelicals.
Nick Karen is the party's pick for governor. At age 39, he is a rising star in the CNS; he's also a prominent Evangelical assemblyman from the western suburbs of Lansdale.
He'll be joined on the ballot by Assemblywoman Julie Dennings, another prominent Evangelical from the suburban Dinsmore Hills area west of Lansdale who is the party's nominee for the Senate seat currently held by Nationalist Diane Coke.
Dennings has previously ran unsuccessfully for the Senate twice, she's hoping to unseat the first-term Coke.
And Mike Holloway, a businessman and political newcomer from Londonderry County in northern POG, is the CNS' nominee for the Senate seat being vacated by outgoing Senator Max Kiesling (N).
He'll face centrist Nationalist real estate financier John Paul Liffrey of Kingham.
Of the three leading Evangelicals - Karen, Dennings and Holloway - Holloway is the most conservative.
He won his four-way race against moderate former Senator Charlie Quince, Lt. Governor Fletcher Grisman (also a moderate), and the more conservative but little-known state Senator Debbie Siegler of DePonce, a suburb northeast of Lansdale.
Holloway has called for tax cuts, an increase in military spending, and an overhaul of how universities handle sexual assault cases.
Karen and Dennings are also solidly conservative, but their status as assembly members allied with party leaders has caused some far-right activists to label them part of the much-derided "establishment," or the group of party insiders who critics claim are less committed to the conservative cause.
Both Karen and Dennings faced daunting primary races. Karen defeated hardline entrepreneur Mike Indano and businessman Terry Silvi in his primary, while Dennings narrowly held off Tommy Maddox, a hardline conservative state representative from northern POG.
The influx of Evangelicals in POG's Conservative Party has some more moderate members of the party wondering feeling sidelined.
Outgoing Governor Donna Almone is a celebrated moderate in the Conservative Party, as are Lt. Governor Fletcher Grisman and Senator Dick Trau.
But in the 2018 election, the Conservative Party will be led by Evangelicals appealing to the more socially-conservative wing of the party.
Even so, Almone, Grisman and Trau have endorsed Nick Karen for governor, and all three are campaigning with him.
Almone, the matriarch of the state's Conservative Party and the most prominent politician in POG in recent memory, has also endorsed Dennings for Senate, though she has so far refrained from endorsing Mike Holloway.
The state has an unusual third Senate race on the ballot for the seat held by Nationalist incumbent George Mercott.
However, Mercott, the dean of POG's Senate delegation, is facing only token opposition from the CNS in his race, with Conservative activist Paul Ashley, largely unknown and under-funded, running against him.
This year's elections mark a pivotal moment in POG politics, as outgoing Governor Donna Almone leaves power after ten years in office and both parties clamor to secure power and fill the void after Almone leaves.
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