Scott Wallace
Credit: Wallace for Congress
Scott Wallace believes now is the time for him to enter the Democratic primary race for the Eighth Congressional District.
Wallace, who spoke to LevittownNow.com late Wednesday night, officially launched his campaign Thursday morning with a splashy 2:46 video titled “I’m Running.”
“I’m running because this is an extraordinary time and [Democrats] need to retake this district,” Wallace, 66, said.
The grandson of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s progressive vice president and great-grandson of a Secretary of Agriculture who served under two presidents said he wants to “hold Republicans accountable.” (Read a previous story about his family background)
The campaign launch video features Democratic Bucks County Commissioner Diane Ellis-Marseglia, a Levittown native. Wallace said he worked to try to recruit Ellis-Marseglia to run for congress last year but she turned down his offer. However, he has Ellis-Marseglia serving as his campaign chair.
“I’m supporting Scott 100 percent. He’ll be a great Congressman for the Eighth District,” the county’s lone Democratic commissioner said in a statement. “Now more than ever we need people to run because they’re ready to dedicate their time and energy to our country and help change things in Washington.”
Wallace, a wealthy Buckingham resident, said his goal will be to represent all residents of the Eighth Congressional District no matter their political affiliation.
“I’m going to be a Democrat for the people of Bucks County and the Eighth District and the 99 percent. Trump and [incumbent Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick] are for the one percent. The tax bill makes that obvious,” he said.
Wallace said Republicans are handing over the country to “billionaires and corporate interests.”
While not focusing much of his comments on his Democratic primary opponents Rachel Reddick and Steve Bacher, Wallace called out Fitzpatrick for his support of Republican President Donald Trump’s administration and its policies.
ESPN-owned political and sports statics site FiveThirtyEight said Fitzpatrick votes with Trump’s agenda about 82 percent of the time. He has notably differed from the president and majority of his party on health care.
Wallace said there are four main things that he stands for and believes are “American values.” They are: respect for the judiciary, the media, the rule of law and the truth. Many of Trump’s scandals and controversies involved those four things, the candidate stated.
“Truth, facts and science are under the bus” under the Trump administration, Wallace said.
Wallace explained that he wants to help “end the dysfunction” in Washington D.C.
Credit: Scott Wallace
If elected as the Democratic candidate in the primary and he proves to be the victor in the general election, Wallace’s highest priorities would be to move forward and work on spurring job growth in 21 Century industries and make health care cheaper and available for all. He also plans to work on providing equal opportunities for all Americans and pave the way to easier access to family planning and reproductive services.
The candidate was born in the Buckingham house where he lives now. His father ran a chicken hatchery in the Doylestown area and his mother was the president of the local Planned Parenthood chapter.
In his adultolescence and young adulthood, Wallace worked as a carpenter’s assistant, flipped burgers at the Burger Chef restaurant in Doylestown and at a gas station. He graduated from Swarthmore College and eventually earned a law degree from Villanova University.
Wallace worked as the general counsel for the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs. In his work, he helped Republican senators leading the investigation on Agent Orange used in Vietnam, and he help write legislation to help veterans with job training.
Wallace and his wife Christy, a former diplomat, ran the Wallace Global Initiative, an endowed foundation that has helped fund efforts to fight climate change, grow the use of clean energy and empower women. Although he has been co-chair of the Wallace Global Fund for more than 15 years, he recently stepped aside as he prepared his run for congress.
Wallace and his wife have three children.
Some local Republicans and Democrats have mentioned that Wallace’s work history has taken him outside of the Eighth Congressional District, which covers all of Bucks County and a portion of upper Montgomery County. A previous address listed on federal election records showed him living in Maryland. Wallace said he knows the issue will be used in the campaign against him, but said his link to Bucks County is the strongest of the candidates.
“I am living in the house and speaking to you right now from the house I was born in 66 years ago,” Wallace told LevittownNow.com. He further added the Central Bucks County home was the place he helped raise his family.
Noting candidates throughout the years have made similar statements, he called the 2018 midterm congressional race the “most important election of our lifetime.”
