Dem Candidate in PA Special Election Called for Middle-Class Tax Increase

Marc Friedenberg said middle class needs to pay ‘their fair share’ in 2017 video.

WFB: The Democratic nominee in a Pennsylvania special election for a U.S. House seat called for a tax increase on the middle class in a video posted online.

Marc Friedenberg, a college professor who lost the election for Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District last November, is now hoping to be elected after Republican Representative Tom Marino resigned in January. Marino beat Friedenberg by 32 points in a district that went heavily for President Trump in 2016.

“We should be raising taxes on the middle class so that they’re paying their fair share,” he said in an online video that was posted on his Facebook account in December of 2017.

In numerous instances during the video that runs just under three-and-a-half minutes, Friedenberg appears to read off a script.

“This is an outrageously unfair hit piece that blatantly takes a slip of the tongue in an old video out-of-context to hide the fact that our opponent supports destroying Social Security,” said Gregory Minchak with the Friedenberg campaign. “The entire video discusses that to pay for massive tax cuts for billionaires and international conglomerates, Republicans like Fred Keller want to end Social Security as we know it. Unlike his opponent, Marc has consistently called for middle class tax cuts, affordable health insurance, and the saving of Social Security.”

Many Democratic congressional candidates in 2018 ran on a narrative of trying to reframe the Republican tax cuts as a tax increase on the middle class.

The race is drawing extra attention now that California billionaire Tom Steyer, best known for his efforts to impeach the president, has announced he and his political action committee NextGen America will be dedicating resources to the special election that concludes in one month.

The Friedenberg campaign has welcomed the support, which is mainly believed to be in the form of voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts. MORE HERE