If you were going to design a Democrat who stood a chance of breaking the Republican Party’s stranglehold on Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District, his resume would look like Ray Bilger’s.
Bilger is a Central Pennsylvania native son (Bellefonte), a military veteran (35 years in the Air Force), a gun collector (ask him about his Colt Woodsman pistol) and a former Republican (“My values haven’t changed,” he insists), for starters.
Even hair-wise, he’s got more in common with GOP incumbent Glenn “GT” Thompson than with slicked-back Democrat Gavin Newsom, the governor of California.
I met Bilger at a café last week. When I walked in, he greeted me in Greek, knowing I’d spent time in Greece a few years back. If I spoke Polish or Serbo-Croatian or three or four other languages, he would have greeted me in those, too. (His title in the Air Force was Airborne Cryptologic Linguist.)
So: He’s multilingual. Also multi-talented: His artwork has been exhibited around the county and he seems to be the kind of guy who can rebuild an engine or a house.
The question is, can he be the first Democrat to represent Central Pennsylvania in Washington since 1976? To do so, he’ll have to get past Thompson, who is going for his 10th two-year term.
How daunting a task is that? Thompson has won with an average 67% of the vote. The last three times he ran, GT pulled more than 70%.
Before Thompson began representing the district that includes the Centre Region (the 15th was formerly the 5th), the seat was held by John Peterson, also a Republican. Peterson, elected to six terms, won by even wider margins, raking in more than 85% of the vote in four of those elections.
Peterson and Thompson had to at least break a sweat. Not Bill Clinger, another Republican. Central Pennsylvania voters sent him to Washington nine times. Twice, in 1992 and 1994, he ran unopposed.
Ray Bilger knows all that. And is unfazed by it. “No one’s going to tell me what I can and can’t do,” he told me.
He’s also unimpressed with Thompson’s record and his supposed edge in experience. If the district’s most pressing problems are lack of jobs, poor access to healthcare and inadequate infrastructure, Bilger thinks he can deliver more than Thompson has.
“I’m a guy who knows how to fix things,” he said. If elected, “I owe it to the public to do whatever I can to make their lives better.”
And after working for the National Security Agency and the State Department, he said “I know how to use power — not for donors or party or leadership, but to get what we need to get done in Washington for voters in this district.”
Bilger was understandably reluctant to bash President Trump since he can’t win without winning over Trump voters, but he did offer a few pointed critiques:
Immigration: Apart from the harm ICE roundups are doing to immigrants, protesters and local economies, Bilger said, the agency’s heavy-handed tactics are “destroying trust in law enforcement.”
Tariffs: Congress needs to take back the authority to levy them, he said. “We can’t levy tariffs on [this or that country] because we don’t like them or they’re saying bad things about us.” He also noted that Trump’s tariffs are driving up prices.
Guns: After rattling off the names of some of the prized firearms in his gun safe, Bilger said he’s all for more comprehensive background checks. As things stand, he said, “I am shocked at how easy it is to buy a weapon.”
Fracking: “I’m not anti-fracking,” Bilger said, but when it comes to protecting Pennsylvania’s environment, “we need to hold these companies’ feet to the fire.”
AI Data Centers: As with fracking, such facilities could offer job opportunities for district residents, Bilger said, but they have to be environmentally responsible. “If companies use our resources, we need to be more aggressive and proactive.”
While Bilger and I were chatting, two people entered the café, spotted Ray and flashed their “Bilger for Congress” buttons. Impressive, given that he only launched his campaign the day before.
“I think he’s our best chance in ages to get rid of GT,” Elaine Kunze, a Boalsburg resident, later told me. “Ray is the guy and this is the moment.”
Of course, Kunze’s is a voice from the blue island in the sea of red that is the 15th district.
Bilger’s secret weapon when he starts crisscrossing the sprawling district might be his 1972 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme convertible. Voters who might otherwise regard Democrats as the “radical left lunatics” of Trump’s fevered imagination will gravitate to that car the way dog lovers are drawn to an adorable pupster.
And when they meet the owner of that car and find out he can talk about what’s under the hood, he’s hoping they’ll say, “For a Democrat, he’s not a bad guy.”
“I have a lot of MAGA friends,” he said. “I understand their anger, their frustration. They were skeptical of me at first. Now they’re all on board.”
