The senatorial campaign of U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, a Delaware County Democrat, will open a regional office Sunday in downtown State College, the campaign confirmed this week.
‘It’s a great central location for (the campaign) to work through and capitalize on enthusiasm,’ Sestak spokesman Jonathon Dworkin said Friday. The State College office will be in rented space at the rear of 224 S. Allen St., in a building owned by the Borough of State College.
If Sestak wins the Democratic nomination for a U.S. Senate seat in the May 18 primary election, the campaign expects it will keep the State College office open through the November general election, Dworkin said. Sestak is facing incumbent Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter in the primary race.
The Specter campaign thus far has been unable to find office space in State College, according to his campaign. It’s looking for supporters in the area who will ‘allow us to use their place of business or home for a weekend,’ campaign representative Bill Van Saun wrote in an e-mail message. He is a Specter campaign leader in central Pennsylvania.
For his part, Sestak has or will have other offices in Harrisburg, the Lehigh Valley, Media, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Bucks and Montgomery counties, according to the campaign. Workers in the State College office will handle large volumes of phone calls and ‘everything else that goes into a campaign,’ Dworkin said. He said the office will serve as a central distribution point for campaign information.
It will be located in the same building that houses the Centre County Democratic headquarters, but the party office is separate from the Sestak campaign operation. As a matter of practice, the county party does not endorse candidates in contested primary races.
