Republican Coleman stumps for lieutenant governor in region

May 10—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Republican Jeff Coleman said he is running a campaign for lieutenant governor based on a belief that being "kind, civil and focused on statesmanship" can still prevail in what is often a toxic political environment.

Coleman, a former member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, brought that message to Cambria County on Tuesday, as part of his "No Drama Conservative Tour."

"You have a line down the middle of red America and blue America, and each side is flipping the other the bird," Coleman said during a telephone interview. "That's where we're at. It comes out in kind of a crassness, and bumper stickers and flags on both sides. If you care about ideas, this is not the way for it to happen. This is not the way to advance an agenda."

He continued: "I think the moment that we're in is pretty urgent. If you care about conservative ideas, we're at a crisis point in our civil discourse where there's very little debate and persuasion happening. We have people who run as Republicans and run as conservatives, but very rarely do we actually have competition of our ideas."

Coleman pointed to how many small communities are in states of "despair and anxiety" with people leaving and organizations closing.

"Politicians have to make a decision, do they help lead people out of that despair and anxiety or do they drive it deeper?" Coleman said. "Sadly, I think many politicians are using a fear-based strategy to drive votes or pull votes from other candidates."

Coleman is one of nine Republicans running for lieutenant governor.

"My sense is if you pick somebody at the top of the ticket who is more of a firebrand or a verbal fighter, you need to have, I call it, a 'no drama conservative' focused on the job of lieutenant governor," Coleman said.

If elected, Coleman would preside over the Pennsylvania State Senate.

"I'm running for lieutenant governor because I think you could create, in the Senate of Pennsylvania, which I would preside over, really one of the premier places for debate to happen," Coleman said.

As one of his issues, Coleman would like to see an increased emphasis on recruiting fire and emergency services volunteers.

"You have to have a serious call to arms for new volunteers, but then the state has to provide some significant leadership training to help prepare the next generation of first responders if we're going to maintain an unpaid professional service," Coleman said.