{"id":16384,"date":"2015-06-18T10:37:59","date_gmt":"2015-06-18T14:37:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=16384"},"modified":"2015-06-18T10:37:59","modified_gmt":"2015-06-18T14:37:59","slug":"rafferty-to-run-for-attorney-general","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/?p=16384","title":{"rendered":"Rafferty to run for Attorney General"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"JohnRafferty\"<\/a>

State Sen. John Rafferty (R-44)<\/p><\/div>\n

State Sen. John Rafferty (R-44) \u2014 who represents parts of Chester County \u2014 announced Wednesday he would run for state Attorney General in 2016. The post is currently held by Kathleen Kane, a Democrat.<\/p>\n

Rafferty made his announcement in Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania State Troopers Headquarters in part to highlight a number of high-profile endorsements he received on the kickoff of his campaign. Concurrent with Rafferty\u2019s announcement of his bid, the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association (PSTA), Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) and the Pennsylvania Professional Firefighters Association (PPFA) announced they would endorse Rafferty\u2019s campaign for Attorney General.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have three priorities: keeping Pennsylvanians safe, protecting their tax dollars and fighting for those who can\u2019t fight for themselves,\u201d Rafferty said in his announcement speech.\u00a0\u201cMy education and experience makes me uniquely qualified to lead the Attorney General\u2019s office and accomplish the important work to keep Pennsylvania families safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along with law enforcement endorsements, Rafferty also notched a key political backer: state Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati. Scarnati and Republican National Committeeman Bob Asher \u2014 a Republican power player from Delaware County \u2014 are serving as Honorary Co-Chairs of the Rafferty for AG Campaign.<\/p>\n

Scarnati was strong in his support for his state Senate colleague:<\/p>\n

\u201cSenator John Rafferty is a dedicated public servant and will make an outstanding Attorney General.\u201d Scarnati said.\u00a0\u201cI am proud to endorse his candidacy for Attorney General.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rafferty\u2019s endorsements from the law enforcement community were equally strong.<\/p>\n

\u201cSenator Rafferty has been a tireless advocate for the law enforcement community and his top priority is fighting to keep Pennsylvanians safe,\u201d Pennsylvania State Troopers Association President Joe Kovel said.\u00a0\u201cThe Pennsylvania State Troopers Association is proud to stand with Senator Rafferty\u2019s campaign for Attorney General.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSenator Rafferty has repeatedly endorsed and supported legislation that enables people to enjoy a safe and prosperous environment and help law enforcement to accomplish its mission more safely,\u201d Fraternal Order of Police President Les Neri said.<\/p>\n

Rafferty is likely to face a complicated race in 2016 \u2014 with at least one more Republican, widely thought to be State Rep. Todd Stephens. Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, the embattled Kane \u2014 if she decides to seek reelection \u2014 is likely to have a primary fight of her own, with party insiders pointing to Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro as a likely candidate.<\/p>\n

Rafferty represents the state\u2019s 44th Senatorial District, which includes parts of Berks, Chester and Montgomery counties. He was re-elected for a fourth term in the Senate in November of 2014.\u00a0Prior to that, he served as a Pennsylvania State Deputy Attorney General.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

State Sen. John Rafferty (R-44) \u2014 who represents parts of Chester County \u2014 announced Wednesday he would run for state Attorney General in 2016. The post is currently held by Kathleen Kane, a Democrat. Rafferty made his announcement in Harrisburg at the Pennsylvania State Troopers Headquarters in part to highlight a number of high-profile endorsements […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[6328,6003,5189,2947],"class_list":["post-16384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-attorney-general","tag-election-2016","tag-john-rafferty","tag-kathleen-kane"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kennetttimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}