24 CityAndStatePA .com
September 2021
The controversialco comeback
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Barletta served as mayor of Hazleton from 2000 to 2010.
N 2020, AFTER roughly two years out of the spotlight, Lou Barletta began to ponder what his political future might look like. Barletta, a Republican, had lost a race for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s seat just two years prior, falling to the Democrat by a 13-point margin. He had already spent four terms in Congress, where he tired of the constant gridlock and political dynamics of Washington, D.C. So, rather than run for Senate a second time, Barletta set his sights on Harrisburg instead, believing his experience as a mayor, congressman and small business owner would translate well to the governor’s office and help him lift the state out of the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic. And so began Barletta’s political comeback. Last year, watching from the sidelines, Barletta expressed frustration over how Gov. Tom Wolf handled the pandemic. As a former small business owner, he felt that Wolf’s business closures
were made in a subjective, half-baked manner. Broad school shutdowns, Barletta said, were going to have a long-term impact on students who missed out on in-person learning. He also ripped into the Wolf administration’s decision to allow nursing homes to accept COVID-positive patients discharged from the hospital, saying in his campaign announcement that Wolf has “blood on his hands.” Seeing an economy in free fall, a mismanaged public health crisis and a wide-open gubernatorial race in 2022, Barletta saw his opening. “That’s when I decided I couldn’t sit back and do nothing,” he told City & State. Barletta pointed to his name recognition and his ability to win over voters from across the political spectrum as two major advantages he holds in the GOP primary race for governor. He added that his experience as a small business owner and mayor of Hazleton, Pennsylvania make him well-suited for a statewide executive role. “I felt at that time that I was probably the best person … in the position to be able to run and win,” he said. “Since I ran statewide
