The congressman from the 15th District is Charlie Dent, a Republican elected in 2004. He is prominent in the rapidly dwindling ranks of moderate House Republicans, and admired by more conservative colleagues for his political survival skills. Read More

The congressman from the 15th District is Charlie Dent, a Republican elected in 2004. He is prominent in the rapidly dwindling ranks of moderate House Republicans, and admired by more conservative colleagues for his political survival skills.

Dent grew up in Allentown, graduated from Penn State University and got a graduate degree at Lehigh, where he later worked as a development officer. In 1990, he was elected to the state House and in 1998 to the state Senate. When Republican Rep. Pat Toomey announced that he would run against Sen. Arlen Specter in the 2004 Republican primary, Dent was the front-runner to succeed him. Dent’s lifelong residence in the Lehigh Valley was in sharp contrast to the background of the Democratic nominee, businessman Joe Driscoll. Driscoll grew up in Massachusetts, where he went sailing with the Kennedys and made enough money to spend $2 million on this race. But he lived for years in posh Lower Merion Township in Montgomery County, just outside Philadelphia.

Dent framed the campaign as a contest between a native son and a carpetbagging outsider who thought of the Lehigh Valley as “a speed bump on his way to Congress.” Driscoll sought to deflect the residency issue with aggressive criticism of the Bush administration, asserting that a vote for Dent was an endorsement of President George W. Bush’s by-then unpopular policies. Dent’s moderate record, which included support for abortion rights, made it difficult to tie him to Bush, and he insisted he would be an independent voice in Washington. Dent won 59%-39%. A few weeks after the election, Driscoll’s real estate agent said that he put his townhouse here up for sale and moved back to Lower Merion Township.

In the House, Dent has one of the most liberal voting records among members of his party. He is a co-chairman of the Tuesday Group, a caucus of about 49 GOP moderates in a Republican Conference dominated by conservatives. In the 111th Congress (2009-10), he broke from the majority of Republicans to back such issues as expanding the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, allowing the Food and Drug Administration to regulate tobacco and overhauling food safety laws. Earlier, he opposed Bush’s plan for partial “privatization” of Social Security.

But he has stuck with the GOP on most major economic votes since Barack Obama became president, even refusing Obama’s personal entreaties to support the economic stimulus bill in 2009. When he served on the Homeland Security Committee, Dent took positions aligning him with the mainstream of Republicans, pushing a bill to use the Civil Air Patrol to prevent illegal crossings at the border, as well as measures to deport illegal immigrants convicted of crimes in the United States.

Dent in 2011 was rewarded with a seat on the Appropriations Committee. That post also was an acknowledgment of his willingness two years earlier to serve on the House ethics panel, regarded by most lawmakers as an unpalatable chore.

Democrats tried, but failed, to find a credible opponent to Dent in 2006. Northampton County Councilman Charles Dertinger got on the ballot as a write-in candidate, and criticized Dent for Bush’s “culture of corruption.” Dent won by a surprisingly narrow 54%-43%. In 2008, Democrats nominated Siobhan “Sam” Bennett, who ran an Allentown charity. She spent $950,000, but lost to Dent 59%-41%.

Two years later, Dent faced his toughest opponent by far in Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan. He was one of the few Democratic challengers that year who was able to raise considerable amounts of money and touted his record of creating jobs. Polls showed the race in a statistical dead heat a month before the election, and former President Bill Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden both made campaign stops for Callahan. But Dent was able to paint Callahan as fiscally irresponsible while portraying himself as a restraint on big government spending. The congressman also seized the high ground after Callahan accused him of ignoring veterans, citing his endorsement from the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ political action committee. Dent pulled off a surprisingly easy 54%-39% victory, and said shortly afterward that he would consider challenging Democratic Sen. Robert Casey in 2012.