Rick Daugherty

This page was current at the end of the individual's last campaign covered by Ballotpedia. Please contact us with any updates.

Rick Daugherty

Democratic Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

May 15, 2018

Education

High school

Catasauqua High School

Bachelor's

Moravian College

Personal

Profession

Lehigh County Democratic Chairman, social worker

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Personal website

Rick Daugherty (Democratic Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District. He lost in the Democratic primary on May 15, 2018.

Biography

Email editor@ballotpedia.org to notify us of updates to this biography.

Daugherty grew up in West Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. After earning a degree in social work, he worked with foster children at Pinebrook Family Services and with homeless families at New Bethany Ministries. He also served as the district administrator for former Rep. Paul McHale (D). Daugherty works at the Lehigh County Senior Center, as well as the Lehigh County Democratic Party.

Elections

2018

See also: Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7

Susan Wild defeated Marty Nothstein and Tim Silfies in the general election for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Susan Wild (D)	53.5	140,813
		Marty Nothstein (R)	43.5	114,437
		Tim Silfies (L)	3.0	8,011

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 263,261
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7 on May 15, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Susan Wild	33.5	15,262
		John Morganelli	30.1	13,754
		Greg Edwards	25.4	11,602
	Submit photo	Roger Ruggles	5.4	2,467
		Rick Daugherty	3.9	1,760
	Submit photo	David Clark	1.7	777

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 45,622
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7

Marty Nothstein defeated Dean Browning in the Republican primary for U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7 on May 15, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Marty Nothstein	50.5	16,241
		Dean Browning	49.5	15,923

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 32,164
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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2016

See also: Pennsylvania's 15th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Charlie Dent (R) defeated Rick Daugherty (D) and Paul Rizzo (L) in the general election on November 8, 2016. No candidate faced a primary opponent in April.

U.S. House, Pennsylvania District 15 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Charlie Dent Incumbent	58.4%	190,618
	Democratic	Rick Daugherty	38%	124,129
	Libertarian	Paul Rizzo	3.6%	11,727
Total Votes				326,474
Source: Pennsylvania Department of State

2012

See also: Pennsylvania's 15th Congressional District elections, 2012

Daugherty ran in the 2012 election for the U.S. House to represent Pennsylvania's 15th District. Daugherty defeated Jackson Eaton in the April 24, 2012, Democratic primary and faced incumbent Charlie Dent (R) in the general election on November 6, 2012.

The Washington Post listed the House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania in 2012 as one of the 10 states that could determine whether Democrats would retake the House or Republicans would hold their majority in 2013. Ohio tied with Pennsylvania for 9th on the list.

U.S. House, Pennsylvania District 15 General Election, 2012

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Rick Daugherty	43.2%	128,764
	Republican	Charlie Dent Incumbent	56.8%	168,960
Total Votes				297,724
Source: Pennsylvania Department of State "Official Election Results, 2012 General Election"

U.S House of Representatives-Pennsylvania District 15 Democratic Primary, 2012

Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Rick Daugherty	58.8%	14,623
Jackson Eaton	41.2%	10,265
Total Votes		24,888

Issues

2012

Daugherty and his primary opponent, Jackson Eaton were both relatively unknown in Pennsylvania's 15th Congressional District before running for Congress. They agreed on almost every issue; only their respective stances on abortion set them apart. Daugherty is vocally pro-life. Eaton, however, who was a Republican until the week he announced his candidacy, is pro-choice. Eaton also proved to be a more adept fundraiser than Daugherty.

Endorsements

• Dauphin County Democratic Committee.

Campaign themes

2016

The following issues were listed on Daugherty's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.

“	Keep America Strong and Safe: Our Defense budget must be realigned to confront our current national security threats. The Soviet Union is gone, yet Russia and China remain a threat. Weapons systems designed to fight nation states such as the Soviet Union must be evaluated for effectiveness against our current threats and international terrorism. Fighting terrorism, improving cyber security, enhancing border protection, developing international intelligence, and diplomacy must become a greater focus of our national security efforts. We can no longer do it on our own. Our allies must do their fair share Good Jobs. Fair Wages. Stable Employment.: Growing up, the roof over my head and food on my table was put there in part because of wages brought about through the efforts of organized labor, and my parents never belonged to a union. My parents owned and operated Daugherty Travel Agency in East Allentown. As a child, I saw customer after customer come in to book trips to Disney World, Hawaii, Europe, and all around the world. Most were regular working people. They had jobs in the factories at Bethlehem Steel, Western Electric, and Mack Trucks. Bring Jobs Back to America: I will do all I can to stop unfair trade policies that have damaged our manufacturing base. Over the past twenty-five years Congress has passed numerous free trade agreements that have sent jobs overseas. China violates trade agreements, keeps its currency artificially low, pollutes freely, and workers have few if any rights, yet we do virtually nothing. Free trade agreements with other nations are not much better. A Champion for Senior Citizens: Senior citizens have been cheated out of a Cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) too often. It won’t happen again if Rick is able to approve legislation that will accurately gauge the true cost-of-living for senior citizens. It will be a priority for him. I will fight to preserve Medicare, a program that works and that helps every senior citizen. Better detection of patterns of fraud and waste in the Medicare system is achievable and would save billions. Student Debt: Student debt is too high and affects far too many of our citizens, often for decades. It has a negative impact on our economy. Interest rates on student debt are too high. Higher education is too expensive. Jobs for qualified college graduates are too few. Allow graduates to repay loans using pre-tax dollars. Increase the student loan interest tax deduction from $2,500 to $5,000 with no income limit.Allow students to refinance loans when rates are lower. Cap at ten percent of income the minimum amount to be paid annually	”
—Rick Daugherty's campaign website, http://daughertyforcongress.com/

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Rick Daugherty campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2018	U.S. House Pennsylvania District 7	Lost primary	$3,926	N/A**
Grand total			$3,926	N/A**
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

See also

• United States House of Representatives
• Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District election, 2016
• Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District

External links

Suggest a link

• Campaign website
• Facebook page
• Twitter feed

Footnotes

[show]

Pennsylvania's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

John Fetterman (D)

David McCormick (R)

Representatives

District 1

Brian Fitzpatrick (R)

District 2

Brendan Boyle (D)

District 3

Dwight Evans (D)

District 4

Madeleine Dean (D)

District 5

Mary Scanlon (D)

District 6

Chrissy Houlahan (D)

District 7

Ryan Mackenzie (R)

District 8

Rob Bresnahan (R)

District 9

Dan Meuser (R)

District 10

Scott Perry (R)

District 11

Lloyd Smucker (R)

District 12

Summer Lee (D)

District 13

John Joyce (R)

District 14

Guy Reschenthaler (R)

District 15

Glenn Thompson (R)

District 16

Mike Kelly (R)

District 17

Chris Deluzio (D)

Republican Party (11)

Democratic Party (8)