Inquirer Endorses Every House Incumbent in Philly and Suburbs Except Sestak

Freshman Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.) was the only incumbent House member from Philadelphia and its Pennsylvania suburbs not to win the endorsement of the region’s largest newspaper.

The Philadelphia Inquirer endorsed Republican challenger Craig Williams, a former prosecutor,

The newspaper also endorsed Democratic Reps. Patrick Murphy, Allyson Schwartz, Robert Brady and Chaka Fattah against their GOP challengers and Republican Reps. Jim Gerlach and Joe Pitts over their Democratic opponents.

The Inquirer already endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president but made the unusual decision to publish a dissent written by members of its editorial board who support Republican John McCain.

The paper also split its endorsements in the New Jersey suburbs of Philadelphia in a previous editorial. The Inquirer lambasted Rep. Rob Andrews (D) for breaking his promise to retire and picked GOP candidate Dale Glading. Republican incumbent Reps. Christopher Smith and Frank LoBiondo also got the nod, but Democrat Jon Adler is the Inquirer‘s choice over Republican Chris Myers to replace retiring GOP Rep. Jim Saxton. On Friday, the Inquirer endorsed Republican Dick Zimmer over incumbent Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

–Jeffrey Young