Dougherty Offers Fall Challenge to Langerholc for Senate Seat

By Dave Sutor
The Tribune-Democrat
May 29, 2020

https://www.tribdem.com/news/election-2020-dougherty-offers-fall-challenge-to-langerholc-for-senate-seat/article_b616c4ea-a209-11ea-a866-1f20430c1684.html

State Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr. and challenger Shaun Dougherty will pass through the primary process on Tuesday, heading to what could be one of this year’s most high-profile Pennsylvania state Senate races during the general election.

Langerholc, a Richland Township resident, swung the 35th District seat to the Republicans in 2016 after it had been held by Democrat Sen. John Wozniak since 1997. So the GOP is expected to make a strong effort to retain the seat.

Meanwhile, Dougherty, a Democrat, is an internationally known advocate for victims of child sexual abuse, who has even met with prominent Vatican leaders about the issue.

Both are unopposed in their respective parties’ primaries scheduled for June 2.

Langerholc previously served as the lead prosecutor for the Cambria County Office of the District Attorney’s drug task force cases.

Now, as a senator, Langerholc chairs the Education Committee. His Sexual Assault Survivors’ Bill of Rights, which included provisions for preserving rape kits during the full statute of limitations period and providing victims a 60-day written notice of any plan to destroy or dispose of evidence, was signed into law last July.

He has also called for directing tax money from the sale of alcohol to Pennsylvania’s Act 47 distressed municipalities, including Johnstown, and ending emissions testing for vehicles in the county.

“I’m proud of what we’ve been able to do in 3 1/2 years, from a legislative perspective,” Langerholc said.

When looking forward to his goals for a possible second term, Langerholc said he wants to “continue the work that we started” and “continue on these projects,” while also dealing with the health and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We’re going to need leadership here to get us out of where we’ve been with the pandemic,” Langerholc said. “I hope that people realize that I’ve demonstrated leadership throughout this pandemic. I’m going to continue to do that. I’m here. I knew that’s why you sent me to Harrisburg is to advocate for this region. I will do that. I do that every waking minute that I’m in this position.”

Dougherty, a Westmont resident, served in the Navy and has owned multiple restaurants.

As part of his platform, he supports improving rural broadband, legalizing recreational marijuana and what he called the need to “rise above politics.”

In 2016, Dougherty’s childhood sexual abuse by a local priest was mentioned in a state grand jury report that exposed decades of coverup in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Since then, Dougherty has been a public advocate, doing interviews with international news outlets and joining the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests board.

Dougherty thinks the advocacy work “gave me a solid foundation for running.”

“I had never been to the Capitol before 2016, before the report came out about Altoona-Johnstown,” Dougherty said. “When I got up there, I was under this big misconception, that, as a victim, a taxpayer, a business owner and a veteran, I’d be able to walk up to the Capitol and tell my story.

“With the report in my hand and the backing of the AG (attorney general), I thought it was a slam dunk. I was aggravated and really disappointed in how somebody like me – who is a veteran, who owned a business, who employed people, who owned property, who’s married – felt really disrespected that I didn’t have a real voice in anything. However, the people that hurt me and covered it all up, they were very well represented. I just thought that that was so un-American and against who we are and why we formed a country of our own.”