Pat Toomey adds yet another name to his swelling list of endorsements today with the news that John Lehman, former Secretary of the Navy under President Reagan, has thrown his support behind his campaign.
Lehman, calling Toomey a man of “principle and integrity” who will “always put the security of our country first,” further lauded him as a man who has “tremendous respect for our armed services.”
Lehman, who resides in Bucks County, is head of an investment banking firm in New York, serves on various foreign policy boards, advised John McCain’s presidential race, and was a member of the 9/11 commission.
In picking up this endorsement, Toomey undercuts a central theme of his opponent’s campaign. Joe Sestak has staked his race to his own three decades of service in the Navy, and frequently brandished his military credentials to suggest Toomey was, in effect, out of his league.
Toomey, meanwhile, has cast a wide net, drawing support from moderates like Susan Collins in Maine and Scott Brown in Massachusetts, as well as Democrats like former Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed, working to neutralize a frequent Sestak charge that Toomey is “too extreme” for Pennsylvania.