Daniel Smith Jr. is looking to unseat incumbent Daryl Metcalfe in the 12th Legislative District in the general election Nov. 6. Metcalfe has held the seat since 1999. Smith hopes to bring his socially conscious and progressive agenda to Harrisburg. He is running for his first elected position after feeling the need to “do something” in response to feeling unrepresented by the incumbent.
What has it been like to run as an out candidate in your district?
Running as the gay candidate doesn’t work on my behalf but I’m not hiding that fact. That’s who I am and the life I have. I have a husband who I’ve been with for 14 years. We’ve established ourselves and we found that the people in the area don’t care. There are some people that do have issues with it but what we need to do is not make it the big issue and stay focused on local issues.
I’m not turning myself into the ‘gay candidate’ here in Cranberry Township but my opponent seems to be obsessed with that fact.
How are you going to unseat Metcalfe, especially since he’s been the incumbent for so long?
My priority is focusing on how best we can serve local residents. For the past 18 years, they have not had representation in Harrisburg. They’ve had a representative who focused on liberties, guns and an obsession with gay marriage and abolishing it. He doesn’t know the local issues.
[Metcalfe] has been focusing on these national issues and feeding into people’s fears. I plan on being more accessible to everyone, no matter what party.
Have the voters said anything in response to you knocking on their doors and specifically asking them what they need? What have they said in response to Metcalfe’s attempts at voter contact?
To my knowledge, [Metcalfe] hasn’t knocked on any doors. He’s comfortable in the fact that he’s going to be winning this because of the past years, but he has not gone up against something like what we have done. The majority of people [in the district] have had enough and they have a voice that they can back; someone who doesn’t look at partisan issues, someone who looks at local issues and puts the best interest of the district first.