Everything came down to "kitchen-table issues," Rep.-elect Rob Bresnahan, R-Pa., told Newsmax, saying his campaign did a lot of traveling and door-knocking this cycle.
"Listen, we knocked over 50,000 doors as a campaign, we drove, we put over 50,000 miles on the pickup truck, and for 13 months, in three days, we left absolutely nothing on the field," Bresnahan told "National Report." "But we ran a campaign off of three simple ideas: it's an economy that works, it's borders that are secure, and it's communities that are safe. And every part of our campaign boiled back down to the kitchen-table issues.
"It's talking about the utilities, it's talking about groceries," he continued. "I met somebody at the polls who said, 'You can never forget about us. I'm 68 years old. I worked my entire life and I had to go get another job at Walmart being a cashier because I can't afford my trailer, I can't afford the insurance,' and that's what we ran about. I mean, it was common sense, pragmatic ideas, and I'm hopeful that our message really resonated."
Asked about election night and seeing the results coming in, with President-elect Donald Trump sweeping the swing states, Bresnahan said "it certainly helped excite our base and get people out to vote."
"We saw some really exciting numbers in the early vote and the mail vote," he said. "Sixteen percent of Republican voters had not voted in the 2020 election or the 2022 election, compared to only 11% of Democrats. So, that was certainly exciting, but, obviously, just the momentum and the environment and the energy. I mean, our volunteers, and that's truly who I accredit our success to — our team, our volunteers, and the people that believed in me.
"At the end of the day, I decided to run for Congress because I love my country, I love northeastern Pennsylvania, and I love the people. I was born here, I was raised here, I went to the University of Scranton, I created jobs here, I reinvested here, and I'm going to die and get buried here. And that's why I decided to run for a new form of leadership for northeastern Pennsylvania."
Bresnahan said he prides himself on remaining humble, despite his newly minted status as a congressman, and said he "never thought a kid from Butler Street in the borough of Wyoming would now be in the halls of the United States House of Representatives."
"Somebody came in this morning to wish me congratulations and they called me congressman and I said, 'I'm Rob,'" he said. "And I said, 'How do you put your pants on in the morning? And he goes, 'One leg at a time.' And I said, 'That's exactly how I do it.'"
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