It was a festive mood as the Lycoming Democratic Committee hosted their spring banquet with music, food, a watercolor artist and candidates that are feeling hopeful about the elections this year.

With the May 19 primary election next week, the state’s Democratic Party Chairman, Eugene DePasquale, drove home how the policies of the current administration are hurting those living in the state and in particular in rural areas.

“We’re not going to out Trump, Trump…No, we’ve got to actually draw distinctions about where we are different,” DePasquale told the crowd at Le Jeune Chef at Penn College.

“You know, we’re not for taxpayers funding a ballroom. We’re not for cutting Medicaid, we’re not for cutting Medicare, we’re not for wars of choice.,” he added.

Referencing the Democrat candidates, Rachel Wallace and Ray Bilger who are seeking to oppose the current Congressional representatives Dan Meuser in the 9th district and G.T. Thompson in the 15th district, DePasquale said, “They are going to run these campaigns in a way that holds these Republicans accountable.”

“And if there’s ever a year we’re going to flip these seats-it is this year and we’re going to send them to Congress,” he added.

DePasquale spoke about how the Democrats have been having wins across the state in local elections.

“Please give yourselves a round of applause for helping deliver what is clearly the best local election night in Pennsylvania Democratic Party history,” he said.

“Now we turn towards saving our country,” he added.

Citing the ruling in Virginia regarding redistricting which gave congressional advantages to the

Republicans, DePasquale said that the Democrats have no choice but to “buckle up” and “brace up.”

“That means it’s up to Pennsylvania to flip control of the United States Congress. It’s up to us and we are up to the task,” he said.

“We are going to flip these seats. We have the most flippable seats in the country,” he added.

Referring to the local races, DePasquale said that Meuser and the other Republicans “all own the Medicaid cuts.”

“The rural access hospital issue here…it is dangerous what they are doing with people’s lives when it comes to the Affordable Care Act. There are tens of thousands of people who are on the Affordable Care Act exchange that had to dump their health insurance, and the ones that stay on had their premiums go up over 50 percent-that’s because of Donald Trump and Republicans in control of Congress. That is going to change with us this year,” he said.

“We also know that this war of choice, what it has done to gas prices, what it has done to the cost of food. We are going to hold them accountable, and we are going to defeat them in this election, because people now know that this gang is not looking out for everyday Americans. They are looking out for themselves. They are on a perpetual grift to steal from the American taxpayer, and we here as Pennsylvania Democrats, are going to stop it this November” he told the group.

Speaking before the banquet, DePasquale, who has been traveling throughout the state speaking with voters, addressed what people are looking for in candidates.

“Particularly, in this moment, I think people want to see candidates that understand the challenges that they are going through in their daily lives, like how much these higher costs are impacting their lives. How much the chaos and toxicness out of Washington, D.C. are impacting their lives. At the same time they want some clear ideas of how to address those as well,” he said.

He said that one of the reasons he, the governor and the candidates are traveling around the state is the importance of meeting people where they are at.

“And part of that is understanding the challenges,” he said.

“So, number one, the gas prices I think are a huge issue. Cost of daily life is a huge issue, but also health care. I mean, particularly when you come to the Medicaid cuts and Medicare cuts that are potentially coming, we’re in a rural area. Yes, Williamsport is a city, but generally a rural area. The concern for rural access to health care, for rural hospitals not only advocated by President Trump, but the entire congressional delegation, even cheerleaded by Stacey Garrity,” he said.

“So for Democrats…there is an opening to talk about how we are opposed to those Medicaid cuts. We want to make sure that there is rural health care access, that there’s viable maternity care in rural parts of the state. Knowing that if you have a job where you have a long commute, more rural your you live, the more likely you’re going to have a long commute, more likely, the higher gas prices even more so impact your daily lives, and how the war of choice in Iran has made that so much harder for people,” he said.

DePasquale said that although Donald Trump is the president, “he’s so out there.”

“He’s obviously an aggressive figure…So if you want to talk about sort of out of touch, anyone that supports this ballroom and using taxpayer money to fund this ballroom while at the same time not trying to fund rural healthcare-that’s an example of how DC, particularly DC Republicans and Donald Trump, are just out of touch with the actual daily lives of people,” he said.

“Look, I think Trump did get back in the White House, because he did make this sort of his re-election campaign about the concerns of average, everyday Americans, and particularly a lot of people that live in Lycoming County. And I think you could show that his agenda is specifically making it harder for people in this area just to survive,” he added.