Rick Saccone

Richard Saccone (born February 14, 1958) is an American educator and far-right politician who represented Pennsylvania's 39th district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 2011 to 2019.

Saccone received a bachelor's degree in psychology/criminal justice from Weber State College in 1981, a master's degree in public administration from the University of Oklahoma in 1984, and a master's degree in national security affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School in 1987.

However, Saccone was not a diplomat, but rather was one of several U.S. representatives for the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization, working there from December 2000 to December 2001.

The organization handled a construction project to generate civilian nuclear energy for North Korea while preventing the country from making nuclear weapons.

Former U.S. and Southern Korean colleagues said that Saccone had embellished his role, and that he was present at negotiations with North Korea only as a low-level observer.

Dr Saccone wrote two books about dealing with North Korea and his time spent there, Living with the Enemy: Inside North Korea, and Negotiating with North Korea.

Saccone received a Ph.D. in public and international affairs from the University of Pittsburgh in 2002.

He was later on the faculty of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.

He served as a United States Air Force officer, working in the Office of Special Investigation, counter intelligence.

After resigning from the Air Force, Saccone was a civilian employee of the U.S. Army during the Iraq War, working in Iraq from 2004 to 2005.

While in Iraq, Saccone worked as an interrogation consultant at Abu Ghraib prison.

According to his official and campaign biographies, Saccone worked as an anchor for an English-language television news station in South Korea, and worked for businesses in South Korea and Central America.

He spent 12 years in South Korea, where he met his wife.

Saccone's official biography states that he worked in North Korea on "an agreement meant to prevent the development of nuclear weapons there."

In 2010, Saccone challenged incumbent Democratic Rep. David Levdansky for the 39th District seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and defeated Levdansky by 151 votes (50.3% to 49.7%).

Levdansky challenged Saccone to a rematch in 2012; Saccone defeated him again by a margin of 50.2%-49.8%.

Saccone was re-elected with 60% of the vote in 2014 and 70% in 2016.

The district includes part of Allegheny County and part of Washington County.

On March 15, Saccone announced that regardless of the final result in the special election for the 18th, he will run in the regular election for the new 14th.

On May 15, Saccone lost the primary for the 14th district against Guy Reschenthaler (55%-45%).

On paper, the new 14th is even more Republican than its predecessor; Trump would have won it by 29 points had it existed in 2016.

In February 2017, Saccone filed with the FEC to run for United States Senate in the 2018 election, seeking to challenge incumbent Bob Casey Jr.., and officially declared his candidacy later that month.

Saccone is a supporter of Donald Trump and pledged to be a Trump ally if elected to the Senate.

On October 8, 2017, he suspended his U.S. Senate campaign to announce that he would seek the Republican nomination for the 18th Congressional District special election.

On November 11, 2017, Saccone became the Republican nominee for the 18th congressional district special election held on March 13, 2018.

The special election attracted national attention.

Republicans spent more than $8 million on television advertising, Twice as Much as the Democrats, and Republican stars including Donald Trump (twice), Donald Trump Jr.., Ivanka Trump, and Mike Pence came to the state to campaign for Saccone.

As of March 14, Lamb led Saccone by 647 votes, mainly due to winning the Allegheny County portion of the district by 15,400 votes; Saccone won the rest of the district by 14,700 votes.

The result of the election was considered too close to call by most news outlets, since the candidates were separated by only 0.2 percent, and a recount was expected.

However, when it became apparent that Saccone would not be able to overcome Lamb's slim lead, he called Lamb to concede the race on March 21.

In the final tally, Saccone lost by 0.3 percent.

A Republican, he was his party's nominee for the March 2018 special election to fill in the vacant U.S. House seat for the 18th congressional district.

Saccone lost to Democratic candidate Conor Lamb by a margin of 0.3%.

He posted a video of himself on Facebook while standing in view of the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol.

He posted on Facebook that, "We are storming the capitol. Our vanguard has broken thru the barricades. We will save this nation. Are you with me?"

He later added that he and the other rioters would "run out all the evil people in there, and all the RINOs that have betrayed our president."

Following an investigation into Saccone's role in the attack on the Capitol, Saccone resigned his position as an adjunct professor at Saint Vincent College before he could be dismissed.

On August 31, 2021, Saccone declared his intention to run for Lieutenant Governor in the 2022 gubernatorial election.

He finished second in the primary behind Carrie DelRosso.

After the Pennsylvania Supreme Court threw out the congressional map drawn by the state legislature and replaced it with a court-drawn map, most of the old 18th District was renumbered as the 14th district.