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Politics


PHILLY RESTAURANT BANS GOP CANDIDATE AFTER BEING TOLD CAMPAIGN STOP WAS AUTISM
EVENT

‘LEAVE’

After GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick held a campaign event at a restaurant
that was told it was an autism awareness event, his campaign was booted from a
church fundraiser.


SEAN CRAIG

Reporter

Updated Oct. 06, 2024 4:27PM EDT / Published Oct. 06, 2024 11:23AM EDT 


DELVANNINSPIRED/INSTAGRAM



“You’re not welcome back.”

That’s the message the manager of Philadelphia cheesesteak joint Max’s Steaks
had for Pennsylvania Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dave McCormick, after his
campaign held an event outside the restaurant Friday that the eatery was told
would be about autism awareness.

Mike Sfida—who agreed to hold the event because his niece and nephew have
autism—was alarmed when he saw Donald Trump signs being hung outside the beloved
North Philly spot on Friday, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. McCormick
arrived, gave a campaign stump address, and then handed out free sandwiches.

GOP Senate candidate Dave McCormick hands out sandwiches outside Max’s Steaks.

DELVANNINSPIRED/INSTAGRAM

“We didn’t sign up for that at all. Zero,” he told the newspaper after the
event, which he allowed the McCormick team to finish before making clear they
should stay away from his restaurant thereafter. “I could throw them all out of
here, but I’m going to be nice. Do your thing. When you’re done, leave. You’re
not welcome back.”



Sfida told the Inquirer it was a local Republican operative, Sheila Armstrong,
who contacted him to schedule the event, which she did on behalf of her
nonprofit organization, Cooking4Autism, without mentioning McCormick’s campaign.

Armstrong is a member of the anti-LGBT group Moms for Liberty, which campaigns
against school curricula that discusses LGBT rights or race and which the civil
rights group Southern Poverty Law Center has classified as a far-right extremist
group.

She was a paid staffer for the failed campaign of Republican Mehmet Oz — who
lost to U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) in 2022— but appears to have no
official affiliation role on McCormick’s team, the Inquirer reported. She told
the newspaper she offered to be a liaison for the GOP candidate in Philadelphia.

Pressed by the newspaper about whether the campaign stop was an autism awareness
event, Armstrong claimed “it’s always autism awareness because I’m an education
advocate” and said she spoke to those gathered about autism at one point.

“We certainly apologize for any confusion,” said a spokesperson for McCormick.

But the disaster didn’t end there.

After showing up at a cheesesteak restaurant to campaign under the auspice of an
autism awareness event, McCormick went across the street to East Bethel Baptist
Church, which happened to be holding an outdoor fundraiser for its food
ministry.

The Rev. Thomas Edwards Jr., who leads the church, told his campaign to leave
because he didn’t want the GOP candidate to use photos of his congregation for
campaigning purposes.

“You can Photoshop,” he told the Inquirer. “You can make things seem like they
aren’t. Maybe they’re going to post we’re eating dogs or eating cats, like in
Ohio. Forgive me if I’m wrong. I don’t trust these people.”





SEAN CRAIG

Reporter



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