GOP’s New Headquarters: Clinton County Republicans Celebrate Grand Opening of Election Center and Feature Dr. Jim Sweetland as Keynote Speaker
By Emily Wright
LOCK HAVEN— The Clinton County Republicans Election Center held its grand opening Thursday night at its new headquarters located at 801 Bellefonte Avenue in Lock Haven. The event drew a crowd of energized party supporters large enough to fill the space beyond capacity, with overflow standing in the front of the building. The grand opening featured an impressive lineup of prominent GOP candidates, including Pennsylvania State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, Congressman Glenn “GT” Thompson, and State Representative Stephanie Borowicz, in addition to keynote speaker Dr. Jim Sweetland, emergency room physician at UPMC Lock Haven Emergency Department, who spoke about his experience at the Trump rally in Butler, PA, on July 13, 2024.
After attendees were treated to refreshments and had the opportunity to mingle with the party leaders, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity was the first to speak at the event.
Garrity spent 30 years in the Army Reserves and says that serving was and still is the honor of her lifetime. She has the distinction of breaking significant records at the PA Treasury Department, having returned $274 million in unclaimed property in 2023, the highest amount ever given back in a single year.
Garrity returned 334 military decorations, including 11 Purple Hearts and three Bronze Stars, helping to make Pennsylvania veterans’ lives a bit easier. In February 2024, she paid out $11.5 million to Pennsylvanians through unclaimed property reported to the PA Treasury, and she has continued to ensure sound investments of the Commonwealth’s money and tax dollars.
Garrity criticized her opponent, Allegheny County Democrat Erin McClelland, stating, “My opponent doesn’t talk about investing. In fact, all she talks about is divesting.” Garrity claims that her opponent aims to pull U.S. investments out of Israel, the oil and gas industry, and even from banks. “My opponent is running on the idea of starting a public bank,” Garrity added. “So imagine your banking experience being like going to the DMV.”
Treasurer Garrity spoke about prioritizing her visits to all 67 counties in Pennsylvania each year for the past three years she’s been in office. This year, she’s already visited over 50 counties in the state and will visit the remaining counties before Election Day. “I’m raising money, I’m engaging Grassroots, building coalitions, and talking to voters from all four corners of Pennsylvania,” she said. “If we use 2020 as our guide for this election, it’s going to be close, isn’t it? And every vote matters because the choices couldn’t be more clear,” she emphasized.
Emphasizing that every vote matters, Garrity urged the crowd to make sure their voices are heard, as Pennsylvania is a key state in the election. “We only win when the voices of people who feel forgotten are heard, and I hear the voices of those people,” she stressed. “Pennsylvania is called the Keystone State, and you know what? On November 5, we need to make sure that Pennsylvania is the Keystone of our nation’s election success and the birthplace of the comeback we so desperately need, so let’s win!”
U.S. Representative Glenn “GT” Thompson, representing Pennsylvania’s 15th Congressional District, brought his own brand of enthusiasm to the event. Thompson is the first House Agriculture Committee Chairman in 77 years, and, donning a “Make Agriculture Great Again” hat, he delivered his remarks to the crowd.
Thompson spoke about the political landscape in our state and mentioned that Clinton County used to have a Democratic majority. “I want to say thank you to my neighbors here in Clinton County. When I first started seeking elected office here in Clinton County, it was a heavy Democrat majority– I mean, it was overwhelmingly Democrat, which made it very difficult for folks like me to get elected,” he said. “I’m so proud today that, quite frankly, you’re just a few away from being two-to-one Republican!”
Thompson acknowledged the local Republicans who volunteered their time at the Clinton County Fair this year to get voters registered, and he encouraged them to continue their efforts. “Continue to build that number because you know what that accomplishes in the end? Victory in Pennsylvania,” he declared.
Thompson spoke highly of former President Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, and emphasized the importance of not “taking our foot off the gas pedal” leading up to election day. “In order to restore our constitutional Republic and deliver this election, it’s going to take each and every one of us. This is no time to sit on the sidelines,” he said, and in closing, Thompson made a call to action: “Let’s get people registered, and then let’s make sure we get them to vote.”
Clinton County Republican Chairman Kurt Smith addressed the crowd after GT Thompson to share the success of the recent voter registration booth at the Clinton County Fair, where 19 Republican voters were registered on Friday, August 2 alone. Smith emphasized the importance of the upcoming election and called for party members to get out and vote in November.
Pennsylvania State Representative Stephanie Borowicz, an ardent supporter of conservative policies, concluded the candidate’s speeches with a fiery call to action. “Are you guys ready to dig deep and really fight for this country?” Borowicz asked the cheering crowd of supporters. “I really feel like this could be a make or break for America– we might be able to look back in 50 years and say, either we saved America, or we lost America, and I think this election is one of those key moments for America.”
Borowicz said she’s been defending conservative values since she became the PA State Representative for the 76th District in 2018. She’s fought against 58 gun control bills in total and co-sponsored legislation aimed at protecting and expanding Second Amendment rights for PA residents, including opposing red flag laws and supporting constitutional carry laws. Borowicz also highlighted her involved in promoting initiatives to support small businesses, especially those affected by the pandemic, and she supported measures that reduced regulatory burdens and provided economic relief to ensure business continuity.
When speaking about recent legislative discussions with the Health Committee, Borowicz shared that when she noticed the verbiage “pregnant person” in place of “pregnant woman”, she was compelled to speak out. “I said, ‘It’s a pregnant woman. Yes, woman,’” she emphasized. “Where have we gone in this nation that we can’t stand up for ‘male’ and ‘female’ and how God created us?” she questioned. “We have to find our spine in this nation to stand for truth, and yes, you’re going to be hated for standing for truth, but you have to be willing to do it in the times we’re living in.”
Borowicz urged the audience to vote all the way down the ballot, as every race is critical to saving the country. “It is critical,” she said. “It is so important, and as for Pennsylvania– win PA, save America.”
While Borowicz acknowledged that many people are discouraged by our election system, she emphasized, “If we quit, they win,” and ensured that she fully intends to continue her efforts to save the constitutional republic. “I dig deep and am willing to do everything that I can so I can look back and tell my kids that I did everything I could to save the constitutional republic that we’ve been given.”
“As Ronald Reagan said, ‘Within the pages of the Bible are all the answers to the world’s problems’, and so we pray that God gives us that grace again,” Borowicz said. “He gave us grace a month ago, and they’re trying to erase it already. It’s unfathomable. Less than a month ago, [a bullet] grazed a man’s ear, and an extension of God’s grace came upon us again, and they’re trying to erase a planned, possibly purposeful attack on a former president from negligence. We’re at a bad place in this nation, but we also saw the extension of God’s grace on us at that moment, so thank you guys for always letting me be your State Rep. I’m truly honored,” she said. “It’s the 76th district, and we call it the fighting 76 because we’re here in the frontier, and we’re going to stand on all that this nation was founded on.”
After Borowicz’s speech, it was time for Dr. Jim Sweetland took to the podium as the keynote speaker.
Dr. Sweetland, an emergency department physician at UPMC Lock Haven Hospital, was present at the Trump Rally in Butler, PA, on July 13, 2024, where he rendered aid to fallen fire chief Corey Comperatore after he was shot during the attempted assassination of Presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Dr. Sweetland is a State College native who graduated from Penn State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and was then accepted to Hershey Penn State Medical School, where he earned a medical degree in 1980. After completing his residency in Sacramento, California, he continued his career there for 25 years before returning to Pennsylvania. Dr. Sweetland has worked in family medicine, emergency medicine, and as an emergency department physician. He served as the director at UPMC Lock Haven Hospital’s emergency department from 2016 to 2021 and continues to work there on a per diem basis. Now residing with his wife in Dubois, Sweetland made a special trip to Lock Haven to speak at the grand opening event.
Sweetland recounted his experience at the Trump rally in Butler, PA, where he believes divine intervention saved former President Trump. “It was a day that we were looking forward to. My wife got tickets, we went there and it was like a rock and roll concert. It was the best sound system I’ve ever heard,” Sweetland said. He described the overall atmosphere of the rally as being happy, despite temperatures soaring into the 90’s that weekend.
He spoke about rendering aid to another rally attendee who became ill due to the extreme heat that day, never imagining that he would also implement his emergency medical expertise to Corey Comperatore after he’d been shot.
“Right after shots started ringing out, I thought they were firecrackers. I heard a woman about 30 feet down the stairs to my right, and she said, ‘He’s shot! He’s down!’ and I knew she wasn’t talking about Trump,” Sweetland recounted. “At that point, I was looking to see where the gunman was, and when I looked back, all I could see was President Trump covered by a pyramid of Secret Service.”
“Then I heard a voice in my head, and I’m telling you right now, I really believe it was God. It said to me, ‘Go! Go! What are you waiting for? Go!’” Sweetland conveyed. “At first, I thought it was one of my professors in medical school or my residency training, but it wasn’t. I’ve thought about it for a while, and I really think it was the voice of God.”
What had been a boisterous crowd at the new election center suddenly fell silent, fully captivated as Dr. Sweetland continued to recount his experience. “There are videos of me going to help Corey Comperatore. When I got there, he had what I thought was a near-fatal wound. I performed CPR on this guy. I’m here to tell you that by the grace of God, Trump was not killed that day. By the grace of God and his belief in God, Corey Comperatore gave his life for his family. He spared himself over his family; his two daughters and his wife,” Sweetland said. “Corey is a girls’ daddy, and he gave himself willingly,” Dr. Sweetland said before calling for a moment of silence to commemorate Corey Comperatore and his family.
Sweetland underscored that while many have called him a hero because of his acts that day, he struggles with that designation, feeling that he simply acted when he was called by a higher power to do so. “Corey died a hero, and I’m called a hero. This bothered me a lot,” Sweetland expressed. “My heroship was [that] I acted on impulse; I went when I was told, but Corey gave his life.”
While he still struggles to be called a hero, Dr. Sweetland asserted, “I’ve struggled with that for a while, but I’m going to get over it. Sooner or later, through prayer, God is going to help me; I’m telling you that right now.”
Eventually, Pennsylvania State Troopers arrived at the scene where Dr. Sweetland had been performing CPR on Comperatore and whisked him off to EMS personnel.
Dr. Sweetland spoke about the aftermath of the attempted assassination, describing the chaos and confusion that rally attendees experienced. It wasn’t until after his resuscitation attempts on Comperatore that Sweetland was able to find his wife. “It took me a while to find her. It was chaos,” he said.
Just after locating his wife, Dr. Sweetland, still in shock, was interviewed by CBS News. “I was interviewed, and I was in shock,” he said before referring to his statements in that interview as him speaking in “total doctor mode”.
Dr. Sweetland recounted yet another moment that impacted him that day. After he was interviewed, another rally attendee stopped him and said, “Brother, there’s blood on your face”. Sweetland said that until that point, he had been completely unaware that he was covered in blood. The rally attendee gave him his water bottle and a shirt to wash his face. The doctor recounted this, saying, “And then he stepped into me, eye to eye, and asked, ‘Are you okay, brother?’ and I looked over the bill of his hat and saw that he was an Army veteran. I said, ‘You’ve seen this before?’ and he said, ‘Yeah, I have. ‘ As Dr. Sweetland began to thank the man for his service to our country, the man interjected, “Are you okay, brother?” Dr. Sweetland, profoundly impacted by the kindness and compassion shown by the stranger, replied that he was okay before thanking him once again.
As the Sweetlands continue to process the events of that day, Dr. Sweetland is calling for unity and respectful dialogue. He stressed the importance of having respectful conversations about policies with those who have different political views rather than engaging in “personality politics.” He believes that by approaching these conversations in a graceful and respectful manner, we can turn down the dial on political tension in the nation, and he continues to encourage others to do just that.
