The conservative, Tea Party challenger narrowly beaten in the Republican primary by U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster of Pennsylvania says he's decided to run against the eight-term incumbent — as a Democrat.
Art Halvorson announced Tuesday that he'll run against Shuster in the November election. The retired Coast Guard captain from Bedford County received more than the 1,000 write-in votes in the Democratic primary he needed to run as a Democrat.
Halvorson has called Shuster too moderate and touted himself as a Tea Party-backed, conservative Christian. Shuster is the House Transportation Committee chairman and is Pennsylvania's highest-ranked member of Congress. Shuster beat Halvorson by 1 percentage point.
Shuster says Halvorson is "betraying Democrats by calling their party Godless while forcing them to accept him as their nominee."
