Editing Curt Weldon (section)

=== 1984–2004 ===
Weldon first ran for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives for the 7th district of Pennsylvania in 1984 on the Republican ticket, losing to incumbent Democrat [[Robert W. Edgar]] by just 412 votes even as [[Ronald Reagan]] carried the district by over 20 points. However, Edgar did not seek re-election in 1986 but instead ran for the U.S. Senate against [[Arlen Specter]]. Weldon then ran again for Edgar's seat in 1986 and won with a comfortable margin.

Weldon's margin for re-election grew considerably since 1986, handily defeating Democratic opponents even as Delaware County, once a classic [[Rockefeller Republican]] bastion, became friendlier to Democrats at the national level. In 2000, for instance, he was re-elected with 65% of the vote even though Democratic presidential candidate [[Al Gore]] won Delaware County with 54% of the vote.

In 2004, Weldon won with 59% of the vote. By contrast, Democratic presidential candidate [[John Kerry]] got 53% of the district's vote that year. Weldon's Democratic opponent, Paul Scoles, spent $24,000 running against the nine-term incumbent;<ref name="CQP">Greg Giroux, [http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/07/pa_7_superb_fundraising_gives.html "PA 7: Superb Fundraising Gives Sestak a Shot Against Weldon"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060830171013/http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/07/pa_7_superb_fundraising_gives.html |date=2006-08-30 }}, [[CQPolitics.com]], July 20, 2006</ref> in that 2003–2004 election cycle, Weldon received nearly $900,000 in campaign contributions.<ref>William Bender, [http://www.delcotimes.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=15881738&BRD=1675&PAG=461&dept_id=18171&rfi=8 "Lentz rips Weldon for taking contributions from Abramoff"]{{dead link|date=August 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''Delaware County Times'', January 6, 2006</ref> Scoles entered the race in the last 90 days of the campaign, when the original Democratic candidate, Greg Philips, was called up for Reserve duty to support the [[Iraq War]].