Less than two months after losing a closely contested special election that got national attention, Republican state Rep. Rick Saccone is battling again for a seat in Congress.
RELATED: Reschenthaler facing Saccone, who he once campaigned for, in congressional race
This time, Saccone is hoping to represent the newly created 14th District. That district includes several counties Saccone won in the special election, that raised him to celebrity status.
"They are actually asking for autographs, my gosh come on. Seven or eight people came up to me and asked for my autograph," said Saccone.
In the primary, Saccone is running against Republican Guy Reschenthaler, a state senator from Jefferson Hills. Reschenthaler recently questioned Saccone's military service record, after a report in a newspaper said Saccone didn't do everything he had claimed in North Korea.
Saccone denies embellishing his record in any way.
"I've written two books about this. I kind of changed the way we did things in North Korea," said Saccone.
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In response to the accusations, Saccone has posted 18 years of performance evaluations online for public viewing (CLICK HERE).
Reschenthaler has also called Saccone's loss to Democrat Conor Lamb in the special election, which covered a district thought of as a "Republican stronghold," an embarrassment.
"I don't believe in negative attacks. I think the people don't believe in them, and they're tired of them, and that's what they keep telling me everywhere I go," said Saccone.
Saccone and Reschenthaler are competing for the nomination for the 14th Congressional District seat.
The election is May 15.