Republican gubernatorial hopeful Lou Barletta promised an upbeat Jim Thorpe crowd Tuesday night he would “bring common sense back to the commonwealth and help spark the great Pennsylvania comeback” after what he described as a mismanaged pandemic response by Gov. Tom Wolf.

In town for a meet and greet at the Fairview Hose Company Social Club, the former Hazleton mayor and U.S. Congressman said he found himself screaming at the television every night as the state picked winners and losers of what businesses could stay open and which had to close.

“(Wolf) was literally destroying people’s livelihoods and taking away their businesses,” Barletta said. “What gives a man that kind of power that he can take away somebody’s livelihood? You can go to Walmart, but you couldn’t go to your local store that you did business with. How did that make any sense?”

It was at that point, Barletta said, that his wife gave him an ultimatum; either get off the couch and do something about it or turn off the television.

“I realized she was right and I have 14 reasons, my four daughters and 10 grandchildren, that I’m here tonight and I’m going to do something about it,” he said.

Before Barletta spoke to the crowd as a whole, he spoke individually to each attendee, many of whom also signed his petition to be on the ballot for governor.

His firm stances, including one against illegal immigration in Hazleton that sparked his rise to notoriety, make him an ideal candidate, according to Joseph Balogach of Mahoning Township.

“We need a big change in government and the only way we’re going to get it is by putting someone in like Lou Barletta,” Balogach said. “He is a straightforward shooter. He did a great job when he was mayor in Hazleton and I’ve heard nothing but good things about him.”

Barletta spoke Tuesday night about the law he pushed for in Hazleton, which prohibited companies from hiring immigrants who were in the country illegally and landlords from renting to tenants without proper residency status.

“Illegal is illegal,” Barletta said. “That was my mantra. We’re a country of immigrants and we’re proud of it. It doesn’t matter where you come from, but there’s a proper way to do it.”

A federal judge immediately blocked the law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit twice rejected the law and it was never enforced.

U.S. Judge James Munley ruled in 2015 that Hazleton had to pay just under $1.4 million to civil rights attorneys who challenged the law in federal court.

“I had to sit through a 90-day trial as if I was the criminal,” Barletta said. “I fought back all the way to the Supreme Court and because of that there were some other cities who now have been able to pass that law. One thing I didn’t do was back down.”

Barletta touted the fact that he was one of the first to support Donald Trump when he announced his presidential campaign. He was later a co-chair of Trump’s Pennsylvania 2016 campaign.

“I didn’t wait to know whether it was popular or safe for me to support him,” Barletta said. “That is what people want again. People want somebody who’s going to stand here and fight for them again,” he said.

Barletta was introduced Tuesday by Jim Thorpe Mayor Michael Sofranko.

“It’s been an incredible event,” Sofranko said. “We’ve had petitions coming in throughout the day and not just from Carbon County residents. We’ve seen them coming from Schuylkill County, Berks County, Luzerne County, all over. That’s huge. As a fellow Republican, I truly believe he is going to be the next governor of Pennsylvania.”