Tony Guy's "one-man show" faces uphill battle against U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio in Pennsylvania

Congressional midterm elections are often seen as referendums of the sitting president. With Donald Trump's sinking poll numbers, political analysts say this year will be especially difficult for a Republican challenger to defeat a sitting Democrat.

In Pennsylvania's 17th Congressional District, which covers Beaver County and part of Allegheny County, Republican Beaver County Sheriff Tony Guy is challenging Congressman Chris Deluzio, a Democrat.

"Donald Trump is our president," Guy said. "He's going to be president for the next two years, but I'm not going to be a rubber stamp for him." 

Guy knows he's in a tough fight, trying to unseat a popular congressman in a district that leans Democrat in what figures to be a Democratic year. 

"We've got the war in Iran and affordability and energy prices," Guy said. "It's a tough year. I'm not going to call it a perfect storm but it's a tough year."

Still, the sheriff believes he has a puncher's chance, maintaining his independence from Mr. Trump and espousing what he calls a common sense, middle of the road agenda while portraying Deluzio as a left-wing radical. 

"Is it a referendum on the president? I would say it should be a referendum on Chris Deluzio," Guy said. 

"Votes with the democratic socialists or people who lean that way, and I don't think that represents people in a purple district," he added.

"If I wanted a lecture on extremism, I'd talk to my opponent, who's a fringe guy, who's been abandoned by so many people in his own party," Deluzio said. 

In his two terms in Congress, Deluzio has been a vocal progressive with an increasingly national profile. As a U.S. Navy veteran and member of the Armed Services and Veterans' Affairs Committee, he has been a staunch opponent of the war and has also taken the administration to task on tariffs and corruption, which he says have led in large part to an affordability crisis in the country.

"Most folks, man, they're getting pounded, and even if you have a good solid job, you're feeling the squeeze," Deluzio said. "The Iran War, the trade war, the corruption. It's all made life more expensive. We have to reverse so much of this." 

Deluzio says he represents the views of his district, but that facing a potential nationwide blue wave, Guy is softening his previous positions in support of the war, tariffs, Jan. 6 defendants and the mass deportation of immigrants, yet still has extreme views not held by his constituents.  

"He's gonna lose," Deluzio said. "And I'm proud of the way I've performed in the district and continue to win votes and earn votes across both Beaver and Allegheny County."

"This is very uphill for any Republican this year in this particular congressional district," said KDKA political analyst Jon Delano. 

Delano says it's especially difficult for Guy, who concedes he has little in the way of campaign funds and has gotten almost no help from his party. 

"Sheriff Guy has been really cut loose by the national Republican Party to fend on his own," Delano said. 

"There's no PAC money coming from Washington for me," Guy said. "This is Tony Guy running a kind of one-man show to some degree."

Still, the sheriff is out in the district making his case all way to the Election Day.