Among his stops on Monday, Thompson sat down with the Times Observer for nearly an hour, discussing a wide array of issues.

He was here “exercising the responsibility” as the “voice and vote for the people of Warren County.

He met with county economic development officials over lunch and then toured the Allegheny Valley Veterans Center in Clarendon, a project that he called “rather unique,” noting that there are few places that specifically serve homeless veterans.

Thompson said he was “really impressed” when he started asking harder questions about healthcare access, workforce development and drug and alcohol treatment.

Times Observer photos by Brian Ferry Congressman Glenn Thompson, left, speaks with the Times Observer while Republican State Committee member, Ash Khare, right, looks on.

“They’d already thought through all that,” he said.

He said that meeting constituents and assisting with projects is “what’s great about this job…. Out in the communities, spending time with folks… those are really, really good days.

While it’s possible to look at the 15th Congressional District and think Washington doesn’t know where it does, Thompson has picked up some national notoriety in recent months.

He appeared in the Washington Post article just last week on a list of nearly 300 “election deniers” up for election this fall.

He did vote on Jan. 6 to object to the certification of Pennsylvania’s electoral votes.

But there’s nuance to his position on the 2020 election.

“Joe Biden won the election,” he told the Times Observer on Monday, “when you look at the electoral college at the end of the day.

“But there were irregularities in Pennsylvania. I’m not touching on the fraud. Fraud is so hard to prove.” He was critical, instead, of changes to the administration of the election that the Wolf administration made in the runup to the election when the election code is a responsibility of the state legislature.

“It’s unfortunate too,” he said. “It creates a confidence issue.”

So should we be confident when we cast ballots next month that they will be fairly and accurately counted?

“I certainly hope so,” he said, arguing that the concern raised over the 2020 election has brought “so much attention” to the process this time around.

“We need people to be confident that their vote is going to be counted,” he said, and is “not going to be canceled…. I think the fact that people are looking now, I think that’s helped.”

He also pointed out some irony in the 2020 results.

“It is hard to say we systematically have a problem in Pennsylvania when we have three of four Republicans win state-wide judge races,” he said.

Voters “should feel confident,” he said. “I hope it gives confidence to everyone to go out and vote.”