A man named Joshua Hall quietly filed paperwork last week to challenge U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker in the April Republican primary, but the office address listed on Hall’s filing with the Federal Election Commission is for a drug treatment agency that says Hall’s campaign has no presence at its facility.
Hall, a 24-year-old who lived in Mechanicsburg as recently as 13 months ago, listed a Mount Joy Borough address as the location of his campaign office. A reporter who visited found the offices of Blueprints for Addiction Recovery, and office manager Amanda Todd said no residences or other offices were located at the address. “It’s just us here,” Todd said.
LNP | LancasterOnline has been unable to locate Hall for an interview. The paperwork filed with the FEC didn’t include a phone number, and extensive online searches located no website for Hall’s campaign.
People who answered the doors at two Mechanicsburg addresses recently associated with Hall said they didn’t know him, as did people who answered calls to multiple phone numbers connected to Hall. A search of the Pennsylvania voter registration database shows there is no Joshua A. Hall of the appropriate age registered to vote in the state.
So who is Joshua Hall?
In 2022, Hall was sentenced to 20 months in prison and three years of parole after he pleaded guilty to federal charges of making threats to kill California Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and members of his legislative staff.
Hall also pleaded guilty to wire fraud charges for using social media in 2019 and 2020 to impersonate members of then-President Donald J. Trump’s family — including his minor son, Barron — to raise money for a fake political organization.
Prosecutors said Hall used the thousands of dollars he obtained from hundreds of victims nationwide to buy alcohol and pay for living expenses, according to court documents.
Hall’s attorney in that case said he would not provide contact information for his client.
After filing his candidacy last week, Hall told a reporter from News of the United States, a publication of the Allbritton Journalism Institute, that he deserves “a second chance as anybody does, and I still want to be able to make a positive impact,” according to a post by the reporter on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
Hall has also been interviewed on multiple occasions by the New York Times about his two criminal cases. In 2021, he told a Times reporter that he had “no nefarious intention” when he impersonated Trump family members and was trying to “have fun” with the accounts.
Other candidates
Smucker potentially faces one other primary challenger, Jeffery Wilder, a basketball referee from Ephrata Township. But Wilder told a reporter last month he was considering dropping out of the race and has since deactivated his campaign’s Facebook page. He did not return a call for comment on Friday.
Smucker, who has represented the 11th District since 2016, announced last month that he is seeking a fifth term this year. His spokeswoman declined on Friday to comment about Hall’s campaign.
There are also at least two Democrats who have announced they’re seeking their party’s nomination to challenge Smucker in November’s general election.
Direct service provider Dave Baker filed paperwork with the FEC and has been campaigning since August 2023. And professional pilot Jim Atkinson this month asked for the Lancaster County Democratic Committee’s endorsement and told a reporter he plans to file his paperwork soon.
All congressional candidates must gather 1,000 signatures from voters in the 11th District by the end of the day on Feb. 13 to appear on their respective party’s April 23 primary ballot.
Smucker won reelection in 2022 with 59% of the vote over former Elanco superintendent Bob Hollister. The 11th District covers all of Lancaster County and the southern half of York County.
