Posted on 03/05/2018 5:18:47 AM PST by ChicagoConservative27
Less than two years after Donald Trump won a western Pennsylvania congressional district by double digits, a special election race between a young Democrat and a deeply conservative Republican is now closer than either side had expected. The congressional race is being run in Pennsylvania's 18th district, but the March 13 election is expected to offer clues about how voters will turn out in the November midterms.
Rick Saccone, the Republican, and Conor Lamb, his Democratic opponent are vying for a seat that opened in October when eight-term Congressman Tim Murphy resigned following a personal scandal. As NPR's Two-Way blog reported, Murphy allegedly asked a woman with whom he had an extramarital affair to get an abortion.
Murphy's old district stretches from the mostly liberal suburbs of Pittsburgh, south into conservative, rural areas that are dominated by the energy industry. For more than a decade, Murphy maintained support from across the district, but while this is a regional race, polarized national politics loom large and the two campaigns are using very different strategies to woo voters.
"This race has national implications," says Terry Madonna, a political scientist in Pennsylvania. "Can Lamb eat into the margins that Murphy won in the past, and of course, the margin that President Trump carried?" That question is especially important to Republicans. A loss in this district would not only be deeply embarrassing for the party, but might show an erosion of support among voters who supported Trump in 2016.
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Rural PA was referred to by James Carville as the Alabama of PA. Rolling countyside, mountains and small towns and very conservative.
Trump carried the PA T in 2016.
NPR? It has to be true. And even if it is, are we supposed to cry for 3 years? We will handle it when election time comes
Major urban enclave votes for Democrat? Not news.
The bad news is the 900 lb gorilla of PA, Philadelphia usually turns the state Blue.
That didn’t happen in 2016 because the election was so close it cancelled the huge vote out of Philly.
What we can say for sure is that won’t happen this time around and the Democrats are loaded for bear.
Well it could, or it could mean that the GOP voters aren’t committed for/against one primary candidate, a lot of uncontested races, etc.
I missed early voting (ended last week) and may not go Tuesday morning in my state.
I knew enough about several candidates running that I was going to have to do research I didn’t have time to delve into to go.
Depends how my work day goes today if I’ll make my list.
Definitely going to vote in the general election and any runoff.
I hope you will take some time and reconsider your ‘hasty’ post.
Why? The vote fraud of the Democratic machine, the corruption and widespread cheating are legendary.
And the Democrat, liberal-dominated PASC has just imposed a redistricting plan to allow Democrats to swamp the state’s congressional delegation.
With GOP voter indifference and apathy don’t be surprised if there’s a Blue Wave there in November.
Didn’t the DemocRat party and corrupt cours in PA just Gerrymandered the entire state?
Doesn’t affect this election. We should win it since trump won by 20 percent. I see upthread that excuses are starting already for the possible loss. So pathetic. I can’t believe how lack of concern so many are about of 39 loss’ we’ve had.
It will be interesting to see if Trump changes his tune on steel tariffs after this election.
to all GOP voters......I don’t care if you like the candidate or not.....get off your a** and get out and vote..............to not vote is to let the dems win and we as a country can not have that
Boy we need to win that one and the Upper Midwest states that we won like Wisconsin. Let Trump get done what he can in 3 years and then we’ll fight hard to win again
Thank you for your reconsideration.
Not really. 2016 was the high water mark for Republican control of state legislative seats. We maxed out and there was nowhere to go but down a little. Conversely the Dems had nowhere to go but up. Totally expected and not unusual in the least.
I think this race is tight for two reasons:
1) Lamb is a long-established name in Pittsburgh Democrat politics. Members of that family have held public office here going back three generations. Many of them are well-liked personally, even by people who don’t typically vote Democrat.
2) There is a general sense of disgust by local Republicans who went to the wall getting Tim Murphy elected over and over only to find in the end that he was a two-faced phony. With friends like that does the Pro Life movement need any enemies? I think a lot of those voters are wary if investing themselves in another Republican campaign. How do they know Saccone won’t turn out to be another one?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.