Posted on 03/14/2018 7:49:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Republicans are panicked after Democrat Conor Lamb closed in on a victory over Republican Rick Saccone in a Pennsylvania congressional district that went for President Donald Trump by 20 points in 2016.
That Lamb could perform so well in a district that overwhelmingly supported Trump and had sent a Republican to Congress without much contention for the better part of two decades signaled major challenges for the party as it seeks to maintain its congressional majorities in this year's midterm elections.
"It's really hard to see how anyone looks at the factors Republicans are facing at this time, and the environment Republicans are in, and conclude anything other than that we are heading for a very difficult cycle," a Republican strategist close to the race told Business Insider.
"The narrow margin in a district the president won handily should be a serious wake up call for Republican incumbents across the map," the person added late Tuesday night. "No suburban district is safe and every candidate better be ready for the most difficult cycle of their career."
There are roughly 120 House seats currently controlled by Republicans in districts that are not as solidly Republican as Pennsylvania's 18th Congressional District.
Lamb's results came on the heels of Democratic Sen. Doug Jones' shocking win in Alabama and big wins for the party in New Jersey and Virginia late last year. As of 12:30 a.m. on the East Coast, Lamb led Saccone by a slim margin of just more than 500 votes with only some absentee ballots outstanding. Lamb declared victory, and Democratic campaign groups followed suit.
Needing a huge boost from those ballots to leapfrog Lamb, Saccone told supporters he was going to "fight" until the very end. But many Democrats already proclaimed Lamb the victor.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
In Hillary’s famous words, “what happened?”
Also I would like to add that I watched the trump rally in his favor quite closely. This guy gave out what I could only describe at the time as a ‘dean scream’ as his concluding rattle to punctuate his last sentence.
I just did a face palm right there and then.
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