Polls closed at 8 PM ET in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, where Republican Rick Saccone faces Democrat Conor Lamb in a special election for the final months of former Republican Rep. Tim Murphy’s term. This Western Pennsylvania seat backed Trump 58-39 and Romney 58-41, but Republicans are worried that Trump’s unpopularity, as well as a weak campaign by Saccone and a strong effort from Lamb, will allow Democrats to flip this district. While a new map ordered by the state Supreme Court will dramatically change this seat’s boundaries ahead of the November general election, Republican outside groups have still spent millions to avoid what would be an embarrassing loss.
To help follow along as the results come in, David Jarman has set “benchmarks” for all four counties in the district—target numbers that Lamb would have to meet in order to narrowly win. We’re liveblogging the results below, and you can also follow our coverage on Twitter.
Results: State | New York Times | Associated Press
Hoo boy it’s tight: 95% reporting and Lamb is ahead 49.9 to 49.5.
In terms of raw votes, it’s Lamb 101,907, Saccone 100,979. The small bit of good news for Lamb is that his raw vote lead actually grew slightly with the last update.
Remaining precincts: 12 in Allegheny, 5 in Westmoreland, 13 in Washington.
Three precincts came in, and Lamb went up to +1,100 votes from +900, and his margin increased to 50.0 to 49.4, but those three precincts were all from Lamb-friendly Allegheny County, meaning there’s now less good turf remaining for him.
The liveblog continues here.