Yesterday was a great day in Wisconsin where Democrats won a special election for a State Senate seat that was supposed to be a reliable Trump territory for Republicans to hold the seat. But Trump fatigue is setting in around the country and that has Republicans terrified. Need proof? Look no further than the upcoming special congressional election in March in Pennsylvania:
National attention is increasingly turning to the special election to replace former U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, and the contest is poised to become the center of the political world Thursday, when President Donald Trump is expected to appear in Corapolis, in Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District, with Republican candidate Rick Saccone.
A five-term representative in the Pennsylvania House, Saccone will compete against Democrat and former federal prosecutor, Conor Lamb, in the March 13 special election. The election was prompted in October, when Murphy resigned amid allegations that he had asked a woman with whom he’d been having an affair to get an abortion.
The president’s visit is just one of a series of moves by national Republican groups to rally support for Saccone and reflects the importance of the race.
“It’s one of those races that has enormous implications nationally, in the sense that there’s a feeling of a possible Democratic wave building in 2018,” said Christopher Borick, who directs the Institute of Public Opinion at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pa.
“If a seat like this, where the president won by 20 points in 2016 was to somehow flip to the Democrats,” Borick continued, “it would send repercussions all throughout the political world and really put the Republican Party into panic mode."
And Democrats have a strong candidate in Marine veteran and former assistant U.S. attorney, Conor Lamb (D. PA-18):
Buoyed by a sweeping win in Virginia and a shocking Senate upset in conservative Alabama, Democrats feel they can compete everywhere - and see Lamb’s gold-plated resume and moderate policy stances as a strong contrast to Saccone’s hard-edged conservatism.
“If the Democrats can pull off a win, it would be a sign of much bigger and better things to come in November - and it would strike fear into Republicans,” said Mike Mikus, a Democratic strategist who lives in the district.
In a district where Trump remains popular and Democrats have not even fielded a candidate in the previous two congressional elections, Saccone has tied himself closely to the president. The conservative 59-year-old state legislator has joked he “was Trump before Trump was Trump.”
Democrat Lamb, who hails from a prominent Pennsylvania political family, rarely mentions Trump, focusing on economic issues, healthcare and protecting Social Security and Medicare.
And Lamb’s campaign is getting some big-time fueling:
End Citizens United, which is named after a 2010 Supreme Court decision that lifted limits on political spending by corporations and other groups, is the first big-ticket national group to weigh in on Mr. Lamb's side. The group draws on a national network of individual supporters to funnel small-dollar contributions to a race.
As part of the announcement, Mr. Lamb pledged not to accept money from political action committees funded by corporate executives. He can still accept union contributions under terms of the pledge: End Citizens United reasons that union committees are funded by rank-and-file workers, not corporate executives.
“We know our system isn’t working,” said a statement from Mr. Lamb. “Our campaign finance system is part of the reason why.”
Mr. Saccone, meanwhile, has benefited from an air and ground campaign funded by conservative heavyweights.
Over the weekend the 45Committee, which backs the agenda of President Donald Trump, launched a reported $500,000 ad campaign with the race’s first negative spot. The ad faults “liberal Conor Lamb” for opposing a Republican tax-cut bill whose benefits are hotly contested by the two political parties.
That ad buy supplements the $1 million that conservative independent-expenditure group Ending Spending says it will spend on ads touting Mr. Saccone’s credentials.
And Lamb knows it’s going to take a strong turnout from union voters:
In a populist appeal to union members, Conor Lamb says that he intends to focus his campaign for the March 13th Pennsylvania 18th Congressional special election on labor issues.
While touring the district, Lamb has told audiences that he intends to make protecting organized labor a central issue of his campaign in a district that contains 70,000 union members, nearly a quarter of all voters.
“People in unions deserve the same level of respect that we give people in uniform because of how hard they have worked and all they have done,” the 33-year-old former Marine told workers at the Canonsburg VFW Hall on Saturday.
Previously, Republican Congressman Tim Murphy had been able to win the election in the district by embracing issues such as prevailing wage, collective bargaining rights, and helping seek injunctive relief. As a result, Murphy was often able to secure the endorsements of several local unions in the district during his re-election bids while keeping other unions that would normally oppose him neutral.
A key to Murphy’s 12-year political survival in a district that contains 70,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans was that he would regularly attend union events while accounting for the concerns of some union leaders.
However, the Republican nominee, 60-year-old State Representative, and Tea Party veteran Rick Saccone, refused to even fill out the AFL-CIO questionnaire seeking their endorsement. Unlike past Republicans who have represented the district, Saccone has refused to attend union events.
Saccone previously had supported legislation to repeal prevailing wage rates for construction workers on government projects as well as so-called “right-to-work” legislation.
Lamb says that a central focus of his campaign will be drawing attention to his support for organized labor in a district that has never elected an anti-union Congressman.
“[Unions] have built Western Pennsylvania and it is not the time for us to turn our back on them,” said Lamb. “Quite the opposite.”
Let’s keep on kicking ass on Republican turf. Click here to donate and get involved with Lamb’s campaign.