Dem seeks coal-country help in Pa. House election
WAYNESBURG, PA. » Democrat Conor Lamb went to Pennsylvania’s coal country for help in the final days before the first congressional election of 2018, telling union members Sunday that he won’t forget their support in a close race widely viewed as a key test of support for Republicans ahead of November’s midterms.
Lamb’s race against Republican Rick Saccone has crystallized the debate over whether a younger, charismatic Democrat appealing to win back traditionally Democratic voters can overcome a veteran Republican counting on party loyalty to carry him to victory in a GOP-leaning district at a time when President Donald Trump is pushing hard for the Republican, but remains a divisive figure.
Lamb, wearing muddy work boots, jeans and a green fleece top, told those inside a packed cinderblock building on the fairgrounds that keeping promises to fully fund labor union pensions, Medicare and Social Security is “non-negotiable.” He attacked Republicans as forgetting what it means to honor a promise.
“People have paid into these programs over the course of a lifetime,” Lamb told more than 300 retired coal miners and Democratic activists in Waynesburg, 40 miles south of Pittsburgh. “I do not believe, as (House Speaker) Paul Ryan does, that these are entitlements or another form of welfare.”
Trump has visited the district twice — including a rally Saturday night — in an effort to buoy Republican Saccone in a southwestern Pennsylvania district Trump won by nearly 20 percentage points over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016. Republican groups have heavily outspent Democratic groups on the race, a sign of the GOP’s fear of losing.
Polls suggest the race is effectively tied and will come down to the last-days’ scramble to get voters out in Tuesday’s election in a one-time Democratic bastion with a long history of coal mining and steel-making. Democrats need to flip 24 GOP-held seats this year to regain a House majority, and a Lamb victory would boost those prospects.
The seat is open after eight-term Republican incumbent Rep. Tim Murphy resigned amid the revelation that the strongly antiabortion lawmaker had urged a woman with whom he was having an affair to get an abortion when they thought she might be pregnant.
A key difference between Murphy and Saccone: Murphy tended to have labor union support. Saccone does not.
Lamb, a 33-year-old Marine veteran and former federal prosecutor, thanked labor unions for their support and said it has helped overcome the “dark money” and negative campaign tactics helping Saccone.