With tight margins, Lamb declares victory in special congressional election
In a razor-tight race many news organizations said was too close to call as some counties continued to tabulate and post absentee ballot counts, Democrat Conor Lamb declared victory in the 18th Congressional District just after midnight Wednesday.
Several hundred votes separated Mt. Lebanon resident Lamb and Rick Saccone, a Republican state legislator from Elizabeth Township.
Wednesday morning, Lamb’s lead stood at 641 votes — out of more than 224,000 votes cast, according to unofficial results. Election officials said there are about 200 absentee votes and an unknown number of provisional ballots still to be counted.
The four counties in the western Pennsylvania district have seven days to count provisional ballots.
It was a race watched across the country, with pundits looking at it as a test of President Donald Trump’s sway in a district largely considered a GOP stronghold.
Lamb, a 33-year-old Marine veteran, told his crowd that voters had directed him to “do your job” in Washington. “Mission accepted,” he declared. Earlier in the night, Saccone told his own supporters, “It’s not over yet, we’re going to fight all the way, all the way to the end, we’ll never give up.”
Regardless of the outcome – and a recount was possible – Lamb’s showing in a district Trump won by 20 points in the presidential race was sure to stoke anxiety among Republicans nationwide and renewed enthusiasm among Democrats.
Unofficial results show Saccone as winning Greene, Westmoreland and Washington counties; Lamb took the Allegheny County portion of the district.
In the past three presidential elections, Greene County voters chose Republican candidates, most overwhelmingly in 2016 when the electorate there gave Trump a hair under more than 40 percent more votes that Democrat Hillary Clinton in the general election. Saccone carried the county Tuesday, too, but the margin was much slimmer at just over 16 percent.
Saccone also took the district’s areas in Washington and Westmoreland counties, as workers in the former’s election bureau worked to tabulate absentee ballots through the night.
The stakes in the high-profile special election were more political than practical. Whomever takes the district will face re-election in about eight months; a redrawn congressional map may ultimately put both men outside of the current district. Yet, the candidates and support groups poured millions into the campaign. Television ads touting their views were a constant in the past few weeks.
The Allegheny-Fayette County Labor Council, AFL-CIO, issued congratulations to Lamb early Wednesday, touting his focus on economic issues and his support for workers and organized labor.
The council, neighboring labor councils, individual unions, and the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO joined forces to run a massive grassroots effort targeting union households in support of Lamb.
“Conor’s victory demonstrates that candidates must appeal to labor union members and working families of all stripes if they are going to win elections in Western Pennsylvania,” said Darrin Kelly, president of the labor council.
“Organized Labor united to educate union members and their families about the candidates’ positions on the issues and their records. We mobilized at the grassroots level to turn out union members and it paid off tonight,” said Kelly. “The results tonight should send a very clear message to candidates of all political parties across Pennsylvania: If you’re with workers, we’re with you. If you oppose workers, we’ll defeat you.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.