Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Democrats are using small donors and political sanity to gain momentum in a hotly contested election… and the GOP’s billionaire financiers are striking back by dumping unlimited money into the race, in order to skew it and steal it at the last minute.
The special election in PA-18 has been moved to a toss-up by the Cook Political Report, which is the good news here:
The Cook Political Report updated its rating for the special election in the 18th Congressional district from ‘lean Republican’ to ‘toss up.’
According to the report, despite the district being strongly Republican, Democrat Conor Lamb has gained a lot of ground in the race.
“What’s made the race so close, many Republicans admit, is that Lamb has simply proven to be a stronger candidate than Saccone,” the report says.
And now the not so good:
One week later, Democrats in Allegheny County began receiving an unusual piece of mail. The Congressional Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan that has spent millions of dollars on the race, had created an advertisement thanking Lamb “for supporting our Second Amendment rights.”
It’s not clear who else is getting the ad, but registered Democrats in Allegheny County are, generally, more liberal than their counterparts across the district.
To be fair, Lamb has come under fire (pardon the bad term here) for being a bit timid on new gun laws. But the ad skews what he’s said, as if he isn’t for more extensive background checks and other reforms.
Republicans are skewing his record in hopes of suppressing Democratic turnout, as part of a multi-million dollar effort to steal this election for their doofus Trumpite candidate. They’re also using racist dog-whistle ads on immigration as part of this last-ditch, desperate offensive.
Whether Lamb is the perfect Democrat is not the issue here — he will vote with the party, take us one seat closer to winning back Congress, and a victory in a red district like this will be more proof of Democrats’ momentum. And when people feel like their party is in a good place, they donate more money, volunteer more, and work harder to help win elections. I believe in sending the most progressive candidates to Washington as possible — and Lamb is helping lay the groundwork to make this part of PA blue and progressive again.
You can support Connor Lamb by using Progressives Everywhere’s ActBlue page right here.