The outcome of the Pennsylvania special election says a lot about who has the upper hand going into the November 2018 midterms. That’s right, the middle of nowhere southwestern corner of Pennsylvania has a big say in which party is stepping into the 2018 midterms with the most momentum. You may remember PA deciding the fate of your life back in 2016, but thanks to everyone leaving the White House people losing confidence in Trump, the GOP has spent $10 million trying to keep a district that Trump won by 20 points just two years ago.
WTF is a Special Election?
A special election occurs when the elected official cannot fulfill their full term, and therefore an election is held to fill that seat for the remainder of the term. In the case of PA-18, that is until the 2018 midterm election. You may be wondering what happened to the elected official that originally held the seat, well #metoo! Turns out, pro-life Rep. Tim Murphy encouraged his mistress to get an abortion resigned amid a scandal, resulting in this contentious race. Very cool, Rep. Murphy
Now, please get ready for the most dramatic season of the Bachelor special election in history and remember only one of these men will take home the final rose become Congressman for PA-18.
Who TF Is Rick Saccone?
The heavily GOP and Trump-backed Saccone is a four time state legislator, and what you would expect from a party guy. (And by that I mean political parties, not party-parties.) He supports the GOP Tax bill, wants to repeal Obamacare, is anti-abortion, besties with the NRA, and supports Trump’s new tariff. He also claimed to be “Trump before Trump was Trump,” which I still have no idea how to even comprehend, honestly all I picture is a mini-me version of Trump. Scary.
Who TF Is Conor Lamb?
This is where things get interesting, and I’m not just talking about how this 33 year-old isn’t hard on the eyes. Lamb has broken with the traditional ideology of the Democratic party and said he “would not blindly follow Leader Pelosi.” He also believes life begins at conception, but stands by the Supreme Court decision to legalize abortion. He is pro-Trump tariff and only wants stronger background checks for gun buyers, not more restrictions on guns themselves. Are we sure this guy isn’t a Republican in sheep’s clothing? On the other hand, he wants to stabilize Obamacare and thinks the GOP Tax bill was a money gun pointed directly at the rich and famous, so he’s like, Democrat light, which is low-key a good strategy for someone running in bumfuck nowhere Pennsylvania. Did I mention Joe Biden and him seem to be besties?!
So Who The F Won?
This one was a nail biter fosho. The candidates were 50/50 towards the end, however Lamb claimed victory with a speech late Tuesday night after being a few hundred votes ahead. Rick Saccone is said to not have accepted defeat because he talked to Roy Moore there are still absentee and provisional ballots being counted. TBH, it doesn’t matter who wins at this point, because the Democratic party has shown that it can narrow the gap in what was previously considered a safely Republican district. Going into 2018 midterms Dems think they have a shot at taking back a lot of seats from the GOP, and potentially winning a majority in the House. I’m not holding my breathe, but I will say a quick prayer!
Why TF Does Any Of This Matter?
Sooo…in a way it kind of doesn’t. This election is mostly symbolic for a few reasons. The first, is that whoever wins will still have to run in a regular election after the midterms. The second fun little plot twist is that the congressional district maps may be redrawn in PA (because gerrymandering) meaning this district literally will not exist next election cycle.
Hopefully, by the end of today all the ballots will be counted and PA-18 will have a legit Congressman-elect. But if not, I’ll be here for the continued drama.
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