… This post offers a quick rundown of the data in PA-18 and speculates about the consequences for Republicans in November. How did Lamb win? What does that mean for the 2018 midterms?
First, the obvious. Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional district is ruby red — or so we thought. Donald Trump won it by 20 percentage points in the 2016 presidential election. Mitt Romney won it by 17 in 2012. Tim Murphy, the Republican congressman who represented the seat prior to resigning amid claims of sexual misconduct, ran unopposed in the past two election cycles. The fact that a Democrat just won in this seat is nothing to shrug off. Republicans should be panicking.
The question remains, how did Lamb pull off this massive upset victory? CONT.
G. Elliott Morris, The Crosstab