Conor Lamb was every Democrat’s favorite Democrat in March 2018, a star in the making. He won one of the first congressional contests after Donald Trump took the White House, a special election in a part of western Pennsylvania that the president had carried by nearly 20 points.
So, when Sen. Patrick Toomey announced he wouldn’t run for reelection this year, it only made sense for Lamb to seek the open seat. The former federal prosecutor and Marine had a flawless record in battleground districts, a huge donor list and a Pepsodent smile. What could stop him?
Lamb went on to finish a distant second in May’s primary to Lt. Gov. John Fetterman. Pennsylvania Democrats may be regretting their decision to back the less polished and more progressive candidate now that the race against Republican Mehmet Oz is coming down to the wire.
