Lamb takes office as 18th District’s new congressman
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Harry Funk / The Almanac
Conor Lamb
The day Conor Lamb was sworn in as the newest member of Congress also happened to be the filing deadline for expenditures related to the March 13 special election in the 18th Congressional District.
The April 12 filings with the Federal Elections Commission show Democratic candidate Lamb raised $6.5 million to state Rep. Rick Saccone’s nearly $1.9 million.
Lamb’s campaign outspent Saccone’s $4.8 million to $1.67 million, according to totals for the 30-day period following the special election.
The race was a close one, with just 755 votes separating the winner from the loser. The Pennsylvania Department of State official totals show Lamb with 114,102, Saccone with 113,347 and Libertarian Drew Gray Miller of Pittsburgh with 1,381.
Although the Democrat won, there was one category where Saccone’s conservative supporters prevailed: negative ads against his opponent. Outside political groups attacking Lamb outspent their counterparts opposing Saccone slightly more than 7 to 1.
In what the FEC labels “independent expenditures” with the caveat that “none of the funds are directly given to or spent by the candidate,” Lamb saw $4,877,693 used in opposition to his candidacy.
One example was a cartoonish depiction of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi “shepherding” Lamb as a member of her “liberal flock” that was paid for by the Congressional Leadership Fund, which is listed on the FEC website as ponying up $2.2 million to oppose Lamb.
The 33-year-old Democratic candidate used the rationale generational change in his advocacy for leadership for his party in the House.
Independent attack ads on Saccone, 60, meanwhile, totaled $679,577. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee contributed $312,500, and the Service Employees International Union Committee on Political Action, for example, targeted Saccone’s stance on health care.
Lamb will be representing parts of Washington, Greene, Allegheny and Westmoreland counties through the end of this year. The seat had been vacant since mid-October when U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Upper St. Clair, resigned in the wake of an adultery scandal.
Lamb is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination in the redrawn 17th District after his only primary opponent, Ray Linsenmayer, dropped out of the race April 15. Lamb will face Republican Congressman Keith Rothfus in the November general election.