Democrat Conor Lamb is the apparent winner over Republican Rick Saccone Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District special election, according to an NBC News projection. https://t.co/XRGHrHlNCy pic.twitter.com/4TqXdwN0xh
— NBC News (@NBCNews) March 14, 2018
I think the thing to keep in mind is, this district went big for Trump in 2016 and was gerrymandered to be a safe GOP seat, and Saccone wasn't really a particularly bad candidate (whatever Trump might say despite his rally for him). But something changed. Does this reflect on the 2018 midterms?
I want to say "yes".
3 comments:
Hi Vixen, I was curious to know how you felt about this. The two candidates ran on almost identical platforms. Lamb is supposed to be pro-gun, pro-life. He likes the tax cuts. He doesn't like Nancy Pelosi. (Naturally, he's for the tariffs which has always been a pro-labor Democratic position.) He virtually is running on Trump's platform.
He's an ex-Marine (salute to your dad) and is about as archetypal white pro-American as you can get.
I think your hopes could contain an element of truth. If Democrats start running as Blue Dog Democrats again with a conservative streak, I believe they could capture the public's mood. However, the radical extreme on the left is still enormously powerful (the Democratic Party would not even back Diane Feinstein because she presumably was too right wing despite her voting record). They could easily slow down a process that would inject more votability on the Democratic side.
So far I haven't seen anything to invalidate my theory that a new zeitgeist is in motion. And from my point of view I could not care less which party is carrying the water for the new zeitgeist so long as it is the invisible wind that continues to fill the sails. I cannot know for certain if it is rooted in Briah and therefore unstoppable at this time, but I think we will know for certain in a few years.
I think the thing with Lamb is, Saccone ran against him saying he's a Nancy Pelosi rubber stamp, but Lamb ran as more centrist--I think there's definite shading between what Lamb's positions are vs GOP views. I think the key is--politics is local. His message appealed to his district.
Does this reflect on the 2018 midterms?
In combination with Jones in Alabama, it seems clear that it does. Republicans are divided, and in many cases demoralized and repulsed by Trump. And we've been running candidates who fit the places they're running in without sacrificing core values. Lamb is not "pro-life" in the sense that the wingnuts use the term, by the way. He's "personally opposed" to abortion but supports women's right to choose, which is what actually matters. What's important is what legislation a candidate would support.
There are about 110 Congressional districts in the country that are "bluer" than PA-18 in their historic voting patterns, yet are currently represented by Republicans. We won't win all of them, but with the right candidates we should be able to win a lot of them.
Post a Comment