The results may not be official for some time, but it appears that a Democrat, Conor Lamb, now leading by only a few hundred votes, may have won a special election in a western Pennsylvania congressional district that two years ago chose President Donald Trump by 20 points.
Mainstream media regard the apparent outcome as an “unmistakable good sign” for Democrats ahead of the 2018 midterms approach.
But talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh believes it’s the Democrats who should be concerned.
He said it’s because Lamb had to run as a Republican to win.
“If you didn’t know any better, he’s a Trump acolyte. He had to run as Donald Trump. … In fact, you might even be able to say that Conor Lamb did a better job of explaining the Trump agenda than the Republican did, and it shows the power of the Trump effect,” he explained.
“Even Democrats have to pretend to be like Trump in – and this is Pennsylvania. This is [Democrat] Pennsylvania, and even this guy is out there running as a quasi-conservative and running as somebody, you know, who agrees with Trump on guns, agrees with Trump on tariffs, agrees with Trump on trade. This is the Democrat. Now, I know the guy wouldn’t vote that way if he got elected, but there’s still a lesson here.
“The Drive-Bys are exuberant, but they’re not over the top with this ’cause they realize this guy did not run on the Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama agenda. This guy ran as Trump Jr., and they’re distressed by that,” he said Wednesday.
Limbaugh said that if the election was “a referendum on Trump’s performance, let it be said that both candidates ran as Trump acolytes, and there’s a reason the Democrats are not throwing gigantic parties today, ’cause their candidate did not win espousing the ideas and the agenda of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.”
“This guy was right on the same page as Donald Trump. Conor Lamb ran as a Trump Republican. He’s a Marine veteran, ex-prosecutor — and during the campaign, he claimed to be pro-gun,” Limbaugh said.
“He claimed to be for tax cuts. He was even in favor of the tariffs! And he said he thought Pelosi should go! There’s a Democrat in the Senate that this guy sounds an awful lot like, and his name is Joe Manchin, who also talks like a Republican. But sometimes in the Senate when it’s time to vote, he goes with Chuck You Schumer. So we have here a close election. There’s no question Trump had an impact here. Whether you like it or not, Trump had a major impact.”
Limbaugh said it appears the Democrats new strategy in districts that voted for Trump is to field a candidate that sounds like Trump.
He pointed out that Lamb even says he’s pro-life.
“A Democrat pro-life. He says he’s gonna vote against Pelosi as speaker. He’s a white male! Not only a white male, he’s a cookie-cutter white male! He’s a Ken Doll white male. He’s the antithesis of what the. … In fact, he’s the prototype enemy that the Democrat Party has been seeking to define as the great enemy of America.”
Limbaugh said he has no doubt that the Democrat will end up winning the special election.
“Democrats always win these close elections, as you know. They find the votes even when they don’t exist when they have to. Ask Al Franken how he got elected to the Senate. They did a recount and they found, ‘Oh, yeah! There were some votes here in the trunk of the car of the election manager!'”
