PITTSBURGH — Western Pennsylvania Rep. Conor Lamb began his campaign for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania on Friday at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union hall on the city’s south side.
He is the 10th Democrat to enter the crowded race for the open seat held by incumbent Republican Pat Toomey since 2010. Toomey announced last fall he would not seek reelection in 2020.
Lamb currently represents the 17th Congressional District; he first went to congress on a narrow win in 2018 in a special election race to replace disgraced Republican Tim Murphy, who retired amid scandal. Lamb won handily a few months later when the Democrat-controlled state Supreme Court redrew the congressional district lines to favor Democrats.
Last fall, in a race few expected to be so close, he barely defeated Republican challenger Sean Parnell, a retired Army combat veteran who had never sought office previously.
G. Terry Madonna, political science professor at Millersville University, said there are three current top-tier contenders in the race. “The current lieutenant governor of the state, John Fetterman, who has already raised a lot of money, Montgomery County Commissioner Val Arkoosh, and Philadelphia state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta.”
Madonna said one of the driving factors in the race will be ideology. “So, you have to remember that several Democrat incumbent mayors lost to progressive challengers here in Pennsylvania’s primary last spring, including right there in Pittsburgh,” he said.
(Photo by Salena Zito)
In low-turnout primary elections, the Democrats who turn out tend to be the most engaged liberal activists. That poses a challenge for the more centrist Lamb.
But centrist Democrats have a long legacy in Pennsylvania. Allegheny County chief executive Rich Fitzgerald, who has endorsed Lamb’s candidacy, believes that the 37-year-old, the scion of a western Pennsylvania political legacy family, has all the right qualities Democrats are looking for to represent them in the Senate.
“He has won three tough races, and he has represented western Pennsylvania well, supportive of the fossil fuel industry with regulations, with the type of authority to oversee it and regulate it properly,” he said. “He certainly believes in climate change but is not about shutting things down.”
Philadelphia Democrat and media strategist Larry Ceisler dismisses the notion that this race is one that is for the heart and soul of the party. “Not at all,” he said. “This is going to be a competitive and vibrant race. It will tell us where the party is right now, and that is what makes it one to watch.”
