When former Vice President Joe Biden took the stage last week to campaign for Democratic congressional candidate Conor Lamb, allies of his GOP opponent grew worried.

Many saw Biden as the supreme surrogate — a secret weapon to launch just before Tuesday’s special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district. The Scranton native and blue-collar champion notched a 67 percent favorability rating in a CNN poll last December and would appear just days before the less-popular President Trump was set to campaign for Republican candidate Rick Saccone.