MT. LEBANON, PA — On a steep, tree-lined street just off U.S. 19, a modest, red brick home has an old sign in the front yard that seems to be from a lifetime ago.

“Where’s Tim Murphy?” the sign asks. Murphy was the Republican congressman for this area until October, when he resigned in disgrace, spurring a special election in which his once-reliable Republican House seat fell into the hands of a young moderate Democrat named Conor Lamb.